This document discusses shale gas production in the United States, China, and India. It provides historical context on the development of shale gas extraction technologies in the US. While the US has seen a boom in shale gas production due to supportive policies and technological innovations, China has faced challenges replicating US success due to lack of experience, high costs, environmental concerns, and need for further technological development to access reserves deeper underground. India has significant shale gas reserves but also faces hurdles around infrastructure, regulations, and adapting extraction technologies to its geological conditions and water availability. Indian companies have invested in US shale production to gain experience that could help develop India's shale gas potential.

1. Shale GAS: A look into the past to leap into the future
Apurva Mittal, Riya Giri & Sanjeev Sharma
M.B.A. (Energy & Infrastructure) 2014-16
School of Petroleum Management
Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University
Off Koba-Gandhinagar Highway
Raisan, Gandhinagar- 383007
Gujarat, India
E-mail: apurvamittal91@gmail.com
riya.giri09@gmail.com
sanjivsharma.89@gmail.com
KEYWORDS: Market balance, Hydraulic Fracturing, Horizontal Drilling, Shale Gas
ABSTRACT:
The term "shale gas" refers to "ordinary" natural gas which is characterized by an atypical
geological location. Shale gas is generally found several thousand meters beneath the surface,
in the seal or cap rock.
United States has witnessed an extraordinary boom in Shale gas in the past decade. The
reasons for this remarkable growth of shale gas production are promotional government
policies, technology innovations and DOE Programs, collaboration of technological expertise
from engineers, geologists and other field professionals.
On the other hand looking at China’s perspective, it can be predicted that shale gas is not
going to revolutionize the energy scenario anytime soon The reason being lack of experience
and technology for exploiting shale among new firms scrambling to enter the sector.
Taking the Indian perspective into consideration, its sedimentary basins have a huge potential
of shale oil reserves. Experts agree that India needs a “bridge fuel” and shale gas could be
just that. The Government of India, along with Indian companies, is undertaking various
initiatives to accelerate the development of shale gas reserves in the country. But the potential
shale gas reserves have been overshadowed by those of conventional gas due to lack of
technology, framework & policies to explore the same. India has a long way to go to identify
the real potential of Shale gas rich basins, acquire the necessary experience and technology
for its exploitation.
The paper will first provide the technology history of shale gas development. It will try to
establish the reasons for failure of china in replicating the success stories of the US shale gas

2. which revolutionised the Oil & Gas sector and emerged as the new market balance. Finally
the paper will be looking into the major social, political, economical and environmental
hurdles in India’s road ahead and suggest solutions.
INTRODUCTION:
Growing energy independence of the United States is largely the result of shale oil and
gas which has the potential to change the global geostrategic landscape, testing the
country's engagement with the world, including the Middle
East and Europe. A self-sufficient US will likely have fewer strategic interests in the
Middle East and other sensitive, energy-rich parts of the world, and will likely feel less
vulnerable to developments beyond its borders.
Shale gas accounted for only 1.6 percent of total US natural gas production in 2000,
but this percentage had jumped to 4.1 percent by 2005 and to an astonishing 23.1
percent by 2010.
This remarkable growth of shale gas production in the United States has spurred
increasing interest in exploring shale resources in other areas of the world.
Evolution of Shale Gas:
During the Devonian Period, today’s thick shales were being deposited as fine silt and clay
particles in swamps, and with time and pressure, organic matter (plants and animals) buried
with the sediments created methane, one of today’s energy sources. Some of this methane
escaped into sandy rock layers adjacent to the shales, forming accumulations of natural gas,
which were relatively easy to extract. But most of it, which we now call “shale gas,”
remained locked in the shale layers. Has this shale gas so quickly become a has-been? Not so.
After lying dormant for hundreds of millions of years, this shale gas resurfaced in the first
well producing natural gas from shale in 1821. Since that day, industry professionals have
been searching for ways to make the extraction process more efficient.
In the 1970s and ‘80s, fear of dwindling U.S. natural gas resources prompted researchers to
develop methods to estimate the volume of gas in “unconventional natural gas reservoirs”
such as gas shale, tight sandstones, and coal seams, as well as research in extraction methods.
The research led to the first, publically available estimates of technically recoverable gas for
gas shales in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. Because petroleum and natural gas that
come from these reservoirs were challenging to extract, their recovery in the ‘70s and ‘80s
was largely uneconomical. Thanks to improved extraction methods, the recoverable shale gas
resources in the United States - nearly half of which lie in the Marcellus shale, a vast, 1 to 2
mile-deep rock formation stretching from southern New York through Pennsylvania, western
Maryland, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia - are now being tapped to provide much-needed
domestic energy.

3. Gas froma Marcellus Shale well in Greene County, PA is flared prior to a workover in the winter of
2010. (Photo courtesy of Tom Mroz, DOE)
US Shale boom
The "shale revolution" has stimulated tremendous production of oil and natural gas in the
United States. The revolution is the product of advances in oil and natural gas production
technology—notably, a new combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
These technological advances combined with high oil and gas prices have enabled increased
production of the abundant oil and natural gas resources in the United States.
Greater availability of domestic energy resources benefits the United States by reducing
dependence on imported energy and diversifying the economy. But the boom also brings
along new vulnerabilities. Examining how changes in U.S. oil and natural gas production
may affect individual state economies shows that some of the states providing new energy
resources are becoming less economically diversified and more economically vulnerable to
energy price declines.
China’s Struggle for Shale Production:
In 2012, Ministry of Land and Resources declared that a nationwide shale gas resources
survey has found credulous shale reserves of predictable 25.08 trillion cubic metres.
Primarily, numerous appealed that China could replicate the shale gas push in the United
States. However, current sentiment is no longer quite so positive. For instance, the third
round of bidding for exploration rights planned for late last year has been deferred. The
deferral is assumed to be due to difficulties met by existing licensees in accessing reserves for
exploration purposes. Shale gas reserves in China tend to be deep underground and
advancement in technology will be obligatory before much of the country’s reserves can be
commercially extracted.

4. What exploration of shale gas has taken place in China?
These enterprises who won the bidding for exploration in the country report that exploration
has been challenging due to very deep drilling depths and difficult geological operating
conditions. A large number of the companies that were awarded exploration rights have little
extraction experience, particularly in relation to drilling into the ground. MLR reports that
one such company has already sold its interest, prior to conducting any exploration. This
suggests that there may be little prospect of successful extraction in the near future. MLR had
planned a third round of tenders at the end of 2013. However, this has been delayed into 2014
due to the inactivity of the successful second round tenderers. This planned third round is
expected to offer only 8 to 10 shale fields for auction.
Source: US Energy Information Administration
Shale gas production in China – key challenges
A number of key challenges need to be overcome in order for shale gas to succeed in China.
Need for adequate infrastructure: At the exploration stage, proper drilling wells need to be
assembled. Later on, in the production phase, sufficient pipelines and access roads are
necessary for efficient extraction. This is where China falls considerably short. It does not
have the required pipelines to transport gas to where it is needed. Experts say that the
construction of adequate pipelines will be a long term process.
Costs of extraction: Shale gas in China tends to be located in mountainous, rock and desert
areas. As a result, the transportation and installation of essential equipment can be an arduous
and costly process. The average cost of drilling in China is reported to be up to 10x the

5. average cost in the United States. As shale gas will have to compete with natural gas, either
the price of natural gas will have to rise significantly or the cost of extracting shale gas will
need to fall significantly before China’s shale gas can become competitive.
Environmental challenges: Environmental concerns also bring about considerable risk to
those entering the shale gas market, and those who do must be prepared to mitigate these
risks. For instance, China lacks a steady supply of water due to drought conditions, and water
is essential in the process of hydraulic fracturing. The proposed alternative is the use of
chemically diluted water but this will raise environmental risk, particularly with regards to
ground water contamination. It is feared that since the treated water contains high amounts of
toxic chemicals, in the event of poor environmental regulation these chemicals could seep
into drinking water underground. This presents reputational risk if ground water
contamination results in bad publicity with the company having to bear the risks and the costs
of decontamination. In addition, experts report that shale gas in China contains high levels of
non-hydrocarbon gasses, which run the risk of damaging drilling equipment and air pollution.
Strict emissions standards may need to be enforced by the relevant authorities in order to
control this risk.
Technological challenges: The technology currently available to China was developed by
the United States where the drilling depth for shale is substantially shallower than is predicted
and has been found in China. In the United States, the average drilling depth is 800 – 2,600
metres compared to China where the average drilling depth is 1,500 – 4,000 metres. China is
beginning to modify and develop technology on its own through knowledge transfer gained
from overseas acquisitions and expert advice. However, at present, it appears this knowledge
is still insufficient for China to extract shale gas of any significant scale without the
assistance of foreign parties.
Regulations: A transparent and predictable regulatory framework is also essential to
developing large-scale shale gas production. This includes clear access to licenses and
Government subsidies for private companies who take the risk to invest. The Government has
been urged to introduce preferential subsidy schemes to support shale gas development but
has only so far offered limited tax benefits and easier access to credit.
Indian perspective on Shale Gas Production
The exploration and production of shale gas in the United States has been a
game changer, making the country self-sufficient in natural gas over the
last few years. This has created considerable excitement globally,
particularly in Europe. India is also looking at exploring shale gas
domestically to fill in the supply–demand gap. But will what worked for the
US also work for India? The existing technologies may help jump start shale
gas development in other countries. However, a great deal of innovations
will be needed to adapt existing technologies and to develop new
technologies to profitably exploit shale gas fields in any country where
shale gas geology and/or water resources are significantly different from

6. those in the United States One of the key determinants of the viability of
this technology is the availability of large quantities of clean water.
Present Scenario
Compared to coal,the importance of gas is growing manifolds. India should
capitalize on indigenous gas reserves which are believed to be considerably
larger than India’s oil endowment. As per the US government’s Energy
InformationAdministration found that India has just 96tcf (trillion cubic
feet) of technically recoverable shale-gas resources. However, large
offshore finds may give boost to India’s reserves significantly assuming
more discoveries are made. Present demand forNatural gas stands at 212
mmscmd (million metric standard cubic meters per day) while production
deficit is of 83 mmscmd. Gas based power plants are operating at Plant
LoadFactor of 29% while many are lying idle for want of gas and can't
operate because expensive LNG imports make electricity generation at
current prices unviable. India's 26 sedimentary basins are relatively
unexplored with potential reserves at 8935 million barrels of oil. Even
today, 15% of sedimentary areas remain unexplored which was 50% in
1996. The fledgling KG-D6 block of Reliance is producing just 14 mmscmd
against the envisaged 80 mmscmd. Rigid regulations and APM
(Administered price mechanism) have kept foreign investors with expertise
away from NELP(National Exploration and Licensing Policy) with major
blocks going to ONGC and OIL. These state-run companies don't have
incentive or the finances to innovate and expedite production with the
result that their production levels have been stagnant in last 10 years and
many new discoveries lagging years behind schedule making gas shortage
chronic.
India’s Shale Gas Reserves
India contains a number of basins with organic-rich shales, mainly the
Cambay, Krishna Godavari, Cauvery, and Damodar Valley basins. There are
some other potential reserves such as the Upper Assam, Vindhyan,
Parinhita- Godavari, and South Rewa, but it was found that either the
shales were thermally too immature forgas or the data with which to
conduct a resource assessment were not available. Shale basins in India are
geologically highly complex. Many of the basins, such as the Cambay and
the Cauvery, have horst and graben structures and are extensively faulted.
The prospective area for shale gas in these basins is restricted to a series of
isolated basin depressions (sub-basins). While the shales in these basins are
thick, considerable uncertainty exists as to whether (and what interval) of

7. the shale is sufficiently mature forgas generation. The spread & scope of
shale gas in various basin are as follows:
a) Cambay Basin
The Cambay Basin is an elongated, intra-cratonic rift basin (graben) of Late
Cretaceous to Tertiary locatedin the State of Gujarat in northwestern
India. The basin covers an onshore area of about 20,000 m2. It is bounded
on its eastern and western sides by basin-margin faults. It extends south
into the offshore Gulf of Cambay, limiting its onshore area, and north into
Rajasthan.
b)Krishna GodavariBasin
The Krishna Godavari Basin extends over a 7,800 m2 area onshore (plus
additional area in the offshore) in eastern India. The basin consists of a
series of horsts and grabens. The basin contains a series of organically rich
shales, including the deeper Permian Kommugudem Shale, which is gas
prone (Type III organics) and appears to be in the gas window in the basin’s
grabens. The Upper Cretaceous Raghavapuram Shale and the shallower
Paleocene and Eocene shales are in the oil window.
c)Cauvery Basin
The Cauvery Basin covers an onshore area of about 9,100 m2 on the east
coast of India, plus an additional area of about 9,000 m2 in the offshore.
The basin comprises numerous horsts and rifted grabens. The basin
contains a thick interval of organic rich source rocks in Lower Cretaceous
Andimadam and Sattapadi shale formations which overly the Archaean
basement. With a combined prospective area of 1005 m2 and an average
resource concentration of 143 Bcf/m2, around 43 Tcf of risked shale gas in-
place is estimated of which 9 Tcf is considered technically recoverable.
d) DamodarValley Basin
The Damodar Valley Basin is part of a group of basins collectively named
the “Gondwanas”, owing to their similar dispositional environment and
Permian-Carboniferious through Triassic stratigraphic fill. The
“Gondwanas”, comprising the Satpura, Pranhita-Godavari, Son-Mahanadi
and Damodar Basins, were part of a system of rift channels in the northeast
of the Gondwana super continent.
Along with the Cambay Basin, the Damodar Valley Basin is a priority basin
for shale gas exploration by the Indian government. In late September
2010, Indian National Oil and Gas Company (ONGC) spotted the country’s
first shale gas well, in the Raniganj sub-basin. The well was completed mid-
January 2011, having reportedly encountered gas flows fromthe Barren
Measures Shale at approximately 5,600 feet. Detailed well test or
production results are not publicly available.

8. India’s participationin the shale gas industry inthe UnitedStates
Indian companies areaggressively investing in shaleexploration in US. Indian
firms haveinvested 10billion US dollarof which reliancehas invested 7 billion US
dollar. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has madebig investments of (US$ 3.5 billion)
in the Marcellus and EagleFord shales through joint ventures with Chevron,
Carrizo, and Pioneer. Marcellus has been described as the largest discovered
unconventional gas field in theUS and one of the largest worldwide, with
estimated net recoverableresources of 318 trillion cubic feet (tcf). According to
RIL’s Annual Report for 2012–13, thebreak-even cost of shalegas production in
theUS is as low as US$ 3.50–4.00 per Million British Thermal Units(MMBtu).RIL’s
revenues from theshalegas business morethan doubled to US$ 545 million in
2012 compared to 2011.
Adani Welspun Exploration (AWEL) on 23 November 2014 announced to
invest 1.5 billion US dollar in US shale and Canadian oil sands assets.
Oil India Limited (OIL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),and GAIL India Limited have
also madeinvestments in shalegas productionin theUS. Theother interesting
contribution to shalegas development in theUS is theexport of guar gum from
India, which helps in improving theviscosity and flow of water in thefracking
process.
These forays give Indian companies important exposure to the shale-gas
business. When India opens up to this new formof unconventional gas,
these companies would not be entering an entirely new domain.
Proposed shale gas exploration policy in India
There is an obvious interest in exploring shale gas domestically, given the
enormous success in theUS. TheMinistry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
(MOPNG) has identified six basins as potentiallyshalegas bearing. Theseare
Cambay,Assam-Arakan, Gondwana, Krishna-Godavari, Kaveri, and theIndo-
Gangetic plain. The Government of India had also put out in 2012, a draft policy
for the exploration and exploitation of shalegas, inviting suggestions from the
general public, stakeholders, environmentalists, etc.
The draft policy has identified someof thewater issues in theexploitation of
shalegas:
1) Optimal exploitation of shalegas/oil requires Horizontaland Multilateral wells
and MultistageHydraulic fracturing treatmentsof stimulateoil and gas
production from shale.
2) This may requirelarge volumeof water ~3-4 million gallons per well(11,000to
15,000 cubic metres of water required for drilling/hydro fracturing depending
upon thewell typeand Shalecharacteristics).

9. 3) The water after Hydraulic fracturing is flowed back to thesurfaceand may
havehigh content of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and other contaminants
(typically contains propantsand), chemical residueoccur in many geologic
formation, mainly in shale). Therefore, thetreatment of this water before
dischargeto surface/subsurfacewater needs to bein line with theCentral/State
Ground Water Authority regulations.
4) Possibility of contaminationof Aquifer (both surfaceand subsurface) from
hydro-fracturing and fracturing fluid disposal and theneed for safeguarding the
Aquifer. Multiplecasing programmes(at least 2 casings) will bea mandatory
requirement across all sub-surface fresh water aquifers.
The government’s draft policy further suggests thatthereshould bea mandatory
rainwater harvesting provision in theexploration area, which trivializes the
extent to which water will be required. It states, “as far as possible”, river, rain or
non –potablegroundwater only should beutilized for fracking —and re-
use/recycling of water should bethepreferred method for water management.
The environmental concerns in using water for fracking havebeen considerably
downplayed and their significanceunderestimated. Further, enforcing legislation
on environmental and water issues is a problem in India, and such legislation has
been morein breach than in observance.
US Success: Biopic view for Success of Shale Gas in India
Whileit is difficult to know definitively thenecessary or sufficient conditions for
stoking a shalegas boom, a historical review of theUS experience can at least
inform theconditions that helped in achieving thesuccess. Thevarious factors
are
1) Government Policies
Starting in the late1970s, theUS government adopted a series of policies to
promotethe development of new sources of natural gas, including
unconventional sources. Thesepolicies set thestagefor theincreased production
of tight gas and coal bed methaneand, later, the boom in shalegas. The major
natural gas policies includeincentivepricing, tax credits, and R&D programs for
unconventional natural gas and policies promoting industry restructuring
2) Incentive Pricing and Tax Credit
Incentivepricing for “high-cost” natural gas from shale, coal seams, geo-
pressured brines, and any other gas was provided .Thewellhead prices for shale,
coal seams, and geo-pressured brines werederegulated on November 1, 1979.
This deregulation created a hugeadvantagefor thesefledgling gases resources.
The 1979 oil crisis led to thepassageof theCrudeOil Windfall Profit Tax Act in
1980,part of which provides tax credits for producing unconventional fuels. This
credit, which was implemented under Section 29 of theInternal Revenue Code,

10. applied not only to unconventional gas from shale, coal seams, and tight gas, but
also to biomass, geo-pressured brines, oil from shaleor tar sands, synthetic fuels
from coal, and someother fuels.
Similarly India needs to freethe gas marked from govt. control and incentivize
theexploration and production of shalegas. The differential pricing Policy needs
to be madetaking into account thevarying degreeof technical & geographical
issues of theshalereserves. Government should make reforms in Oil and Gas
sector a priority including incentives, abolishing duties and tax holidays.
Establishing a research centre for development of shale gas technologies
for the Indian geology should be the first step. Secondly, for existing
companies to make investment in Shale gas, government could move to
Revenue sharing contracts rather than Production Sharing contract (PSC)
with 60-40% or75-25% revenue sharing. Thirdly, since this is a capital
intensive sector, liberal FDI regimes and increased participation from large
global oil companies such as BP, ConocoPhillips, BHP Billiton etc should be
encouraged since they will also bring with them modern technology and
technical know-how to ramp up the gas production with ease. Fourthly,
Indian government must try and engage USA forsharing of technical data
on shale gas and its prospects in India
3) Land/Mineral Ownership
Shalegas development in theUnited States has essentially taken placein areas
with private land and minerals ownership. Privateland ownershipcontributed to
thedevelopment of shalegas in that it offered entrepreneurial natural gas firms
a method of obtaining reasonable returns from their early investments in
technology innovationsnecessary for developing a new shaleplay. Early movers
found that they could leaselarge tracts of land at low prices, and the leases
becamemorevaluableas thecost of extracting gas decreased. It is through land
acquisition, not innovations per se, that early movers obtained their financial
returns for their early investments.
In Indian prospect, theland acquisition for shalegas exploration is not a
problem as major probablefields arepresent in the existing oil & gas fields.
Indian Govt. has recently passed ordinancerelated to land acquisition which will
ease out problem of land acquisition.
4) Water Availability
Slick water fracturing of shalegas wells requires a few million gallons of water
per well. In the US, water needed for fracturing has generally been available,
although in someareas shortages area growing concern.
This is a major concern for India as India suffers from physical and economic
water scarcity. As evident from Fig.1, themajor shalegas basin lies in thesevere
scarcity region. It requires a extensivepolicy on rain water harvesting and
interlinking of rivers which will help in mitigating thescarcity of water. Indian
govt. has an extensiveplan of river interlinking.

11. 5) Natural Gas Pipeline Infrastructure
The United States already had an extensivenetwork of pipelines to transport
natural gas to market beforeshalegas became a major gas resource. Also
important was thepolicy of open access to interstatenatural gas pipelines (as
well as natural gas storagefacilities) as a result of a series of FERC orders in the
1980s and early 1990s. Interstatenatural gas pipelines previously sold pipeline
transportation and naturalgas as a bundled product, but theopen-access policy
limited interstatepipelines to offer transportationservices only, on a
nondiscriminatory first come, first served basis. This open-access policyhelped
create a morecompetitivewholesale natural gas market.
Indian Govt. has a ambitious plan of adding 15000 KMof pipelineto complete
theNational gas grid. This will facilitatethetransport of gas to themarket. Open –
access policy for national grid pipelinewill help in creating competitivewholesale
natural gas market which will encourageinvestment in Shalegas exploration.
Latest developments
The Government of India, along with Indian companies, is undertaking
various initiatives to accelerate the development of shale gas reserves in the
country. India is likely to launch the bidding forshale gas exploration toward
the end of 2013. As a part of this initiative, the government has set up a
multi-organizational team (MOT) comprising the Directorate General of
Hydrocarbons (DGH), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation(ONGC), Oil India
Limited (OIL), and GAIL (India) Limited foranalyzing the existing data set and
suggesting a methodology forshale gas development in the country.
Further, in April 2012, the DGH submitted its draft policy on exploitation of
shale gas to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG). ONGC and
OIL are aggressively implementing pilot projects to assess the shale gas
potential in the country. In addition, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and
GAIL have entered the US shale industry to gain technical expertise and may
apply that expertise in developing shale gas reserves in India.
• In January 2011, ONGC discovered shale gas in its first pilot shale gas
drilling venture in the Damodar basin. Further, the company plans to
explore shale gas potential in other promising basins in the country. To gain
expertise in this emerging industry, the company signed an agreement with
ConocoPhillips in March 2012, for cooperationin the exploration and
development of shale gas resources in India and other regions. The
company will drill 4 gas wells in Cambay basin at estimated cost of 150-200
Crores in 2013 with ConocoPhillips.
• OIL has hired Schlumberger to conduct a feasibility study of shale gas
potential in the Assam-Arakan and Rajasthan basins. OIL has acquired 20%

12. stake in Carrizo Oil and Gas Inc’s liquid rich state assets in the Denver-
Julesburg Basin in Colarado,USA in 2012.
• RIL has signed three upstream joint ventures (Chevron, Pioneer Natural
Resource and Carrizo Oil & Gas) and a midstream JV (Pioneer) for carrying
out operations in the US. RIL has invested a total of US$5.7 billion. More
than a third of gas production of Reliance is expected to come fromShale in
2013.
• GAIL signed an agreement with Carrizo Oil & Gas to acquire a 20% stake
in the latter’s Eagle Ford acreage forUS$95 million. GAIL has also signed a
20-year agreement with Cheniere Energy forthe supply of 3.5 million tons
per year of LNG.
Water basin Projections for 2030
CONCLUSION
For the financial year 2012, crude oil with $140 billion was the single largest item on the
import basket affecting the CAD(current account deficit) badly. Since 2000, India's crude
oil imports in the oil mix have risen considerably from 60% to 80% with increased
demand and insufficient domestic supplies. Buying oil assets abroad has not yielded good

13. results yet. Meanwhile, Gas supplies are dwindling as well. If gas along with coal and oil
are imported at the current rate, India will head into a major energy crisis along with a
economic crisis. India's sedimentary basins do not have sufficient crude oil to support 3.6
mb/d(million barrels per day) of oil demand. But there is the possibility of prolific
unconventional gas deposits in the country. We need to grab this opportunity of higher
domestic gas production by its horns. India being new to the shale gas game enjoys the
advantage that state-of-the-art shale gas technologies are already present in the United
States and its global oil companies. The existing technologies can jump start our shale gas
development. However, a great deal of innovation will be needed to adapt to new terrains
and modify technologies to profitably exploit shale gas resources where geology and water
availability is significantly different. Indian companies are already involved in shale gas
business in the United States and will readily invest in Indian shale gas auctions if a liberal
and conductive policy is adopted. Global oil majors with India operations could participate
as well bringing in the technologies and capital required. Moreover, with increased gas
operations, government too would extra revenue for its social programs. Indian industry
will mature and bring more business into India in the form of foreign contracts and turn-
key projects. All these activities will result in significant savings of foreign exchange and
lift GDP growth and engineering exports. Development of cutting edge technologies and
the talent pool created in association with this industry will create world class
opportunities for R&D work and technical institutes. In the process, we will be creating a
truly global gas industry and increase the ability to buy assets and businesses.
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