Geophysical Exploration of Unconventional Hydrocarbons

Abstract

India is not an exception among the countries intensely probing for alternate unconventional hydrocarbon resources in the present day scenario of increasing demand for energy and faster depletion of conventional fossil fuel. It is estimated that in India, the prospects for unconventional hydrocarbons are more than the conventional ones; yet, due to lack of proper studies, non-availability of in-house technologies, and several other socio-economic factors, these deposits were not seriously considered for commercial production. In India’s latest energy policy and the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan,’ various incentives are given to enhance the domestic production of hydrocarbons; thus, many new initiatives are taken to boost the unconventional resources exploration program. CSIR-NGRI initiated its exploration program in 1970 with deep seismic studies. Since then, seismic exploration studies were carried out in various lignite and coal fields, i.e., in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and the Odisha state of India. In the last two decades, CSIR-NGRI made remarkable progress in unconventional resource exploration. Various prospective basins were explored using seismic reflection data to map unconventional resources like Gas hydrates, Coal Bed Methane, and Shale gas. This article presents a brief overview of seismic exploration studies being carried out at CSIR-NGRI to map unconventional hydrocarbons in the sedimentary basins of India.