The Government of India will put in place a regulatory regime for licence rounds for shale gas by December 2013, the Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Jaipal Reddy, has said.
India is “seriously pursuing” the development of shale gas in the country, Mr Reddy said at the third Turkmenistan Gas Congress, Awaza, Turkmenistan, on Wednesday. He told the audience that India has undertaken mapping of shale gas reserves in the country.
While also apprising the audience of the four licence rounds held for coal bed methane and the subsequent commencement of production of CBM at Raniganj, West Bengal, Mr Reddy said that he looked forward to “working with international companies having the requisite experience and expertise in this field.”
The Minister also told his audience, which comprised Mr Baymrat Hojamuhamedov, Deputy Chairman, Cabinet of Ministers, Turkmenistan, Mr B Nedirov, Minister of Oil and Gas Industry and Mineral Resources, Turkmenistan, Mr Wahidullah Shahrani, Minister of Mines, Afghanistan, Mr Asim Hussain, Federal Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Pakistan and Mr Sahatmyrad Mammevov, Chairman, National Oil Company, TurkmenGaz, that India’s natural gas consumption would grow from 166 MMSCMD today to 473 MMSCMD by 2017.
Similarly, LNG re-gasification capacity will go up from 13.5 million tonnes to 48 million tonnes by 2017.
As a consequence of this, there will be a greater need for gas pipelines to transport the gas, too. The gas pipeline network in India today is 13,000 km long. By 2017, it will be 31,757 km, capable of carrying 876 MMSCMD of gas, compared with 334 MMSCMD now.
Mr Reddy also said that the New Exploration Licensing Policy that was launched in 1997-98 has seen investments of $14.2 billion and has resulted in 87 oil and gas discoveries. Three NELP blocks have been put on production, he said.
Mr Reddy was in Turkmenistan for the occasion of signing of the Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement between GAIL and TurkmenGaz. “We re-affirm our commitment to the early operationalisation of the TAPI gas pipeline project,” the Minister said.