Memorandum of Understanding between India and United States for cooperation in gas hydrates

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and the United States for cooperation in gas hydrates for a period of five years. Cooperation with the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) in the field of gas hydrates, will facilitate active participation of the National Gas Hydrate Programme (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. 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. Cooperation with the USDOE in the field of gas hydrates, will facilitate active participation of the NGHP and DOE scientists in data collection, analysis and identification of sites for pilot production testing, under the planned NGHP Expedition-02 and 03 in deep water areas of the Eastern, Western and Andaman Sea. Background:  The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has formulated the 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. 20 sand prone sites are planned to be cored and 40 wells are planned to be drilled. Based on this data, sites for pilot production testing will be identified and production planned to be carried out under Expedition - 03.