Two major shale gas opportunities emerge as Algeria seeks to maintain its exporter status by tapping into its unconventional resources and as India prepares to unveil a new shale gas policy and open bidding for some potentially lucrative blocks in at least six major basins.
India: Shale Gas Blocks Up for Auction by December
India thinks it’s sitting on massive shale gas reserves, and while it doesn’t have the necessary hydrocarbon policy in place, we’re nearing the final stage in this and investors may find a block auction by the end of this year.
Shale Gas Reserves: Finding the Big Prizes
The US Geological Survey estimates that India has 1.6 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable shale gas in the provinces of Bombay, Cauvery and Krishna-Godavari.
Breaking this down a bit, the biggest potential is in six areas: Cambay (in Gujarat), Assam-Arakan (northeast), Gondawana (central), KG onshore (Andhra Pradesh), Cauvery onshore, and the Indo-Gangetic Basin.
The four key basins to keep an eye on based on adequate geological data are:
• Cambay Basin: Upper Paleocene-to-middle Eocene Cambay Shale, whose source rock is believed to contain great amounts of Type II kerogen (oil shale) in the basin’s southern area. Cambay has an estimated 924 billion cubic feet of gas and 31 million barrels of natural gas liquids
• Cauvery Basin: Lower Cretaceous…
