Data repository for Indian basins by 2010

A much-needed "integrated data repository" for Indian basins will become a reality by 2010, according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH).

"The idea is to know the hydrocarbon potential of the country, to plan the future energy basket. The data has been pretty disintegrated till now, and this model will help in collating it," VK Sibal, director general of DGH told Business Standard.

The comprehensive data will also help in understanding the generation, migration and entrapment of hydrocarbons, as well as the evolution of Indian basins.

It will be specially useful to those that have started exploration and prospective work and those planning to do so in the oil and gas sector. Indian basins are largely unexplored and one of the reasons for it is the unavailability of data.

For example, around 260,000 sq km of the Deccan Syneclise basin is yet to be explored. "No new technology has been applied, nor has any local data been integrated for exploration and production purposes in India," said Sibal.

"By integrating the data, we can increase the exploration and production work in India. We have to get a data repository to be seen by the academia and the industry," he added.

DGH has also underlined the need for a services company in the exploration and production sector for maximum value addition. "We need specialised companies for drilling, geo-physical, logging, work-over and reservoir work purposes," Sibal said.