India and US to join hands for gas hydrates

The Union Cabinet on September 24, 2014, gave its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and the US for cooperation in gas hydrates for a period of five years. The MoU is expected to help India explore gas hydrates potential in the country and identify sites for pilot production testing.
 
Gas hydrates are considered as vast resources of natural gas and are known to occur in marine sediments on continental shelf margins. Worldwide work on gas hydrates is at a research and development stage and no commercial exploitation has so far been reported. Gas hydrate resources in India are estimated at 1894 TCM and these deposits occur in Western, Eastern and Andaman offshore areas.
 
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has formulated the National Gas Hydrate Programme (NGHP) in 2000. NGHP Expedition-01 launched in 2006, had established presence of gas hydrates in KG and Mahanadi basins and Andaman deep waters. NGHP Expedition-02 and 03 are under advanced stage of planning and are due in the period 2014-2017.
 
Cooperation with the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) in the field of gas hydrates is expected to facilitate active participation of the NGHP and DOE scientists in data collection, analysis and identification of sites for pilot production testing. “This would be under the planned NGHP Expedition-02 and 03 in deep water areas of the Eastern, Western and Andaman Sea. Exchange of scientific and technical information will help Indian scientists enhance understanding of Indian gas hydrates and keep them abreast with international developments,” said a PIB press release.