India has 49% more than earlier estimated oil and gas reserves, says report

Current estimate pegs reserves at 42 bn tonnes against 28.09 bn tonnes projected in 1996

India has 42 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (BTOE) reserves, according to a new assessment, done after 22 years.

The Mumbai Offshore and Krishna-Godavari basins will continue to hold the key to the country’s energy future with the maximum reserves. 

The current estimate is 49 per cent higher than the last assessment, which projected, in 1996, around 28.09 BTOE in 15 sedimentary basins including onshore, shallow water and deep-water areas.

The current report by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) is based on in-place resources, around 41.872 BTOE, in 26 sedimentary basins.

Of this, around 29.796 billion tonnes are undiscovered hydrocarbons while the share of discovered hydrocarbons is 12.076 BTOE, the report said.

“This is based on the conventional data from companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL). The government should also bring in an independent third party to have a detailed assessment on this because it may attract more foreign investors in future rounds of oil and gas bidding,” said P Elango, chief executive officer, Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (HOEC). 

Elango said of these, onshore blocks would be more economically exploitable while to get more discoveries and monetise offshore blocks India needed big players like BP and Shell, which could bring in more technology. 

Among the 26 basins under scrutiny, Mumbai Offshore has the maximum estimated reserves of 9.646 BTOE, of which around 4.794 billion tonnes are discovered resources. 

The Krishna-Godavari basin has resources of 9.56 BTOE, followed by Assam Shelf with 6 BTOE.

“To convert such estimates into discovered resources, you need huge capital investment. Hence, the policy of the government should be to get more discoveries and promote exploration rather than getting more revenue,” said R S Sharma, former ONGC chairman.

The DGH says it consulted international experts in reassessing methodologies, based on data availability. Other basins with more than 1 BTOE of estimated reserves include Cambay (2.5), Cauvery (1.9), the Assam Arakan Fold Belt (1.6), Rajasthan (4.1), Saurashtra (1.3) and Kerala Konkan (1.2). 

This comes at a time when India rolled out the second auction for discovered small fields (DSF-II) on August 9. This is likely to bring in an investment of Rs 1 trillion, contributing about Rs 450 billion to the government as revenue. Similarly, the recently concluded Open Acreage model bidding rounds are also likely to be awarded in two weeks. Vedanta is likely to get the highest number blocks, 41, of the 55 on offer, and OIL, HOEC and ONGC the remaining ones.

Of the 26 sedimentary basins covering over 3.14 million sqkm, crude oil and natural gas are being produced only in seven basins.

After the nine rounds of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) auctions, at least 11 public sector undertakings, 58 private and 48 foreign companies marked their presence in India. At present, of the 311 exploration blocks awarded under the National Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), pre-NELP and the discovered field rounds, 178 blocks are operational.