{"id":1630,"date":"2018-08-21T16:58:35","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T11:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=1630"},"modified":"2018-08-21T16:58:35","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T11:28:35","slug":"unconventional-hydrocarbons-21-aug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/unconventional-hydrocarbons-21-aug\/","title":{"rendered":"Unconventional Hydrocarbons 21 Aug"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Unconventional Hydrocarbons:-<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Union Cabinet has approved the policy to permit exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons such as Shale oil\/gas, Coal Bed Methane (CBM) etc.<\/li>\n<li>It will be carried out under the existing Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs), CBM contracts and Nomination fields to encourage the existing Contractors in the licensed\/leased area to unlock the potential of unconventional hydrocarbons in the existing acreages.<\/li>\n<li>This policy will enable the realization of prospective hydrocarbon reserves in the existing Contract Areas which otherwise would remain unexplored and unexploited.<\/li>\n<li>With this policy dispensation, new investment in Exploration and Production (E&amp;P) activities and chances of finding new hydrocarbon discoveries and resultant increased domestic production thereof is expected.<\/li>\n<li>Exploration and exploitation of additional hydrocarbon resources is expected to spur new investment, impetus to economic activities, additional employment generation and thus benefitting various sections of society.<\/li>\n<li>This will lead to induction of new, innovative and cutting-edge technology and forging new technological collaboration to exploit unconventional hydrocarbons.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Shale gas:-<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In preliminary studies, \u2018in place\u2019 probable Shale gas resources in the range of 100-200 TCF in 5 Indian sedimentary basins have been assessed by various international agencies.<\/li>\n<li>Presence of Shale oil\/gas has a strong possibility in basins such as Cambay, Krishna- Godavari (KG), Cauvery etc. where mature organic rich Shale exist.<\/li>\n<li>With the approval of this policy, there will be complete shift from \u2018One hydrocarbon Resource Type\u2019 to \u2018Uniform Licensing Policy\u2019 which is presently applicable in Hydrocarbon Exploration &amp; Licensing Policy (HELP) and Discovered Small Field (DSF) Policy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is Coal Bed Methane (CBM)?:-<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is natural gas found in coal seams.<\/li>\n<li>It mainly consists of Methane (CH4) with minor amounts of nitrogen, carbon dioxide and heavier hydrocarbons like ethane.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is the present scenario of CBM resources in India?:-<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The government has identified 26,000 square km of area for CBM operation with total estimated CBM Resources of 2,600 billion cubic meters (91.8 TCF).<\/li>\n<li>India has fourth largest proven coal reserves in the world.<\/li>\n<li>It has significant prospects for exploiting CBM.<\/li>\n<li>The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in consultation with Ministry of Coal has identified around 26,000 sq.km area for the operation of CBM.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is Open Acreage License Policy (OALP)? :-<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>OALP was introduced vide a Cabinet decision of the Government in 10th March 2016as part of the HELP or Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy<\/li>\n<li>Under Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), a bidder intending to explore hydrocarbons like oil and gas, coal bed methane, gas may apply to the Government seeking exploration of any new block<\/li>\n<li>Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) gives an option to a company to select the exploration blocks on its own without waiting for the formal bid round from the Government.<\/li>\n<li>OALP is part of the strategy to make India a business and investor friendly destination and cut import dependence by 10%.<\/li>\n<li>Achieve the goal to double the existing oil production from current 80 million metric tons to about 150-155 million metric tons by 2022.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What are Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy? :-<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP).<\/li>\n<li>Under HELP, the companies will be able to tap other hydrocarbons including shale gas.<\/li>\n<li>Four main facets of this policy are:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>Uniform license for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbon,<\/li>\n<li>An open acreage policy,<\/li>\n<li>Easy to administer revenue sharing model and<\/li>\n<li>Marketing and pricing freedom for the crude oil and natural gas produced.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>What are the advantages of CBM as a fuel?:-<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>CBM is an environmentally safe gas: Methane has been labelled as a Green House Gas (GHG) by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).<\/li>\n<li>Using CBM as a fuel will halt methane emission into environment and thus reducing emission of greenhouse gas from coal mining.<\/li>\n<li>Extraction of CBM prior to coal mining activities makes mining activities safer by degassing the coal seams.<\/li>\n<li>Extraction of CBM would help in increasing the domestic gas production. Currently, contribution of CBM to domestic natural gas production is 1.6%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What are the Issues related to Coal Bed Methane?:-<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Despite the huge reserves, a mismatch exists between estimated resources and gas in-place.<\/li>\n<li>The following are some of the issues with respect to the simultaneous operations of Coal Bed Methane and coal mining by multiple owners:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol>\n<li>There is a possibility of damage of gas wells resulting in explosive atmosphere in coal mines during simultaneous extraction of coal and CBM in the same vertical boundary by two different owners.<\/li>\n<li>Multiple ownership for simultaneous exploitation may not be desirable for the life, health and safety of the workers employed in such mines.<\/li>\n<li>Simultaneous operation over the same leasehold area requires the development of Safe Operating Procedures (SOP) for each operation based on assessments of risks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unconventional Hydrocarbons:- The Union Cabinet has approved the policy to permit exploration and exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbons such as Shale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[199,423,392,390,613],"class_list":["post-1630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-studies-ii","tag-news","tag-triumphias-news-plus","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc","tag-upsc","tag-vikashvani"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1631,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions\/1631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}