Rs 213cr Govt Plan To Tap Gas Reserves
The government has stepped up its efforts to tap the vast reserves of gas hydrates (of methane) by deciding to launch the first phase of the four-phase Rs 213 crore National Gas Hydrate Programme.
The petroleum ministry held a high-level meeting yesterday to decide on the award of a contract to carry out a seismic survey of the potential offshore areas using a special technology called the deep towed acoustics geophysics system (DTAGS).
Trapped gas hydrates are found in shallow ocean floors in the form of crystalline solids, called Calthrates. These consist of methane molecules bounded together by a cage of hydrogen, which can easily be retrieved and broken into hydrogen and methane, both of which can be used as an energy source.
Preliminary studies undertaken by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), the National Geographical Research Institute (NGRI) and the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) have revealed the seismic evidence of the presence of gas hydrates both on the eastern and western shores of India.
Yuri Makogon, a professor with Texas A&M University and an internationally renowned hydrate expert, who was in India recently at the invitation of ONGC, reviewed the seismic data collected by the KD Malaviya Institute of Petroleum Exploration, Dehra Dun, and confirmed the presence of gas hydrate deposits in Andaman and Konkan regions.
He said that amongst all the countries of the world, India is best positioned for the exploration of gas from gas hydrates because of highly favourable geological conditions, economic considerations, well-developed cadres of geoscientists and petroleum engineers.
For India, Makogon recommended DTAGS whose main components are an acoustics source capable of producing high-intensity, low-frequency signals at any ocean depth and a linear array of hydrophones capable of being towed near the bottom for maximum resolution.
Though no authentic figure is available, it is being widely believed even in official circles that these reserves are sufficient to meet Indias energy needs for another 400 years.
The available gas hydrate reserves the world over are said to be over a hundred times more than those of natural gas, its closest comparison.
The problem is about the technology to tap this energy source. The world over, there are only a handful of organisations which have done some useful work in this field. The technology, though still in the nascent stage, is making rapid progress with more organisations looking at this source of energy.
One such organisation is US defence departments Naval Research Laboratory with which GAIL has entered into a partnership to launch a joint research programme for gas hydrates. The project, once it takes off, will also be the first Indo-US joint research of its kind on a new energy source.
The Indian government has set up an expert committee consisting of I L Budhiraja, advisor (technology), GAIL, Kuldeep Chandra, director (exploration), ONGC, and M N Bhatnagar, deputy general manager, DGH, to recommend a framework of the gas hydrate development programme to be undertaken in India which would ultimately lead to an investment decision for taking up commercial production of gas from gas hydrates.