India story of Shale or Shame

As has been the case always, India is only doing a catching up in terms of Shale oil & gas exploration. With USA already reeling under the excess gas production ever in its history, and China going ahead with its second round of bidding for Shale gas exploration. India finally woke up to the possibility of exploration options and hence has prepared a draft policy, which is available for comments on the Ministry of OIl's website.

With the recent power crisis, brining the energy crisis into limelight the shale gas development becomes all the more significant and lot of eyes will remain glued to the way things shape up.

The whole process in a very nascent stages, since at this time even the likes of "Yours sincerely" is also aspiring to bid for the shale gas, India has to be really cautious about the way forward.

One of the most important aspects associated with Shale gas is the (the Nuclear related issue as well) is the long term liability of the developers associated with shale gas development. Also the NELP exloration bidding processes and the tussle between Government and Reliance in the releasing the pending payments to Reliance stand as a big lesson for any party involved in the overall process.

Shale gas is a resources which if not properly regulated may cause immense harm to the surrounding ecology. Some of the most important aspects in shale gas development are surrounding water usage viz. a) Water consumption, b) Stability of the underground water, c) Possibility of various chemicals seeping into the existing water resources. Water consumption is one of the highest in the exploration of shale, and the possibility of re-cycling and re-usage of water is minimal, and hence with all the hue and cry surrounding water availability and usage, how would the developer mitigate the water shortages would be somthing to look out to.

With India already reeling under huge water crisis, it'd be interesting to see the guidelines that Environment ministry would develop to keep a check on Shale gas development.

PNGRB which is the regulatory board surrounding shale gas development as well hasn't had a successful record in exploration and development of a gas based economy in India. The city gas distribution and the NELP exploration possibilities which started with such great hopes have remained only hopes, with the latter alone seeing some success in the form of KG D-6 discovery by Reliance, which of late again has become dud.

With so many stakes and stakeholders involved, I guess it'd not be a problem even if India continues to go on its snail pace in the development of shale gas, since, no one wishes to have a shale gas reservoir drying up the total water in his vicinity and then blaming the private parties for their melancholy towards environment.

Wishing that it'd not be another story of lost opportunity for India.