Title:Geological, geophysical, geochemical and microbial studies of the Indian continental margins to decipher gas hydrates

Gas hydrate drilling programme:

The Minister, Mr. Murli Deora, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India flagged off the drill ship on April 30 from Mumbai for undertaking drilling, coring and logging activities. The drilling programme would be completed in four legs in about 115 days, at a budgeted cost of about $36 million (Rs 165.36 Crores) funded by the Oil Industry Development Board.

The drill ship "JOIDES Resolution" (Fig.7)has met with success in establishing the presence of sizeable reserves of good quality gas hydrates in the sedimentary basins of the country. According to an official release, results from a site in Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin are particularly remarkable showing a presence of 128-metre thick gas hydrate layer, the statement said. India is the third country in the world after the US and Japan to collect gas hydrate samples in its deep waters. Development of this unconventional source of energy could meet a part of India's demand for gas

Speaking on the development, Mr. Murli Deora, said, "this marks a very significant development in the country. Research and Development work is in progress to develop a commercially viable technology to produce natural gas from gas hydrates, which is so far not available anywhere in the world. Development of this unconventional source of energy could meet a large part of our ever increasing demand for gas in the decades to come."

According to the statement, the gas hydrate signatures (BSRs) were earlier seen in the seismic data and through other geo-scientific data studied in selected areas, where drilling and coring activity is now in progress. Qualitative estimates have proved the presence of large deposits in the eastern offshore (The Hindu Business Line).

Some of the figures were included to show the ongoing activity on board JOIDES Resolution during the gas hydrate drilling programme in the continental margin areas of India. Figures 8-10 show the active involvement of NGHO (DGH,ONGC,NIO, Gail, RIL, NIOT) scientists in the gas hydrate drilling programme. Figures 11-12 depict the examination of gas hydrate core recovered after drilling for and entrapped gas/gas hydrate chunks. Figures 13 and 14 depict the gas hydrate samples recovered from the KG offshore.