The document provides an overview of hydrocarbon exploration in India, including: 1. It discusses India's increasing demand for energy resources due to population growth and economic development. India imports 75% of its oil and gas needs. 2. It summarizes the status of exploration in India's sedimentary basins, including the 7 petroliferous basins where commercial hydrocarbons have been found. 3. It outlines India's estimated oil and gas resources both established and yet to be discovered, as well as strategies to increase recovery from existing fields and explore unconventional resources like shale gas.

1. Hydrocarbon Exploration-
Indian Perspective
Dr.K.SATYANARAYANA
Chair Professor (OIDB)
Institute of Remote Sensing
Anna University
Chennai

2. Demand for energy resources
Population: The number of people consuming energy or using
energy services, is increasing. The world’s population is
growing at the rate 0.9% every year . Oil and gas is the
primary source of Energy.
Economic development: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the
most commonly used indicator. In general, an increase in
GDP triggers an increase in energy demand. India’s GDP is
currently growing at the rate of 9% per
year, and this may be higher in the coming years.
Energy intensity: How much energy is required to produce
a unit of GDP.

3. Oil and Gas Demand-India
• India is the fifth largest consumer of primary energy and the
third largest consumer of oil in the Asia – Pacific region after
China and Japan.
• 75 percent of India’s primary needs of crude oil and natural
gas, like many other developing countries, are met through
imports. Hydrocarbon plays a vital role in the economic
growth of the country.
• The natural gas is preferred option for power generation as
well as for the production of nitrogenous fertilizer.

5. Energy sector-challenges
• The primary energy consumption in India is way behind that of the
other industrialized nations – India’s consumption is around 0.38
TOE per capita against 7.76 TOE of USA, and around 4 TOE in
Europe.
• Rapid growth in the energy requirement, consequent upon the
opening up of the economy has led to enormous demand on energy.
• The mismatch between demand and supply is so large that India can
ill-afford to choose one option in preference to the other.
• India would need to exploit all possible options to create reasonably
large capacity base on the energy side.
• It needs to extract through all possible means of energy wherever
possible.

6. Demand-supply scenario
The mis-match between demand and supply is so large that India can
ill-afford to choose one option in preference to the other. India would need
to exploit all possible options to create reasonably large capacity base on
the energy side.
It needs to:
1. Expand manifold the coal production
2. Extract through all possible means, the oil and gas reserves,
wherever possible.
3. Resort to import of coal, acquire oil and gas reserves abroad
4. Will need to continue substantial dependence on import of oil, and
exploit fully the large hydro electric potential

7. History of Oil Exploration in India
• India’s oil search began in 1866: Mr. Goodenough of Mckillop Steward Co. drilled
a well near Jaypore in Upper Assam, and struck oil- which was not commercial.
This was followed by the Digboi discovery in 1889 in the same province.
• The search for oil after the country’s independence was a marginal success
with the discovery of the Naharkotiya and Moran field in 1953 and 1956
respectively in Upper Assam.
• The country made rapid strides in hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation,
after the setting up of the public sector oil company, ONGC in 1956, A
number of oil and gas fields were discovered by ONGC since its inception.
• Seven petroliferous basins (Cambay, Rajasthan, Bombay Offshore, Upper
Assam- Assam Arakan Fold Belt, Krishna-Godavari, Cauvery and Mahanadi) have
so far been discovered.

8. Sedimentary Basins of India

11. Categorisation of Indian sedimentary Basins
from Hydrocarbon Exploration point of view

12. Status of Exploration for Oil and
Gas in India
• Out of the 26 sedimentary basins,
• 7 are now petroliferous (Category-I)
• 2 have non-commercial hydrocarbons –Kutch offshore, and
Andaman (Category-II)
• In the remaining basins which are classified as prospective
(Category-III) and potentially prospective (Category-IV), the
exploration work so far carried out have failed to prove
hydrocarbon prospectivity

13. Exploration and production
paradigms in India
Most of the large sized fields are already in a state of decline.
Challenges are:
Improve recovery factors through IOR/ EOR as rising crude costs now
make many schemes viable.
Go in for exploration of unconventional plays such as:
• Tight Gas
• Shale Gas
• Basin Centered gas
• Basement Oil
• Biogenic Gas Plays

14. A brief on the well explored Indian
Basins

15. Cambay Basin
• Cambay Basin – a rift basin, is one of the
significant crude oil and natural gas
producing areas.
• Exploratory drilling started in the year
1958, and the first discovery well Lunej-1
gave oil and gas.
• The first significant oil and gas discovery
was the field Ankaleshwar which was
discovered in 1960.
• So far more than 4500 wells have been
drilled in the basin and more than 66 oil
and gas fields have been discovered.

16. Petroleum Habitat Cambay Basin
Trap: Structural and strati-structural
Reservoirs:
Sandstone/Siltstone of,Eocene/Oligocene in
passive margin,
Miocene sandstones (mainly gas),
Olpad Formation of Paleocene age in synrift
sequence
Fractured Deccan trap volcanics
Source rocks:
Paleocene, Early and Middle Eocene shale

17. Litho-stratigraphy Cambay Basin

18. Bombay Offshore Basin
Exploration in this Basin started in the
early 70’s. Bombay High, the main field
discovered 1974-1975 have as the main
pay layered Miocene carbonates reservoirs
developed in a platform setting over a
palaeo-high and surrounded by lows to
the north and south.
The other main fields- Bassein, Panna,
Mukta and Neelam has Middle Eocene
limestone as the main pays are developed
on the rift shoulder of the Central Graben
which is a continuation of the Cambay
graben to the south

19. Bombay Offshore Basin
PETROLEUM SYSTEM
Trap:
Structural/ strati-structural
Reservoirs:
1. Limestone and dolomitic limestone
of Miocene, Oligocene and Eocene
Age
2. Clastic reservoirs of Early Eocene,
Oligocene and Miocene age
3. Fractured volcanics and granites
Source:
Paleocene-Early Eocene shales

20. Assam and Assam-Arakan Basin

21. Petroleum Habitat-Assam Basin
Trap:
Structural, strati-structural and stratigraphic
Reservoirs:
1. Fractured basement
2. Basal Sandstones, sands within Sylhet and Kopili Formation of
Eocene Age
3. Barail sandstone and Bokabil and Bhubhan sands of Oligocene age
4. Tipam and Surma sands of Miocene age.
Source: Paleocene ,Eocene and Oligocene

22. Krishna-Godavari Basin
The exploration for hydrocarbons
dates back to 1958 with geological
field mapping followed by
geophysical surveys both onland and
offshore in the 1960’s.
The first discovery well onland
Narsapur-1 was drilled in 1979 and
the first offshore discovery was made
in the 1980’s
TECTONIC MAP EXPLORATION HISTORY

23. GENERALIZED STRATIGRAPHY

24. PETROLEUM HABITAT
Traps:
1. Structural/Combination : Anticlinal, fault traps, Rollover anticlines
associated with growth faults
2. Stratigraphic Traps
Reservoirs:
1. Clastic reservoirs of Cretaceous to Pliocene age
2. Deep sea basinal fans,
3. Turbidites and incised valley fills
4. Fractured Basement
Source:
1. Primarily Early Cretaceous shales with Permian,Late Jurassic and Late
Paleocene sediments
2. Biogenic source

25. Cauvery Basin
• 1st phase started in 1964-77 based on
the encouraging results obtained from
the first deep well Karaikal 1
• Drilling holiday observed during
1977-1984
• Initial strikes in Kovilkallapal,
Narimanam, Nannilam,
Adiyakkamangalam, Kamalapuram
were made after 1984.
• The major strikes of perungalam,
Periyapattinam, kali, kuthalam,
Kizhavalur, Ramanavalsai,
Mayiladuthurai, Neyvelli etc during
1996-1999 gave a much needed boost
to the exploratory efforts to the basin
TECTONIC MAP EXPLORATION HISTORY

26. Cauvery Basin
Traps:
1. Structural/Combination –including rollover
anticlines associated with growth faults
2. Stratigraphic Traps
Reservoirs:
1. Clastic reservoirs of Cretaceous to Pliocene
age
2. Deep sea basinal fans, turbidites and incised
valley fills
3. Fractured Basement
Source Rocks: Mainly Early Cretaceous Shale
PETROLEUM HABITAT STRATIGRAPHY

27. Exploration in Rajasthan Basin
• The exploration efforts have yielded
results in discovering oil and gas of
different types & nature (heavily oil,
light oil, carbon dioxide & nitrogen
rich natural gas etc.) in 3 of sub-
baisns-Baghewala, Nanuwala and
Bakhri Tibba are some fields
• Hydrocarbons have been encountered
in sediments of all important ages.
• Production starts from Mangalam
Field

28. Mahanadi Basin
STRATIGRAPHY

29. Exploration in Kutch Basin

30. Exploration in Kutch Basin
• A number of wells have been drilled both onshore and offshore in Kutch
Basin
• Though hydrocarbon occurrence has been seen in the form of bitumen as
surface seeps, none of the on land wells encountered hydrocarbons
• Wells in the offshore have been relatively successful- e.g.GK-22, and GK-29 wells,
however, many wells have been unsuccessful primarily because of occurrence of a
tight carbonate facies
• Occurrence of thick basaltic flows has prevented the imaging of the Mesozoic
below the basalts and building up a geologic model for successful exploration
• This area holds immense potential as proper imaging could reveal the sub-
surface architecture, thickness of the sediments, facies distribution

31. Production in India
• During the year 2009-10, the total production of oil and gas in
the country was 33.7 MMT and 47.5 BCM respectively.
Company/Operator Oil (MMT) GAS (MMSCM) OEC (MMT)
ONGC 24.882 23093.05 47.97505
OIL 3.572 2413.23 5.98523
PVT/JV Companies 5.2634 21985.125 27.248525

32. Prognosticated Resources
• Out of the total prognosticated resources of 205 billion barrels
of oil and oil equivalent of gas, only 68 billion barrels have
been established as in-place reserves. There is, thus, a vast
potential of 137 billion barrels yet to be discovered oil present
in the sedimentary area of the country.
• Presently more than 75 E&P companies are operating in India.

33. Improved Recovery from Existing
Fields
• Improved Reservoir Monitoring for optimizing production and improving
recovery
• Global recovery factor from present level of 28-29 % to 35% and to 40%
over a cycle of 10 years and 15-20 years respectively
• Tackle more complex oils, more complex recovery processes, more
heterogeneous reservoirs
• Improve recovery factor
• Assess and reduce risk and uncertainties in process
• Get the best from specialized simulation tools-openness

39. Unconventional Resources
1. Coal Bed Methane (CBM) A vast CBM
reserve to the tune of 850 BCM to 8 TCM is
estimated to be locked up in Indian coals.
2. Gas Hydrates
3. Shale Gas
4. Underground Coal Gasification
5. Basin Centered Gas Accumulations

40. Unconventional Hydrocarbon
1. Gas Hydrates
• India is ranked third only after USA and Japan as regards in the area of
exploration of Methane from Methane hydrates. It has already established
the physical present of marine methane hydrates in offshore deep water of
Krishna/Godavari, Mahanadi and Andaman areas.
• Expedition was planned to visit ten sites in four areas i.e. the Kerala-
Konkan Basin, the petrolifereous Krishna-Godavari Basin and Mahanadi
Basin, and previously unexplored Andaman Islands.
The plan of expedition is to have
• Sand dominated gas hydrate areas
• Occurrence of gas hydrates in reasonably compacted sediments

41. GAS HYDRATES

43. Unconventional Hydrocarbon
2. Oil Shale
• Oil shale are fine grained sedimentary rocks containing relatively large
amount of organic matter from which significant quantities of shale oil and
gas can be extracted. The product is known as synthetic crude or
“syncrude”. Oil shale range in age form about 600Ma (Cambrian) to 25Ma
(Oligocene)
• Prospects identified in Assam-Arakan and Rajasthan Basin

44. Unconventional Hydrocarbon
3. Shale Gas
• In USA it contribute more than 17% of total gas production
• Large basinal segments available by drawing analogy from US
basins systematic approach initiated to identify, characterize
and prioritize these basins followed by focussed exploration in
one of the promising basins to assess and establish the
potential field.
• Damodar basin and Cambay basins on priority for shale gas
exploration in other basins also K.G and Cauvery basin to
evaluate the prospectivity.

45. Unconventional Hydrocarbon
4. Coal Bed Methane (CBM)
• CBM is proven technology and USA is the leader in production
• Having the 4th largest proven coal reserves and the 3rd largest coal producer
in the world India holds significant prospects for commercial recovery of
CBM.
• Commercial CBM production from Raniganj (South) since 14th July 2007
and produce 0.15 MMSCMD
• Four more blocks in Jharia field expected to commercial production.
• Bokaro & North Karanpur the exploratory activities completed prospective
areas delineated and activities of pilot phase are in progress.
• Projected Production of CBM is of the order of 7MMSCMD by 2011-12

46. Strategies for finding more oil and gas
Break from tradition - New ideas, modifying existing ones and some
out-of box- and the need to avoid the trodden path to identify new
plays.
The need to recognize patterns in successful discoveries.
Successfully analyzing failures, and learning to avoid them.
Successfully utilizing technologies, and using state of the art
technologies.

47. PETROLEUM EXPLORATION -View
“We usually, find oil in new place with old ideas. Sometimes, also,
we find oil in an old place with a new idea, but we seldom find
much oil in an old place with an old place with an old idea. Several
times in the past we have thought that we were running out of oil,
whereas actually we were only running out of ideas” P.A. Dickey
Hydrocarbon exploration is highly technology driven and needs
huge investments and continuous knowledge up gradation

48. ESTIMATED RESOURCES
• A. INITIALLY IN PLACE :
B. ESTIMATEULTIMATERECOVERY:
C. RESERVES:
OIL MBBL GAS TCF
APRIL 1999 2038 7
APRIL 2010 5967 40
APRIL 1999 513 4
APRIL 2010 1422 22
APRIL 1999 457 4
APRIL 2010 968 18

49. OIL AND GAS DISCOVERIES DURING 2006-2011
• TOTAL DISCOVERIES- 223
PRODUCING- 78
PSC: TOTAL 37 OIL AND 41 GAS
ONGC: TOTAL 13(4 OIL+9 GAS)
GSPC : TOTAL 11
CARIN + JUBIANT : 5
RIL : NEW SOURCE OF 11 OIL +
15 GAS

50. IMPORT OF CRUDE OIL(2010-2011) MMT
TOTAL IMPORT: 79.8
A.MIDDLE EAST : 53.4
IRAQ,IRAN, KUWAIT, SAUDI ARABIA
B.NORTH AFRICA : 4.2
ALGERIA,LIBIA, SUDAN
C.OTHER REGIONS: 22.0
NIGERIA,ANGOLA MALAYSIA
D.APART FROM ABOVE:
EQUATORIAL GUINNEA,BRUNNEI,TURKEY,
AUSTRALIA,CONGO

51. Thank You