Govt will unveil shale gas exploration policy in a month: Oil Minister

19 Feb 2013 Evaluate

To utilize the unconventional hydrocarbon resource to meet the growing energy needs, India will unveil a shale gas exploration policy in a month. Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said 'we have received comments on the draft shale gas exploration policy that we had floated. We are now in the process of putting out a note for the consideration of the cabinet and hopefully in a month time we will be able to announce the shale gas policy'.

Shale gas or natural gas trapped in sedimentary rocks (shale formations) below the earth's surface is seen as a new alternative to conventional oil and gas for meeting growing energy needs. Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade, and now interest has spread to potential gas shale’s in Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia. 

The government is also planning to launch its first auction of shale gas block by 2013-end on terms that are expected to be remarkably different from bid rounds for oil and gas blocks. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), the Oil Ministry's technical arm, has proposed to offer areas for exploration shale gas on royalty and production-linked payments to the government. As per the available data, six basins hold shale gas potential including Cambay (Gujarat) and Assam-Arakan (the North-East) among others.

As per Veerappa Moily, oil ministry is working on a new policy for exploiting gas lying below coal seams, called Coal-Bed Methane. Moily said that he has formed an expert committee under Vijay Kelkar to suggest roadmap for cutting India's dependence on imports to meet its oil needs. India currently imports around 79 percent of its oil needs and the Ministry wants this to be cut to 50 percent by 2020 and by 75 percent in 2025 through intensive exploration and exploitation of untapped reserves.

Moreover, the draft shale gas policy does not permit cost recovery and hence profit sharing as these two features came under criticism by the CAG in its audit report on Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block. As per the DGH's draft policy, the government’s share of production will be net of all statutory dues and will also focus on minimizing the government intervention, removing complications in accounting and incentive for gold plating, which may occur while allowing profit sharing based on cost recovery.

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