Oil India discovers huge gas reserves in Rajasthan desert

[RAM]

Published: 00:00 October 20, 2010
Several new finds are being announced by exploration companies

Jaipur: State-owned Oil India has discovered huge deposits of hydrocarbons in Baghewala in Jaisalmer in the Thar desert. The search for oil and gas in the Thar desert in recent years has yielded good results, and Cairns Energy, which discovered oil and gas in the Barmer district, has started commercial production in the Mangla oil fields.


The exploratory discovery was made in 1988 in the Tanot area. Subsequently, two more gas fields were discovered at Dandewala and Bagittiba by Oil India.However with a Venez-uelan company as a consultant, Oil India made fresh efforts to discover oil. After the successful attempt, several wells were identified and the yield from these wells is likely to be good.


According to Ram Lal Jat, Rajasthan's minister of petroleum, gas has been discovered at Ramgarh, Jalalwala, Gamnewala and Gulabwala in the desert. Oil India is trying to estimate the commercial viability of the deposits.Jat said that in the Tanot-Dandewala, Baggitibba areas of the Jaisalmer basin, the total gas reserves are 9.20 billion cubic metres (bcm), out of which the total recoverable is 6.5 bcm after drilling 36 wells.

Purchase deal
He said Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam, the state government's power generation company, is buying the gas through Gas Auth-ority of India Ltd (Gail) for use in the Ramgarh-based gas power plant. The gas is supplied to the power production unit through a 65 km pipeline laid down by Gail.


Jat said Oil India is likely to produce 1.2 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas from its field and is presently producing about 0.7 mmscmd.
Jat also said that another government company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which is working on six gas fields in the Thar desert, has discovered reserves of 2.9 bcm of very high quality gas at Manehartibba. This deposit has 40 to 70 per cent methane content.


"The company has also discovered a gas reservoir with low methane content where higher fractions of hydrocarbons are practically absent," said Jat."But ONGC has discovered gas in Chinnewala Tibba under the Jaisalmer basin with a production rate of 0.1 mmscmd from one well having a calorific value of about 8,000 kcal per kg. This field has the potential to produce additional gas," he added


The discovery of gas in the Rajasthan desert is the first major stratigraphic discovery on the Indian side of the Indus River basin. The exact amount of gas is yet to be fully ascertained.Speaking on the development, Anurag Bissa, an official of Focus Energy, said: "One of the most interesting parts of this development is that it is an onshore gas discovery. The project has less gestation period in comparison with offshore projects.


"The gas is also easily transportable for commercial use."The Indus basin that is spread between Pakistan and India has immense potential for oil and gas.Many companies have reported success on the Pakistan side of the basin including Petronas, BP and OMV.The quality of gas discovered by Focus Energy is similar to that found in Pakistan's Miano and Sawan fields.


Focus discovery
According to the Rajasthan government's principal oil and petroleum secretary, Govind Sharma, Focus Energy has discovered high quality gas in the Shahgarh bulge area under Jaisalmer on the Indo-Pakistan border.


Sharma said out of 17 wells drilled by the company four have yielded very good results. He said the company has found 9.37 bcm of gas in the reserve in the Shahgarh bulge out of which 7.0 bcm is mineable. Focus Energy has entered into an agreement with the Gail and Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam for supply of gas.
Focus Energy would supply gas soon for the 160 MW power plant that would be installed soon at Ramgarh, on the border of India with Pakistan in the desert.

"The Shagarh basin has the potential of about 7 trillion cubic feet gas reserves since across the Indo-Pakistan border a number of fields, namely Miano, Kandanwadi and the Swan fields in Sindh province of Pakistan, have good gas reserves. In these areas the reserves are estimated to be 30 trillion cubic feet.
]http://gulfnews.com/business/oil-ga...uge-gas-reserves-in-rajasthan-desert-1.698886

 

[Agnostic_Indian]

India is a big country..so i hope in future we explore more gas and oil fields to became self dependent..who knows what's under the earth.

 

[maomao]

Gwaaaaaaaad do you realize what big amount of Oil in India can turn this country into, with politicians ruling us right now we can see US meddling in our internal affairs big time.

 

[The Messiah]

Even if there is oil in India we should not touch it until oil finishes in middle east.

That way we can have more bargaining power in terms of price!

 

[maomao]

Even if there is oil in India we should not touch it until oil finishes in middle east.

That way we can have more bargaining power in terms of price!

Your Idea may be in good faith, however if we become the only country in Asia with OIL, all hell will break loose, pray we never get too much of OIL, only sufficient enough to run daily business and develop some other medium for producing energy which is not found underneath the earth.

 

[The Messiah]

Your Idea may be in good faith, however if we become the only country in Asia with OIL, all hell will break loose, pray we never get too much of OIL, only sufficient enough to run daily business and develop some other medium for producing energy which is not found underneath the earth.

please elaborate.

we are not defenseless puppet states like middle east!!

 

[maomao]

Boss when all the world powers and Oil companies will pound us for OIL, you can easily have " war on terror" on India or trust me in the scenario you have mentioned above our spineless politicians will sell us and we will not even get know.

 

[The Messiah]

Boss when all the world powers and Oil companies will pound us for OIL, you can easily have " war on terror" on India or trust me in the scenario you have mentioned above our spineless politicians will sell us and we will not even get know.

I beg to differ.

Sure our politicians would "steal" but other countries wouldn't be all over us.

 

[nitesh]

Boss when all the world powers and Oil companies will pound us for OIL, you can easily have " war on terror" on India or trust me in the scenario you have mentioned above our spineless politicians will sell us and we will not even get know.

How they will sell us, this line is repeated like a canary. Can you elaborate how

 

[Singh]

I grew up listening to announcements on radio that we will become self-sufficient in oil. There would be a target, which would always be extended . Even today, we produce only 25% of our needs. I don't believe there is hardly any oil (or gas) to be found in India. It's like if you keep saying you are poor, you will never have money. - Anil Agarwal to ET

 

[ajtr]

Isn't it a ploy by oil companies to announce such findings so as to raise the company's profile and share value in the share market?

 

[pmaitra]

I beg to differ.

Sure our politicians would "steal" but other countries wouldn't be all over us.

There is no doubt that our politicians will steal. India, although quite capable of defending herself, faces the greatest threat from these very politicians who might work for foreign powers. I am sure not all have forgotten about the CIA mole in Indira Gandhi's cabinet when she planned to bomb Pakistan's then yet-to-be-critical nuclear power plant.

If India can defend her natural resources well, and if it has export potential (which India might if India builds lot more nuclear power plants), then this very oil can be used as a political tool. If we don't know how to use natural resources as a political tool, the Kremlin will be more than pleased to train us, and I am sure they'll train us pretty well as they are the masters of such a trade.

 

[The Messiah]

There is no doubt that our politicians will steal. India, although quite capable of defending herself, faces the greatest threat from these very politicians who might work for foreign powers. I am sure not all have forgotten about the CIA mole in Indira Gandhi's cabinet when she planned to bomb Pakistan's then yet-to-be-critical nuclear power plant.

If India can defend her natural resources well, and if it has export potential (which India might if India builds lot more nuclear power plants), then this very oil can be used as a political tool. If we don't know how to use natural resources as a political tool, the Kremlin will be more than pleased to train us, and I am sure they'll train us pretty well as they are the masters of such a trade.

Look at the amount of $$$ the middle east countries get but yet there people live poorly. Half the countries have monarchs and dictators who are puppets of usa. I agree that our politicians cannot be trusted. But i hope they can common sense that they can make more money in strong India rather than weak puppet India.

 

[Parthy]

Pray to GOD that this reserves should not be corrupted for any means ...

 

[LETHALFORCE]

we have had our wealth stolen too many times in the past now we don't need invaders working thru out politicians to do it, if this find turns out to be even bigger than estimates it can be a bonanza that belongs only to Indians .

 

[Parthy]

we have had our wealth stolen too many times in the past now we don't need invaders working thru out politicians to do it, if this find turns out to be even bigger than estimates it can be a bonanza that belongs only to Indians .

I suppose that will not happen.. Our politicians are so clever in re-directing funds...

Who knows they can get an Oil-Well in UAE and may direct a oil line to there.... :emot15:

 

[Rahul92]

Hope India make use of it in a proper manner

 

[maomao]

How they will sell us, this line is repeated like a canary. Can you elaborate how

Shimla Agreement, Tashkent Agreement (after death and martyrdom of thousands of soldiers and winning 1971 war decisively, still we do not have what we call ours), recent Nuclear Deal with US and you will find this so called Nuclear liability going down the drain under US pressure (maneuvering has already started) , Govt. Sponsored FIIs in the market and policies of Finance Ministry suiting their entry and exist (obviously corrupt political money plays an important part), Bofors Scam wher Q took the money away which was given by R with the help of S, Dont Forget India having Highest Amount of Investments In SWITZERLAND (Shame) i.e Swiss bank accounts, you can go on arguing that this Govt. cant sell off the country, but....the list goes on and on and the Canary would like say that we are discussing the scenario when we are the only country with OIL, just imagine how these spineless politicians will Fool us and sell us out.

 

[Tshering22]

we have had our wealth stolen too many times in the past now we don't need invaders working thru out politicians to do it, if this find turns out to be even bigger than estimates it can be a bonanza that belongs only to Indians .

For that, we'd need an aggressive military policy MINUS today's ruling politicians. We'd need new political parties with genuine concern meaning that we'll have to boycott current leadership. Naxalites are another problem again as we don't want a bunch of uncivilized Red terrorists taking over our country's institutions. Communists are the second largest threat to India much before foreign spies or armies. If I had my way, Communism should be banned in India. but that won't happen since we have an accursed version of democracy.

But the military wing needs to be more aggressive, demanding and less-surrendering to corrupt politicians.. just to pass the message that they cannot meddle in military matters. General Manekshaw told Indira to mind her own business in 1971 itself. I am sure P.V.Naik can do that now to Sonia and Manmohan not-so-Singh.

 

[Rahul92]

For that, we'd need an aggressive military policy MINUS today's ruling politicians. We'd need new political parties with genuine concern meaning that we'll have to boycott current leadership. Naxalites are another problem again as we don't want a bunch of uncivilized Red terrorists taking over our country's institutions. Communists are the second largest threat to India much before foreign spies or armies. If I had my way, Communism should be banned in India. but that won't happen since we have an accursed version of democracy.

But the military wing needs to be more aggressive, demanding and less-surrendering to corrupt politicians.. just to pass the message that they cannot meddle in military matters. General Manekshaw told Indira to mind her own business in 1971 itself. I am sure P.V.Naik can do that now to Sonia and Manmohan not-so-Singh.

Well it can be done by making the Dictatorship form of government and a perfect Hitler for India