India to hold shale gas auction before 2012
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
NEW DELHI, Oct 19 (Commodity Online): India announced plans to auction for exploring shale gas in the country.
According to country's Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan the auctions will be held before 2012.
Technology to extract gas from shale involves drilling multiple horizontal wells and using hydraulic fracturing to release gas from tight reservoirs, and has transformed the US energy market in recent years.
While shale formations have proven to be promising, they are expensive to develop and environmentally sensitive. A handful of Indian companies are interested in exploring for the naturally available gas.
State-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp had announced in September that it had drilled the first exploratory shale gas well in eastern India
According to country's Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan the auctions will be held before 2012.
Technology to extract gas from shale involves drilling multiple horizontal wells and using hydraulic fracturing to release gas from tight reservoirs, and has transformed the US energy market in recent years.
While shale formations have proven to be promising, they are expensive to develop and environmentally sensitive. A handful of Indian companies are interested in exploring for the naturally available gas.
State-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp had announced in September that it had drilled the first exploratory shale gas well in eastern India