Lok Sabha Question No. 37 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-04-25
Subject: Gas Hydrates Reserve
Ministry: PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS
Asked by: PONNUSAMY VENUGOPAL, P. KUMAR

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.37 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25 th  APRIL, 2016

## GAS HYDRATES RESERVE

## 37. DR. P. VENUGOPAL: SHRI P. KUMAR:

## पेट्रोलियम और प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्री

## Will the Minister of PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS be pleased to state:

(a) whether Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) has struck gas reserve in the form of hydrates  of  the  Andhra  coast  recently  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  estimated  gas reserve found and the time by which the said gas reserve is likely to be explored;

(b)  the details of on-going projects of shale oil and gas along with number of such projects completed so far, State/UT/project-wise;

(c)   the funds allocated and disbursed for these projects during the last three years and the present status of the projects, State/UT/-wise and project-wise;

(d)    the  efforts  made  by  the  Government to promote such alternative sources of energy and attract investment in the sector; and

(e)      the  details  of  the  guidelines  put  in  place/laid  down  by  the  Government  to  evaluate  the environmental impact of such explorations?

ANSWER पेट्रोलियम और प्राक ृ लिक गैस मंत्रािय में राज्य मंत्री ( प्राार रन्त्िवत्र ( ) प्रााप्र ामेवध ीी )

## MINISTER OF STATE (I/C) IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a) Gas hydrate programme in the country is at Research and Development Stage. Under National Gas Hydrate Programme (NGHP) expedition-2 gas hydrates have been discovered in deep waters of the Krishna Godavari (KG) Basin. As per preliminary estimates, 134 Trillion Cubic Feet of gas hydrates are  present  in  KG-Basin.  However,  further  drilling  /  coring  /  logging  and  analytical  studies  of  the subsurface data are required to establish this gas hydrate resource.

(b) to (d)       In order to exploit shale gas & Oil in the country, Government of India on 14 th October, 2013  announced  the  Policy  Guidelines  for  Exploration  and  Exploitation  of  Shale  Gas  and  Oil by National Oil Companies (ONGC and Oil India Limited (OIL)) in their onland Petroleum Exploration License (PEL) / Petroleum Mining Lease (PML) areas   awarded under the nomination regimes.

In  pursuance of this  Policy,  under the first  phase  of  assessment  ONGC  has  identified and initiated shale gas and oil   exploration activities in 50 PEL/PML areas and OIL has identified and initiated shale gas exploration activities in 6 PEL/PML areas. The State-wise details of the identified shale gas blocks are given below:

| S. No .   | State/UT                  |   Number of Blocks |
|-----------|---------------------------|--------------------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh            |                 10 |
| 2         | Arunachal Pradesh         |                  1 |
| 3         | Assam                     |                  8 |
| 4         | Gujarat                   |                 28 |
| 5         | Tamil Nadu and Puducherry |                  9 |
|           | Total                     |                 56 |

So far ONGC has drilled 18 assessment wells for Shale gas and oil.

Government of India has not allocated any fund for these projects . However, ONGC/OIL are carrying out  shale  gas  exploration  at  their  sole-risk.  During  last  three  years  2013-16,  ONGC  and  OIL  have made an expenditure of Rs. 192.08 crore on shale gas exploration.

In  order  to  promote  exploration  and  exploitation  of  unconventional  hydrocarbon  resources  such  as CBM, shale oil & gas, Government has recently approved a Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) wherein companies can explore and produce all kind of hydrocarbons including shale oil/gas, CBM & gas hydrate, etc. under single license.

(e):    The  exploration  &  production  of  non-conventional  hydrocarbon  has  to  comply  with  the provisions  of  Forest  (Conservation)  Act-1980,  Environment  (Protection)  Act-1986  and  such  other guidelines/rules stipulated by Ministry of Environment & Forest on the lines similar to the exploration & production of conventional hydrocarbons.

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