A team of scientists have reportedly identified a potential gas hydrate zone in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, which is already known for having India's largest natural gas reserves. There are reports that in paper published in Journal of Earth System Sciences recently, scientists had stated that the sediments located 450 metres below seabed at offshore KG basin may be a potential host of gas hydrates.
Gas Hydrates are ice-like structures mainly comprising methane gas trapped in water. The gas in hydrates is being isolated for energy purposes and these findings have been done experts from the National Institute of Oceanography, National Centre for Antarctica Research in Goa and Andhra Pradesh State Ground Water Department in the offshore regions located close to Visakhapatnam, Ongole and Pondicherry.
It is estimated that gas hydrate reserves of India are nearly 1,500 times more when compared to natural gas reserves and simply exploiting 10 percent of the reserves is expected to power the country for a century.
This technology is expected to be rolled out within the next decade which can be seen as a shot in the arm for Seemandhra region, in case it is used properly and in case it doesn't go into private monopoly like what CBN did for Reliance company in the year 2000.
