It’s Now Or Never? Government Urges Oil Companies To Hasten Efforts To Realise Shale Oil, Gas Potential

The government has asked Indian oil and gas companies to submit a plan to speed up exploration efforts to ascertain the country’s shale oil and gas potential, reports Reuters.

Though the government had allowed ONGC and Oil India to explore shale gas in the blocks they own in March 2013, the firms have failed to make any serious headway. It was also reported in 2016 that ONGC would invest Rs 700 crore to explore 17 shale gas and oil wells in both east and west coasts.

In January 2019, India’s oil and gas regulator, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had held a meeting with representatives from various private and government companies asking them to explore shale resources in the oil and gas blocks that they already own.

“The idea is to bring shale on the map of India or just close the chapter once and for all within three years,” said a source to Mint. “A joint group plan is also being explored which will act as a platform of knowledge and infrastructure sharing which could help in expediting shale development,” another source added.

Rising Demand

With the successful implementation of the NDA government’s Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), India is now the second largest consumer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the world. However, this substantial growth in demand has led to an increase in imports. The county imports almost half of its annual gas requirements.

“India is heavily investing in building LNG import terminals and pipelines to import and supply gas across the country. Local production is rising at a pace not enough to meet the rising domestic demand, India will continue to need import,” said Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in June 2018.

PM Modi has also proposed to turn India into a gas-based economy and increase the share of gas in the country's energy mix from 6.5 per cent currently to 15 per cent by 2030.

Also Read: Rising Fuel Prices: Clearly, A Sound Energy Policy Is What India Needs Today