Shale gas: A non-conventional hydrocarbon as future energy resource of India

Shale gas, despite being trapped in low permeability horizons, has gained a big boom in recent years that can be utilized to partially meet the ever increasing demands of the conventional natural gas. The major assets of hydrocarbon potential are widely distributed over India. The Brahmaputra valley of NE India, the Cambay region of Gujarat coast, the west coast offshore and the east coast offshore regions are the potential areas from where the maximum hydrocarbon is tapped. In India approximately two-third production is shared by the offshore regions while the rest is contributed by the onshore regions. The average annual production of oil and gas does not meet the demands hence, dependency lies more on imports. The projected demand may increase many fold by the end of this decade. The continuous increase in demand leaves no option except to enhance R&D activities in order to explore extensively for the unconventional resources namely Coal Bed Methane, Tight reservoirs, Shale Gas, Underground Coal Gasification, Gas Hydrates etc. Except the Coal Bed Methane and the Shale Gas, the knowledge and efforts towards other alternate resources are still in preliminary stage. The present study aims to highlight the importance of Shale Gas in filling the gap between demand and supply in the Cambay basin.