India discovers natural gas in Indian Ocean | Fusion - WeRIndia

India in a joint expedition with the US discovered large amounts of natural gas in Indian Ocean. The joint discovery conducted by the Oil Ministry of India and the Geological Survey of the US helps to meet the future energy needs.

The US Agency stated that this discovery is the first of its kind in the Indian Ocean as it has the capability to be producible. The statement also said that the region was explored for the resources from March to July of last year before the discovery. Various activities like ocean drilling, conventional sediment coring, pressure coring, downhole logging etc. were conducted by the scientists. Analysis of the features of gas hydrate deposits in the offshore of India is also performed.

Natural gas hydrates occur naturally. They are icy form of fuel. In other words, they are the mixtures of natural gas and water in the form of like ice and are found in oceans and Polar Regions. Gas hydrates are vast resources of natural gas and occur in marine sediments on continental shelf margins.

These hydrates have more amount of gas and as per the estimates the amount in these accumulations is more than the volume of all identified conventional gas resources. Earlier in last quarter of 2014, India had agreed to work together in exploring the gas hydrates in the country and recognize the locations for pilot production testing.

It is estimated that around 1,894 trillion cubic meters of gas hydrate resources are there in India. Most of these deposits are in Eastern, Western and Andaman regions. According to Walter Guidroz, USGS Energy Resources Program coordinator, this discovery not only helps to reveal the global energy reserve potential of gas hydrates but also describes the requirement of technology to produce resources in a safe way. This is due to technical challenges associated with the production of natural gas from gas hydrates.

Image Credit:- Fishermen / Indian Ocean / Zanzibar image by Esin Üstün is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Image Reference: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pamas/21729128745