India until today-Petroleum Industry

With a population close to 1.37 billion, India strives hard to meet the increase in demands of every industry. Petroleum industry is in spotlight, as it marks as a means to measure the development of a country. Petroleum was first found in the town of Digboi in the state of Assam in the year 1889. And has since then, contributed as a major energy source for the country. Today, Oil and Gas contributes about 34.4% to primary energy consumption in India. As per BP Energy Outlook 2016, India's energy consumption is projected to grow at 4.2% per annum till 2035, faster than all major economies in the world.

Production, which seemed dull during the early stages, is now in full swing. With huge focus on reserves such as, Natural gas, Shale Gas, Coal Bed Methane, Oil reserves and Gas hydrate resources. At the beginning of 2015, India had 54 Trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, 96 TCF of technically recoverable shale gas resources and CBM about 9.8 TCF. Approximately 34% of these total reserves are located onshore, while 66% are offshore. As for the Oil reserves, India held nearly 635 MMT of proven oil reserves at the beginning of 2015, mostly in the western part of the country. About which, 49% of reserves are onshore resources, while 51% are offshore. Two world class gas hydrate reservoirs had been discovered in ultra-deep waters of KG basin under national gas hydrate programme-2, opening new avenues for alternative resources.

        (from top-left: ONGC - Karaikal, Kakinada, Mizoram, Mumbai High)

India’s energy demand grows at 3.2% per year, forcing Import as the temporary solution. Oil imports constituted about 81% of total domestic Oil consumption during the year 2015-2016. The Oil imports next year, 2017 October, increased by 27.89%, equivalent to 9029 billion US dollars. Thus, India has begun to be known as the fourth largest LNG importer after Japan, South Korea and China. It is also the second largest Refiner in Asia. India stands after US and China, in terms of Oil and Gas consumption, which increased by 8.3% in 2016.

To amount up to the increasing demand and consumption, the country has offered the following appraisal. An appraisal of 1.5 million sq. km. of un-appraised areas by capturing 2D seismic survey data for 48243 Line Kilometre (LKM) for onshore areas of 22 sedimentary basins, to be acquired by ONGC (40835 LKM) and OIL (7408 LKM). It plans to harness the 60% of the untouched reserves, amounting to 28,000 MMT. And also devise suitable plans for the 48% of the country’s sedimentary area, which is yet to be explored.  With potential to rank the highest among all major economies, India must aim high, maintain balance of imports and focus on more such significant developments in this field, to make the outcome possible.                                 

 By: Bilal Hussain              

             
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