Gas hydrates and Shale Oil in India

Vinod2070

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Maharashtra is India's richest state with a GDP and per capita income greater than Pakistan with almost half the population. If it could not afford a power price a fraction of what it would cost the power from the IP pipeline, Pakistan can hardly afford it.
 

ajtr

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The IP pipeline doesn't make sense for Pakistan economically.The consumers (domestic or industrial) can't afford to pay the cost and and subsidies will ruin the economy.

If Pakistan wants to do it for reasons of Islamic solidairty, let Iran show some solidarity as well and sell the gas at a price that makes sense for the Pakistani consumer.
IPI doesn't makes sense for pakistan but it sure does make sense for the people in power to siphon off money in the name of IPI.
 

ajtr

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Shale Gas Will Rock the World

There's an energy revolution brewing right under our feet.






Over the past decade, a wave of drilling around the world has uncovered giant supplies of natural gas in shale rock. By some estimates, there's 1,000 trillion cubic feet recoverable in North America alone—enough to supply the nation's natural-gas needs for the next 45 years. Europe may have nearly 200 trillion cubic feet of its own.


We've always known the potential of shale; we just didn't have the technology to get to it at a low enough cost. Now new techniques have driven down the price tag—and set the stage for shale gas to become what will be the game-changing resource of the decade.


I have been studying the energy markets for 30 years, and I am convinced that shale gas will revolutionize the industry—and change the world—in the coming decades. It will prevent the rise of any new cartels. It will alter geopolitics. And it will slow the transition to renewable energy.


To understand why, you have to consider that even before the shale discoveries, natural gas was destined to play a big role in our future. As environmental concerns have grown, nations have leaned more heavily on the fuel, which gives off just half the carbon dioxide of coal. But the rise of gas power seemed likely to doom the world's consumers to a repeat of OPEC, with gas producers like Russia, Iran and Venezuela coming together in a cartel and dictating terms to the rest of the world.


The advent of abundant, low-cost gas will throw all that out the window—so long as the recent drilling catastrophe doesn't curtail offshore oil and gas activity and push up the price of oil and eventually other forms of energy. Not only will the shale discoveries prevent a cartel from forming, but the petro-states will lose lots of the muscle they now have in world affairs, as customers over time cut them loose and turn to cheap fuel produced closer to home.


The shale boom also is likely to upend the economics of renewable energy. It may be a lot harder to persuade people to adopt green power that needs heavy subsidies when there's a cheap, plentiful fuel out there that's a lot cleaner than coal, even if gas isn't as politically popular as wind or solar.


But that's not the end of the story: I also believe this offers a tremendous new longer-term opportunity for alternative fuels. Since there's no longer an urgent need to make them competitive immediately through subsidies, since we can use natural gas now, we can pour that money into R&D—so renewables will be ready to compete without lots of help when shale supplies run low, decades from now.


To be sure, plenty of people (including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and many Wall Street energy analysts) aren't convinced that shale gas has the potential to be such a game changer. Their arguments revolve around two main points: that shale-gas exploration is too expensive and that it carries environmental risks.


I'd argue they are wrong on both counts.



Take costs first. Over the past decade, new techniques have been developed that drastically cut the price tag of production. The Haynesville shale, which extends from Texas into Louisiana, is seeing costs as low as $3 per million British thermal units, down from $5 or more in the Barnett shale in the 1990s. And more cost-cutting developments are likely on the way as major oil companies get into the game. If they need to do shale for $2, I am willing to bet they can, in the next five years.


When it comes to environmental risks, critics do have a point: They say drilling for shale gas runs a risk to ground water, even though shale is generally found thousands of feet below the water table. If a well casing fails, they argue, drilling fluids can seep into aquifers.


They're overplaying the danger of such a failure. For drilling on land, where most shale-gas deposits are, the casings have been around for decades with a good track record. But water pollution can occur if drilling fluids are disposed of improperly. So, regulations and enforcement must be tightened to ensure safety. More rules will raise costs—but, given the abundance of supply, producers can likely absorb the hit. Already, some are moving to nontoxic drilling fluids, even without imposed bans.


But the skeptics aren't just overstating the obstacles. They're missing two much bigger points. For one thing, they're ignoring history: The reserves and production of new energy resources tend to increase over time, not decrease. They're also not taking into account how quickly public opinion can change. The country can turn on a dime and embrace a cheaper energy source, casting aside political or environmental reservations. This has happened before, with the rapid spread of liquefied-natural-gas terminals over the past few years.


In short, the skeptics are missing the bigger picture—the picture I think is the much more likely one. Here's a closer look at what I'm talking about, and how I believe the boom in shale gas will shake up the world.


One of the biggest effects of the shale boom will be to give Western and Chinese consumers fuel supplies close to home—thus scuttling a potential natural-gas cartel. Remember: Prior to the discovery of shale gas, huge declines were expected in domestic production in U.S., Canada and the North Sea. That meant an increasing reliance on foreign supplies—at a time when natural gas was becoming more important as a source of energy.


Even more troubling, most of those gas supplies were located in unstable regions. Two countries in particular had a stranglehold over supply: Russia and Iran. Before the shale discoveries, these nations were expected to account for more than half the world's known gas resources.



Russia made no secret about its desire to leverage its position and create a cartel of gas producers—a kind of latter-day OPEC. That seemed to set the stage for a repeat of the oil issues that have worried the world over the past 40 years.


As far as I'm concerned, you can now forget all that. Shale gas will breed competition among energy companies and exporting countries—which in turn will help economic stability in industrial countries, and thwart petro-suppliers that try to empower themselves at our expense. Market competition is the best kryptonite for cartel power.


For one measure of the coming change, consider the prospects for liquefied natural gas, which has been converted to a liquid so it can be carried in a supertanker like oil. It's the easiest way to move natural gas very long distances, so it gives a good picture of how much countries are relying on foreign supplies.


Before the shale discoveries, experts expected liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to account for half of the international gas trade by 2025, up from 5% in the 1990s. With the shale boom, that share will be more like one-third.


In the U.S., the impact of shale gas and deep-water drilling is already apparent. Import terminals for LNG sit virtually empty, and the prospects that the U.S. will become even more dependent on foreign imports are receding. Also, soaring shale-gas production in the U.S. has meant that cargoes of LNG from Qatar and elsewhere are going to European buyers, easing their dependence on Russia. So, Russia has had to accept far lower prices from formerly captive customers, slashing prices to Ukraine by 30%, for instance.


But the political fallout from shale gas will do a lot more than stifle natural-gas cartels. It will throw world politics for a loop—putting some longtime troublemakers in their place and possibly bringing some rivals into the Western fold.


Again, remember that as their energy-producing influence grew, nations like Russia, Venezuela and Iran became more successful in resisting Western interference in their affairs—and exporting their ideologies and strategic agendas through energy-linked deal-making and threats of cutoffs.


In 2006 and 2007, disputes with Ukraine led Russia to cut off supplies, leaving customers in Kiev and Western Europe briefly without fuel in the dead of winter. That cutoff effectively shifted Ukraine's internal politics: The country turned away from the pro-NATO, anti-Moscow candidate and toward a coalition more to Moscow's liking.


It looked like the U.S. and Europe would see their global power eclipse as they kowtowed to their energy suppliers. But shale gas is going to defang the energy diplomacy of petro-nations. Consuming nations throughout Europe and Asia will be able to turn to major U.S. oil companies and their own shale rock for cheap natural gas, and tell the Chavezes and Putins of the world where to stick their supplies—back in the ground.


Europe, for instance, receives 25% of its natural-gas supply via pipelines from Russia, with some consumers almost completely dependent on the big supplier. In the wake of Russia's strong-arming of Ukraine, Europe has been actively diversifying its supply, and shale gas will make that task cheaper and easier.


Shale-gas resources are believed to extend into countries such as Poland, Romania, Sweden, Austria, Germany—and Ukraine. Once European shale gas comes, the Kremlin will be hard-pressed to use its energy exports as a political lever.


I would also argue that greater shale-gas production in Europe will make it harder for Iran to profit from exporting natural gas. Iran is currently hampered by Western sanctions against investment in its energy sector, so by the time it can get its natural gas ready for export, the marketing window to Europe will likely be closed by the availability of inexpensive shale gas.


And that may lead Tehran to tone down its nuclear efforts. Look at it this way: If Iran can't sell its gas in Europe, what options does it have? Piping to the Indian subcontinent is impractical, and LNG markets will be crowded with lower-cost, competing supplies.


It's admittedly a long shot, but if the regime acts rationally, it will realize it has a chance to win some global goodwill by shifting away from nuclear-power efforts—and using its cheap natural-gas supplies to generate electricity at home.


Overall, the Middle East might get a bit poorer as gas eats into the market for oil. If the drop in revenue is severe enough, it could bring instability.


Shale-gas development could also mean big changes for China. The need for energy imports has taken China to problematic nations such as Iran, Sudan and Burma, making it harder for the West to forge global policies to address the problems those countries create. But with newly accessible natural gas available at home, China could well turn away from imports—and the hot spots that produce them.


The less vulnerable China is to imported oil and gas, the more likely it would be to support sanctions or other measures against petro-states with human-rights problems or aggressive agendas. Moreover, the less Beijing worries about U.S. control of sea lanes, the easier it will be for the U.S. and China to build trust. So, domestic shale gas for China may help integrate Beijing into a Pax Americana global system.


With natural gas cheap and abundant, the prospects for renewable energy will change just as drastically. I have been a big believer that renewable energy was about to see its time. Prior to the shale-gas revolution, I thought rising hydrocarbon prices would propel renewables and nuclear power into the marketplace easily—albeit with a little shove from a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system.


But the shale discoveries complicate the issue, making it harder for wind, solar and biomass energy, as well as nuclear, to compete on economic grounds. Subsidies that made renewables competitive with shale gas would get more expensive, as would loan guarantees and incentives for new nuclear plants. Shale gas also hurts the energy-independence argument for renewables: Shale gas is domestic, just like wind and solar, so we won't be shipping those dollars to the Middle East.


But that doesn't mean we should stop investing in renewables. As large as our shale-gas resources are, they're still exhaustible, and eventually we will still need to transition to energy that is cleaner and more plentiful. So, what should we do?


First, avoid the urge to protect coal states and let cheaper natural gas displace coal, which accounts for about half of all power generated in the U.S. Ample natural gas for electricity generation could also make it easier to shift to electric vehicles—once again helping the environment and lessening our dependence on the Middle East.


Then, I think we still need to invest in renewables—but smartly. States with renewable-energy potential, such as windy Texas or sunny California, should keep their mandates that a fixed percentage of electricity must be generated by alternative sources. That will give companies incentives and opportunities to bring renewables to market and lower costs over time through experience and innovation. Yes, renewables may seem relatively more expensive in those states as shale gas hits the market. And, yes, that may mean getting more help from government subsidies. But I don't think the cost would be prohibitive, and the long-term benefits are worth it.


Still, I don't believe we should set national mandates—which would get prohibitively expensive in states without abundant renewable resources. Instead of pouring money into subsidies to make such a plan work, the federal government should invest in R&D to make renewables competitive down the road without big subsidies.


***
In the end, what's important to understand is that shale gas may be the key to solving some of our most pressing short-term crises, a way to bridge the gap to a more-secure energy and economic future.


The trade deficit has crippled our economy and shows no signs of abating as long as we remain tethered to imported energy. Why ship dollars abroad where they can destabilize global financial markets—and then hit us back in lost jobs and savings—when we can develop the resources we have here in our own country? Shall we pay Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to develop our natural gas—or the citizens of Pennsylvania and Louisiana?
 

Vinod2070

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^^ Good article. I hope we see domestically produces shale gas i India soon.

So far I have not seen a real push by the government or industry in this direction.
 

ajtr

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India Plans First Shale-Gas Auction to Boost Reserves




India, beaten by China in the race for energy assets across the world, plans to offer shale-gas areas for exploration for the first time, the nation's oil regulator said.

Preliminary estimates show India's shale-gas reserves may be larger than its proven conventional gas deposits, said P.K. Bhowmick, president of the country's Association of Petroleum Geologists.

India will need to change exploration laws for shale gas to be produced because current exploration licenses don't include unconventional sources, Srivastava said. The changes will have to be approved by the nation's Cabinet.

"We have to run now, we can't just walk," Srivastava said. "We don't yet know the extent of our reserves and we hope to put everything together within a year."


"Shale rocks have been found in Gujarat, Assam, Jharkhand," Sharma said June 25. "We have to study the extent of the reserves and the economics of producing it."

The shale rock found in India is similar to those in the U.S., Bhowmick said. The cost of producing the gas may be different because the rocks are found deeper in the ground in India than in the U.S., he said.

"The rocks are definitely gas-charged," Bhowmick said.

Supply of natural gas in India lags behind demand as the nation seeks to cut air pollution and as power plants and fertilizer users seek to replace more expensive naphtha and imported liquefied natural gas with cheaper domestic fuel. Gas demand may rise to 120 billion cubic meters a year by 2015 from 62 billion currently, B.C. Tripathi, chairman of GAIL India Ltd., said June 24.

The nation faces an energy shortfall of 55 percent by 2030 as demand more than doubles to the equivalent of 1.3 billion metric tons of oil, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
 

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India records highest rise in gas production worldwide

India recorded the highest rise in natural gas output worldwide in 2009 after Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 field came into production, global energy giant BP Plc said.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run RIL began gas production from the Krishna Godavari basin in April, 2009, and its 60 million standard cubic metres per day output led to a 75 per cent jump in natural gas availability in the country to 140 mmscmd.

"Last year, India had the highest increase in production of natural gas worldwide. And I just checked, it also had the highest corresponding increase in consumption in natural gas worldwide," BP Plc Group Chief Economist Christof Ruhl said.

The jump in natural gas production in India was possible because the government allowed private sector firms to take a lead in exploration for hydrocarbons.

"When you look at countries where gas production is heavily government controlled, like Russia, they had the biggest decline in gas production and consumption," he said.

"When you look at countries where new technologies have been developed like unconventional shale gas in the US... it was because they have an investment environment which is very competitive," he said.

Shale gas, trapped in sedimentary rocks, is said to hold the potential of doubling gas output in US.

Ruhl said that it was very clear who was left behind, as countries where natural resources were tightly controlled were less flexible.

Ruhl said the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Ambani gas dispute will help investment in the sector.

For investors, "rule of law" and "sanctity of contracts" they sign is important, he said.

The court in May upheld the provisions of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) an explorer enters into with the government for oil and gas prospecting. It said the PSC gives the government the right to approve a gas price and fix its users, rejecting Anil Ambani Group firm RNRL's claim for gas from RIL at subsidised rates.

"That (judgment) has certainly improved stability and the sanctity of contract," he said. "That was a step into the right direction."

http://beta.profit.ndtv.com/news/show/india-records-highest-rise-in-gas-production-worldwide-81635
 

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India-U.S. shale gas initiatives to advance

The Obama administration on Tuesday confirmed that a major bilateral initiative for shale gas exploration in India was set to make important advances over the coming months.

At a briefing on the Global Shale Gas Initiative Conference here in Washington David Goldwyn, the administration's Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, said, "Coincident with Prime Minister [Manmohan] Singh's visit to the United States, we launched a memorandum of understanding with India on shale gas. And we have proposed... that the U.S. Geological Survey [USGS] do a resource assessment of certain shale basins in India."

Noting that such joint shale gas exploration exercises would fall within the purview of the umbrella of cooperation under the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue, Mr. Goldwyn however cautioned that the very same shale sites that were producing gas now were uneconomic because of the technology even six or seven years ago and in that regard, he said, "it's new for India also."

When asked whether the India-U.S. discussions touched upon the fact that shale extraction techniques could be endanger aquifers and groundwater Mr. Goldwyn said that safe water and safe regulation played a "huge part" in the discussions.

He said that while hundreds of thousands of wells had been drilled successfully in the U.S. thus far, the lesson that the U.S. wanted other countries like India to understand was that there had to be technically competent people operating the shale gas projects and "you have to have laws and regulations in place first."

However Mr. Goldwyn also hinted that the U.S. might prefer that any shale gas obtained through such a joint initiative was not subsidised: "You have to have a market price, because if there isn't a market price for natural gas, no one wants to produce that gas. No one will finance a pipeline, no one will produce a gas-gathering system to remove the impurities, and no one will purchase it on the end," he said.

The administration also said that in its assessment of shale potential in India the USGS would employ sophisticated models which could that could use analogies to shale in the U.S. to project the "sweet spots," and the "most prolific places to drill," were.

However Mr. Goldwyn said that given the variability of shale across India, a rapid pace of source development would probably come only after successful explorations in the first basins. Thus, he said, further surveys by the USGS would not be completed in time for the auctions of shale leases in three Indian states planned for September 2011.

Mr. Goldwyn underscored the importance of Indian companies developing shale gas exploration and extraction technologies. He said, "Reliance has made an investment in a U.S. company to learn the technology."
The Hindu : News / International : India-U.S. shale gas initiatives to advance
 

Vinod2070

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India, US may sign shale gas pact: Sources



Shale gas has become a hot favourite among most of the oil and gas companies. Going by it, India is likely to sign a shale gas pact, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting government sources.
The pact, expected to boast Indian companies' investment in the US shale gas fields, is likely to be signed when US President Barack Obama visits India.






It is learnt that the draft of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) had been send to the US in August itself and feedback is expected shortly. The MoU is expected to boost co-operation between private sector companies.
Sources add that India wants US' help for resource assessment and training in shale gas exploration. US assistance is likely to help India to carve out shale fields in future. It is also learnt that once the pact is signed between the two countries, US companies may share technology for shale gas development.
RIL has three shale gas joint ventures in the US while ONGC and Oil India are looking at shale gas assests overseas.


 

Vinod2070

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So looks like there is finally some movement in getting Shale gas out in India.

The day it happens, India will have taken a huge step towards energy security.
 
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http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ongc-finds-maiden-shale-gas-reserves-in-india/123723/on

ONGC finds maiden shale gas reserves in India

In a major breakthrough, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) today said it has struck natural gas reserves in its maiden well drilled to tap shale gas in West Bengal.

This is the first time gas has been discovered in sedimentary shale gas rocks outside the US and Canada.

"ONGC created an exploration landmark when gas flowed out from the Barren Measure shale at a depth of around 1,700 meters, in its first R&D well RNSG-1 near Durgapur at Icchapur, West Bengal," the company said in a statement here.

Though the well is still under assessment, the breakthrough is significant as India is the first Asian country where gas was discovered from shale outside US and Canada.

"The well RNSG-1 was drilled down to a depth of 2,000 meters. The Barren Measure Shale, which is the main target, was encountered from 985 to 1,843 meters," it said.

Shale gas is one of the predominant unconventional natural gas and major source of onland gas particularly in the US and Canada. In US, shale gas production contributes to nearly 17 per cent of the total gas production.

As per the initial studies, many shale sequences in well explored basins are found to be promising like Damodar, Cambay, and Krishna Godavari and Cauvery basins. The potentiality of these basins was also vetted by international experts.

However, Damodar Basin, where ONGC already has its presence for CBM, was prioritised for R&D exploration in shale gas in view of the shallow nature of the shale formations, and abundant water availability - a pre-requisite for doing massive hydro fracturing.

The R&D project, which involved drilling of four wells in Damodar Basin -- two wells in Raniganj sub-basin in West Bengal and two wells in North Karanpura sub-basin in Jharkhand, was operationalised with the help of Schlumberger.

"The estimated expenditure is about Rs 168 crore and the total project is expected to be completed within 520 days," ONGC said.

The successful R&D pilot testing of first ever shale gas on surface will put India on shale gas map of the world. It has opened up new hopes for meeting our energy needs and encouraged to venture into many shale sequences in well explored Cambay, KG, Cauvery and Assam-Arakan Basins for exploitation of shale gas in Indian subcontinent.
 

Vinod2070

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^^ This is good news. I am eagerly awaiting private participation in shale gas exploration and extraction, especially RIL.

Hope all the regulatory hurdles are removed ASAP.
 
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India aims to emulate US success in shale gas

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Indian companies Reliance Industries and Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) have already bought stakes in US shale gas assets to gain exposure to hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," and horizontal drilling, the key techniques that have made North American shale reserves commercially viable.

Reliance, India's most valuable company, is outlaying $2.7 billion for three US shale joint ventures (Atlas Energy/Chevron, Carrizo Oil & Gas, and Pioneer Natural Resources), plus another $1.3 billion in future spending, while state-owned GAIL has committed to a $300 million investment in one venture with Carrizo and said it plans to spend another $1 billion over the next five years on US shale assets.
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Within India, state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is the only company to have found shale gas. It began exploratory drilling in the Damodar basin of West Bengal in September 2010, and had its first gas flow at 1700m from the Barren Measure shale reserve there in January this year. At the time, ONGC hailed the find as a "significant breakthrough." Its initial studies suggest the Damodar basin may have resource potential of about 1 trillion cubic metres of gas.

Like China, India hopes to exploit its shale gas reserves to ease its dependence on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). But it lacks domestic expertise and there is no comprehensive assessment yet of the country's shale reserves.

ONGC called in US oilfield services company Schlumberger to provide services and technology for its Barren Measure exploration program in West Bengal. In its latest quarterly results, Schlumberger said it found the Indian shale formation properties were "significantly different to commercial US shale plays."

India's gas needs of about 106 billion cubic metres a year are well above its current annual production of about 52 billion cubic metres from conventional gas fields. Imports from Qatar, Australia and Russia make up the shortfall.

With gas demand growing at better than 10 per cent a year, the supply gap will widen unless there are fresh discoveries or increased production from conventional gas fields such as the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, which extends from Andhra Pradesh into the Bay of Bengal on India's east coast, or from unconventional sources such as coalbed methane and shale.

While there has been little exploration of shale gas reserves in India so far, at least six sedimentary basins may have commercial potential, based on initial assessments. In addition to the KG basin, these include Cambay in the west, Cauvery in the south, Assam-Arakan in the northeast, Gondawana in central India, and the Gangetic basin, which takes in the Damodar sub-basin of West Bengal.

Reliance Industries, controlled by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, operates conventional oil and gas wells in the KG Basin and has also found gas in deepwater exploratory wells in the offshore part of the Cauvery basin. It has three coalbed methane blocks in its portfolio, but no shale blocks yet.

India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, S. Jaipal Reddy, told Parliament last week that an assessment of shale gas resources was under way, and the first round of shale block licences would be awarded in the government's 12th five-year development plan that begins on April 1, 2012.

Shale gas has transformed the US energy market in the past five years, turning the US into a net exporter of petroleum products in 2010 and delivering cheap energy to US industrial users.

Oil and gas companies such as XTO Energy (since taken over by ExxonMobil) and Chesapeake Energy have led the way, using the controversial and water-intensive technique of fracking (where a mix of water, salt and chemicals is forced into rocks to fracture them and release the tightly-held gas) to unlock the potential of vast shale reserves in Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, North Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Better pipeline infrastructure has opened up domestic markets, and there is an expectation that the US will become an exporter of LNG within five years as liquefaction export terminals come on-stream.

Ambani says Reliance is now a significant player in US shale, with gas already flowing from its Chevron and Pioneer fields, and the Carrizo venture expected to begin production before the end of this year. Along with Reliance and GAIL, international energy companies including China's CNOOC and Sinopec, Norway's Statoil, France's Total, Japan's Mitsui and Australia's BHP Billiton have rushed to join the North American action. Three other Indian state-owned entities, Coal India Ltd, Oil India Ltd and Bharat Petroleum, are also keen to acquire overseas shale assets.

Back in India, Reliance struck a landmark $9 billion deal earlier this year with oil major BP covering Indian gas production and marketing opportunities. BP paid $7.2 billion up front with a possible $1.8 billion to follow, depending on future exploration success. The UK-based company now has 30 per cent of 21 production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including its flagship KG-D6 offshore block in the Bay of Bengal.

Two weeks ago Reliance and BP announced the incorporation of their India Gas Solutions joint venture, which will focus on global sourcing and marketing of natural gas in India. They said the venture would also develop infrastructure to improve gas transport within India.

How big a part shale gas will play in India's future energy picture is uncertain. The International Gas Union says in its latest World LNG Report that while the success of shale gas in North America has sparked "enormous interest" elsewhere, the outlook for unconventional gas is promising for only a few other countries, such as Australia and China.

It said development will be "slow and uneven" around the world. Even in those countries with significant reserves, the process of tapping shale gas reserves will likely take many years to materialise.
 
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Oil India on the shale gas hunt


STATE-RUN Oil India plans to buy shale gas assets worth up to $US200 million and is scouting for potential acquisitions in Australia and the US, as it seeks to gain expertise in the field ahead of IndiaÂ’s plans to auction blocks in the country.

"Shale gas is going to be the future of unconventional oil exploration and development," finance director T.K. Ananth Kumar told Deal Journal Australia's colleague Rakesh Sharma. "We prefer to go in for a joint venture partnership rather than fully owning the asset. This is our strategy for acquisition of shale gas."

Australian shale gas is starting to attract attention from some of the world's biggest energy companies seeking to replicate the success of the US unconventional gas boom down under.

ConocoPhillips signed an agreement last year with ASX-listed New Standard Energy on exploring the junior company's Goldwyer shale gas project in the onshore Canning Basin, Western Australia. Japan's Mitsubishi also has exposure to the Canning Basin's shale gas potential through a partnership with Buru Energy.


India is seeking to tap into its shale gas resources to meet rising gas demand from power plants and factories, as well as learn technology that it can apply at home.

Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy said in October the government will reveal its policy on shale gas block auctions in 2012. The South Asian nation expects to launch its auction of blocks by the end of 2013.

Oil India joins Reliance Industries and GAIL, which have already acquired shale gas acreage in the US, in striving to get technology it can use to exploit domestic reserves.

Oil India's Kumar said his company is reviewing two or three assets, but didn't give details.
 

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India holds 527 tcf of shale gas reserves

India holds 527 tcf of shale gas reserves

In January last year, the US Energy Information Administration estimated that India held 38 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.

That was good enough for the needs of the nation for 29 years, it was said.

What if that figure was upped to a fantastic 527 trillion cubic feet?
Yes, 527 trillion cubic feet of gas, of which 50%, or over 260 tcf, were recoverable?

That amount of fuel could last for at least 200 years and would potentially be the fifth biggest hoard in the world.

China has the most, followed by US and Argentina.
A M Dayal, an emeritus scientist with the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad, said his scientists have identified 28 sedimentary basins of shale gas (natural gas found trapped in shale formations under the ground), including ten potential producing basins, across India.

These have been classified according to their hydrocarbon potential, and hold an estimated 527 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of reserves, he said.

With government policy framework on shale gas exploration expected in the next 18-24 months, and given industry's keenness to get into exploration of the clean non-conventional energy source that is also less expensive — no processing is necessary — India can look forward to commercial production of shale gas in the next five years or by 2017, Dayal said.

Shale gas is being increasingly tapped across the world as conventional energy sources like oil and coal turn scarce and expensive.

For instance, the US has been recovering shale gas for several years. Its reserves at 2009-end were estimated at 60.6 trillion cubic feet. By 2011, the figure rose to 827 trillion cubic feet. Shale production is projected to increase from 23% of total US gas production in 2010 to 49% by 2035. Unconfirmed data even suggest that shale gas usage has helped reduce the cost of gas in the US. China is among the countries that are now looking at shale gas as source of energy.

According to scientists working on Indian shale gas, recovery rate of up to 50% is much higher than the 30% in oil and gas reserves. "Unlike conventional hydrocarbon traps, shales cover large areas and they remain a source of gas for a very long time," said Dayal.

With the US getting into shale gas in a big way, oil and gas exploration companies in India are "ready to get into shale gas sector. They all know India is a big market", said Dayal.

A stumbling block could be lack of a clear policy framework. Shales are available equally in the blocks already allotted to oil exploration companies. But they can't touch the shale yet. Shale gas blocks have to be separately allotted for exploration.

However, the NGRI scientists can work on developing shale gas in India, independent of the guidelines.

"Under the 12th Five-Year Plan, we are planning to work in the Canbay basin, the Assam-Arakan basin, the K-G basin and the Damodar basin. When the exploration companies are given the blocks, they have to get the core of the shale and analyse it for geo-chemistry and petro-physics results.That will decide whether or not it is economic to take the project forward. That's where we plan to play a role since we have the infrastructure and the grant of the Oil Industry Development Board," said Dayal.

A potential problem in India could be that shales are mostly found about 2,000 metres deep on shore, in areas of human habitation, unlike oil drilling that takes place offshore. Specially designed water borewells may be needed in such areas to tackle escaping methane gas. Use of high-power compressors and other equipment could also unsettle local populations, while shale drilling could affect ground water reserves.

But all such challenges are not insurmountable, scientists said.

"There is an immediate need for us to tap the shale. Conventional sources are either expensive or drying up. After Bombay High, there is no big discovery on the conventional front. Even the reserves in D6 are proving to be uncertain," Dayal said.
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'India holds 527 tcf of shale gas reserves' - Money - DNA
 

nrj

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This is great news!

Hope the explorations start soon & by the end of decade we are up running with commercial production.
 

JAISWAL

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thats, what i hope that this UPA gov. should tries to revive these gas sources as said in artical, they can produce 50% of cotained gas reserve which can serve for 200 years.
This will help us in our growth a lot.
 

Yusuf

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There is no policy guideline on shale gas. India also has shale oil reserves but the government does not recognize it as a conventional source of energy.

Keep a lookout for scams in this area as the importance of shale oil and gas is realized as a potential "gold mine".
 

nrj

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Policy framework is expected in next 24 months, so says the article.
 

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