* Paleontology is the science of history of life.
* Mahavira(founder of jainism)and gautama buddha (founder of buddism) were contemporaries and flourished in india in the 6th century B.C.
* The three pyramids of eqypt were built from 2700 to 2500 B.C.,these are tombs of khufu,khafra and menkaura.
* The great wall of china was completed in 204 B.C.it is 1500 miles long.Its average height is 25 feet and about 12 feet wide at the top.
* The city rome was founded in 753 B.C. by romolus.
* Christianity emerged as the distinct sect in the second half of the first century A.D.
* The light of islam dawned in the 7th century A.D. when in 611 A.D. The Holy Prophet of Islam Muhammad (P.B.U.H) announced the revelation from the one true Allah.
* The muslim rule of spain lasted from 711 to 1492 A.D.
* The earth is calculated to b 4540 million years old.
* The statue of liberty (newyork) was installed in 1886.It is 151 feet one inch high from the base to torch.
* The world is divided into 24 time zones,each 15` longtitude wide. the longitudinal meridian passing through greenwich,England is the starting point and is called the prime meridian.
* Christopher columbus discovered bahamas on 12 oct 1492 A.D.
* Ostrich is the largest bird in the world.
* Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of oil in the world.
* The world famous golden gate bridge is located in San francisco(usa).
* Russia invaded afghanistan on dec 27,1979.
* Hongkong was returned to china on july 1,1997.
* Eritrea became an independent state on may 24,1993.
* The normal temperature of human body is 98.6 F.
* A billion contain 1000 million. It has 9 zeroes. similarly a trillion has 12 zeroes,a quadrillion 15 zeroes,a quintillion 18 zeroes and a decillion 33 zeroes.
* One inch is equal to 2.5400 cms and one mile is equal to 1.6093 kms.
* About half of the world population speaks indo-european languages. The Indo-European branch to which english belongs is germanic.
* Air is composed of nitrogen (78.08%),oxygen (20.95%),argon (0.94%) and carbon dioxide (0.03%).
* The original inhabitants of USA are known as Red Indians.
* Out of the 193 sovereign independent nations of the world 147 are republics and other 46 are under personal rules (14 kings,1 emperor,3 queens,7 hereditary sheikhs,1 grand duke,2 sultans,1 constitutional monarch etc).
* Gwadar became a part of pakistan on september 9,1958.
* All india mulim league was formulated on december 30,1906 and first president was Sir Agha Khan.
* Hygrometer is instrument used for measuring humidity of air.
* Heliscope is used for viewing the sun.
* Asian development bank was established in 1966 with headquarter located at manila(philipine)
* China has the largest population,russia has largest land area and vatican city has smallest population and land area in the world
* Afghanistan got independence on 19th aug 1919.
* Lord clive was the first and lord mountbatten was the last british ruler of india.
* Air conditioner invented by "willis H. carrier"u.s. in 1902.
* Camera(photographic) has been invented by "Joseph N. Niepce"france in 1822.
* Largest continent of the world is "asia" and smallest is "australia".Largest ocean of the world is "pacific ocean"and smallest ocean is "indian ocean".The Sahara is the largest desert of the world.
* Kazakhstan is the largest muslim country in landarea in the world.it has an area of 1,049,000 sq.miles.Maldives is the smallest muslim country in land area of 115 sq. miles.
* Indonesia is the most populous muslim country and maldives is less populous muslim country.
* Antarctica is the uninhabited continent of the world which is without any regular population.
* Seoul (south korea) is the most populous city of the world.
* The lake baikal of russia has the maximum depth of 5315 feet.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Gold Production History
 | South Africa produced over 32Moz of gold, 2/3's of the world's production of 47.5Moz. Former USSR was a distant second at 6.5Moz. Canada, the US, and Australia produced 2.4, 1.7, and .6Moz, respectively. The rest of the world accounted for less than 9% of production. |
 | World production dropped 15% versus 1970, with a 30% drop in South Africa, which produced 23Moz out of the world's production of 39.7Moz. (59.3%) Production in Canada, the United States, and Australia was about the same levels at 1970. |
 | The world produces 39.2Moz, 21.7 million from South Africa. (55.3%) Canada, the US, and Australia produce 1.6, 1.0, and .5Moz, respectively. Brazil produces 1.3Moz versus only 172 thousand ounces in 1975. |
 | World production is 49.3Moz, up 25% from 1980. South Africa is flat at 21.6Moz. (43.8%) Canada, the US, and Australia produce 2.8, 2.4, and 1.9Moz, respectively. Brazil produces 2.3Moz. China produces 2Moz and releases a gold bullion coin - the Panda in 1982. Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Columbia each produce over 1Moz. |
 | Technology (heap leaching) has changed mining, forever. The U.S.S.R is breaking up, so the United States with 9.5Moz production will soon become the world's #2 producer. Australia produces 7.8Moz. Canada produces 5.4Moz, peaks at 5.7Moz in 1991, then drifts down to current levels of 5Moz/yr. |
 | World production hits 72.3Moz, but South Africa produces only 16.8Moz. (23.3%) The United States produces over 10Moz, followed by Australia at 8.2Moz (will produce over 10Moz in 1997) Chile, Ghana, Peru, and Indonesia each produce about 2.0Moz, versus about .5Moz in 1990. |
 | World production hits 2573mt (82.6Moz), but South Africa produces only 428mt (13.8Moz), which is 16.6% Production in the United States, Australia, Canada dips slightly, with China up. Other significant producers: Chile, Indonesia, Peru, Russia, and Uzbekistan The trend toward worldwide industry diversification continues, with the top 5 countries now accounting for just over 50% of world production. |
 | 1. South Africa: 296mt (11.8%) 2. Australia: 263mt (10.4%) 3. United States: 262mt (10.2%) 4. China: 224mt (8.9%) 5. Peru: 207mt (8.2%) 6. Indonesia: 167mt (6.6%) 7. Russia: 156.5mt (6.2%) 8. Canada: 118.5mt (4.7%) 9. Papau New Guinea 66.7mt (2.6%) 10. Ghana 63.1mt (2.5%) Other: 699mt TOTAL: 2518mt |
 | 1. South Africa: 275mt (11.0%) 2. United States: 260mt (10.5%) 3. Australia: 251mt (10.2%) 4. China: 240mt (9.7%) 5. Peru: 203mt (8.2%) 6. Indonesia: 167mt (6.8%) (2005) 7. Russia: 152.6mt (6.2%) 8. Canada: 104mt (4.2%) 9. Papau New Guinea 66.7mt (2.7%) (2005) 10. Ghana 63.1mt (2.6%) (2005) Other: 699mt TOTAL: 2469mt |
 | 1. China: 276mt 2. South Africa: 254.7 mt 3. Australia: 246mt 4. United States: 238mt 5. Peru: 170mt 6. Russia: 144.5mt 7. Indonesia: 118mt 8. Canada: 101mt 9. Uzbekistan 85mt 10. Ghana 78mt Other: 821mt TOTAL: 2444mt |
 | 1. China: 288mt 2. United States: 234mt 3. South Africa: 232mt 4. Australia: 225mt 5. Peru: 175mt 6. Russia: 163.9 mt 7. Canada: 100mt 8. Indonesia: 90mt 9. Uzbekistan 85mt 10. Ghana 81mt Other: 660mt TOTAL: 2356mt |
 | 1. China: 313.98 mt 2. Australia: 227.00 mt 3. United States: 216.00 mt 4. South Africa: 204.92 mt 5. Russia: 205.00 mt 6. Peru: 180mt (estimate) 7. Indonesia: 90.00 mt 8. Canada: 95.00 mt (estimate) 9. Ghana 90.20 mt 10. Uzbekistan 80mt (estimate) Other: 854mt TOTAL: 2572mt |
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Good news: Pakistan has shale oil reserves
EIA has released a report which ranks Pakistan as the country with the ninth largest shale oil reserves in the world
Sometimes good news, like lightning, strikes unexpectedly. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA), a US government agency, has released a report which ranks Pakistan as the country with the ninth largest shale oil reserves in the world. Other countries listed in the top 10 by the report, which bears the weighty title “Technically Recoverable Shale Oil and Shale Gas Resources: An Assessment of 137 Shale Formations in 41 Countries Outside the United States” include Russia, Venezuela, Mexico and Indonesia.
The report estimates Pakistan’s technically recoverable shale oil reserves at 9 billion barrels. Compare this to our current proved oil reserves of approximately 300 million barrels and the extent of the good news — a 30-fold increase in reserves — becomes clear. But it may be a little too early to celebrate. Shale oil, as the term suggests, is oil trapped in a shale formation. Shale is a type of sedimentary rock composed of a mix of clays with small quantities of other minerals such as quartz and calcite. Geologists have always known that shales contain oil and gas. But the problem is that recovering these is not easy. This is because shale has what is called in oil industry jargon — low permeability. Simply put this means that even if you drill a well into a shale formation oil will not flow into the well because it is tightly locked into the shale.
Over the last 4 or 5 years however new technologies have been perfected which allow cost efficient recovery of this formerly difficult to extract shale oil and gas. The first of these is “horizontal drilling.” The second is “hydraulic fracturing.”
Conventional oil wells are drilled vertically into the ground. Shale formations in, for example the lower Indus Basin where most of Pakistan’s shale oil reserves are located, have a typical thickness of about 200 to 250 feet. So a vertical well would make contact with the formation for only this distance limiting the size of what is called the “producing zone.” A horizontal well starts off as vertical but as it penetrates deeper into the ground new technology allows the driller to slowly incline it until by the time it reaches the formation it has become completely horizontal. Once horizontal it travels across the formation for several thousand feet, greatly increasing the size of the production zone.
But a horizontal well alone will not get the shale to give up its oil. This is where hydraulic fracturing or fracking, as it is called, comes in. Once the horizontal well is in place a mixture of water and sand is injected into the formation at extremely high pressure. The pressure fractures or cracks the formation and the sand injected with water “props up” the cracks and prevents them from closing once the pressure is removed. The cracks now act as pathways for the locked oil or gas to flow into the well. And the length of the horizontal well means that enough of the stuff is able to get through to make the whole exercise cost efficient.
While the EIA report is wonderful news for Pakistan, getting the shale oil out of the ground represents a technical, financial and organizational challenge. How should the government go about it?
Horizontal drilling and fracking technology is currently almost the exclusive preserve of a few global “oil service” companies. They are expensive — too expensive for Pakistan. The good news is that a large cadre of highly capable Pakistanis work in the oil industry in the Middle East and further afield. Some of them, with typical Pakistani entrepreneurial spirit, have set up companies to compete with the global oil service giants. And, make no mistake, they are giving the giants a run for their money. We need to get these people back home and encourage them to do the same here.
The government needs to develop a plan and strategy with clearly defined objectives to exploit what is an unexpected windfall from out of the blue. Pakistan produced, in 2011, some 63,000 barrels of oil per day on reserves estimated then to be about 300 million barrels. With shale oil included reserves are up 30 fold. Apply the same production to reserve ratio to daily oil output and Pakistan could be producing almost 2 million barrels of oil a day. Imagine what that could do for our country.
The report estimates Pakistan’s technically recoverable shale oil reserves at 9 billion barrels. Compare this to our current proved oil reserves of approximately 300 million barrels and the extent of the good news — a 30-fold increase in reserves — becomes clear. But it may be a little too early to celebrate. Shale oil, as the term suggests, is oil trapped in a shale formation. Shale is a type of sedimentary rock composed of a mix of clays with small quantities of other minerals such as quartz and calcite. Geologists have always known that shales contain oil and gas. But the problem is that recovering these is not easy. This is because shale has what is called in oil industry jargon — low permeability. Simply put this means that even if you drill a well into a shale formation oil will not flow into the well because it is tightly locked into the shale.
Over the last 4 or 5 years however new technologies have been perfected which allow cost efficient recovery of this formerly difficult to extract shale oil and gas. The first of these is “horizontal drilling.” The second is “hydraulic fracturing.”
Conventional oil wells are drilled vertically into the ground. Shale formations in, for example the lower Indus Basin where most of Pakistan’s shale oil reserves are located, have a typical thickness of about 200 to 250 feet. So a vertical well would make contact with the formation for only this distance limiting the size of what is called the “producing zone.” A horizontal well starts off as vertical but as it penetrates deeper into the ground new technology allows the driller to slowly incline it until by the time it reaches the formation it has become completely horizontal. Once horizontal it travels across the formation for several thousand feet, greatly increasing the size of the production zone.
But a horizontal well alone will not get the shale to give up its oil. This is where hydraulic fracturing or fracking, as it is called, comes in. Once the horizontal well is in place a mixture of water and sand is injected into the formation at extremely high pressure. The pressure fractures or cracks the formation and the sand injected with water “props up” the cracks and prevents them from closing once the pressure is removed. The cracks now act as pathways for the locked oil or gas to flow into the well. And the length of the horizontal well means that enough of the stuff is able to get through to make the whole exercise cost efficient.
While the EIA report is wonderful news for Pakistan, getting the shale oil out of the ground represents a technical, financial and organizational challenge. How should the government go about it?
Horizontal drilling and fracking technology is currently almost the exclusive preserve of a few global “oil service” companies. They are expensive — too expensive for Pakistan. The good news is that a large cadre of highly capable Pakistanis work in the oil industry in the Middle East and further afield. Some of them, with typical Pakistani entrepreneurial spirit, have set up companies to compete with the global oil service giants. And, make no mistake, they are giving the giants a run for their money. We need to get these people back home and encourage them to do the same here.
The government needs to develop a plan and strategy with clearly defined objectives to exploit what is an unexpected windfall from out of the blue. Pakistan produced, in 2011, some 63,000 barrels of oil per day on reserves estimated then to be about 300 million barrels. With shale oil included reserves are up 30 fold. Apply the same production to reserve ratio to daily oil output and Pakistan could be producing almost 2 million barrels of oil a day. Imagine what that could do for our country.
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