Centre’s body certifies 10% of 20 TCF gas claimed as find by GSPC

The Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), which had announced the discovery 20 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna-Godavari Basin, has secured the validation of 10% of its claimed find.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), the central government's regulatory body, has certified the discovery of 2 TCF. The director-general of the DGH, Dr VK Sibal, who had come to the city to meet Narendra Modi and the GSPC chief, announced the certification. 

The GSPC said that the production of the certified discovered gas would begin by the end of 2011. “It seems that the production of gas will begin by December 2011,” Sibal said.

“But it will be very tough task because more infrastructure is required. And if the company succeeds, it can create a world record.” It is estimated that the field will generate gas worth Rs10 crore, every day, for 30 years.

But, Sibal conceded that at present the domestic production of oil and gas was yielding 30% less than what India was consuming. “Considering the pace of rise in demand, the imported oil and gas ratio will increase to 95%,” he said.

According to the DGH, India has reserves of up to 250 TCF. “I am a geoscientist and looking at the data, it seems we have reserves between 150 TCF and 250 TCF,” Sibal said. “But unless we drill and analyse, we can judge the reserves.”