Mumbai, Feb (EPC News): According to Frost & Sullivan, the prospect of Shale gas in India seems bright. Shale gas reserve potential is estimated to be approximately 300 times the current Reliance KG-6 basin. The recent discovery of Shale gas reserve by ONGC in Sirpa, Durgapur (West Bengal), spread over 1250-1300 sq. km, validates the potential of the untapped Indian Shale gas.

The initiative that was taken up by US based Global Shale Gas Initiative and Government of India, has extensive plans to leverage India’s Shale-gas reserves. Major Exploration & Production (E&P) participants currently involved in the Shale gas exploration in India are ONGC, Oil India Limited and Schlumberger USA. Shale gas exploration in USA was a grand success and contributed almost 17% to the overall gas production in the USA in 2009.

India, though endowed with considerable amount of shale gas reserves, has many challenges ahead. The challenges, if efficiently handled, could relieve the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural gas from the pressure due to the current woes of natural gas allocation and supply logistics. This development will be further welcomed by the new extensive gas power projects and the Indian Fertilizer Industry, for their expansion plans expected under the 12th five-year plan.

Some of the key challenges that Frost & Sullivan believes could impact Shale Gas exploration in India are:
I. Efficient and transparent land acquisition and regulatory norms
II. Tackling pollution of water, air and soil during drilling and gas evacuation
III. Movement and logistics of drilling machinery and equipments
IV. Dense population in the identified Shale gas basins line Cambay, Assam-Arakan, Damodar Basin, Gondwana basins.

There is also a need to step up the investments by Shale gas service providers, who are required to ramp-up rig availability to 300 units, almost 3-times the current situation across the 8 Shale gas blocks in India. The Indian Government is expected to auction the Shale blocks in the next 3-4 years to private E&P participants, which could accelerate the overall Shale gas prospects and could boost the growth for power generation industry.

EPC News Bureau

Posted by: epcworld | Posted on:2/16/2011 at 12:53 PM