Gas Hydrate Potential of the Indian Sector of the NE Arabian Sea and Northern Indian Ocean

Abstract

There is an increasing gap between the demand for natural gas and its availability in India, which is endowed with only limited conventional methane deposits. In 1997 India produced about 70% of its own methane. Today India produces less than 50% of its own methane. In 2005 it is anticipated that India will produce no more than 36% and by 2010 no more than about 25% of its own methane demands unless new indigenous sources of methane can be identified. Presently the production of gas in India is around 58 million m³/day, and demand is likely to expand to about 285 million m³/day. As there is thought not to be a high likelihood of finding new conventional methane sources in the foreseeable future, India will have to either considerably scale back plans for industrialization and suppress consumer demand or meet its energy requirements from some other source, such as nuclear energy. India could also import methane or develop indigenous methane from unconventional sources, such as: (i) Coal-bed methane; (ii) Gas hydrate; (iii) In-situ coal gasification.