The Hindu Business Line : Gas reserves barely ahead of crude

According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas data, proven gas reserves as of April 2006 were sufficient to replace only 8 years consumption of crude at 2004-05 levels.

Proven reserves of crude, if recoverable at will, would suffice for six years and four months. Reserves of natural gas increased by 57 per cent over the past 15 years, because production and consumption were insignificant. With reserves just inching ahead of production, and consumption doubling from 57 million tonnes to 120 million tonnes, crude imports had to be sharply increased. As of 2004-05, total consumption, production and (net) imports of crude stood at 120 mt, 34 mt and 86 mt, respectively.

The point is that though India has more than six years worth of consumption tucked away in proven reserves, only a small fraction of this is extractable in any given year.

This caveat applies even more strongly in the case of natural gas, judging from the rapidly increasing gap between the discovery of natural gas and its extraction.

The accompanying table shows the results of some quick calculations made by Business Line. Figures for both crude and natural gas have been expressed in million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe).

These figures are approximations, because conversion factors vary according to the type of crude and natural gas. It should also be remembered that (i) not all proven reserves are recoverable, either today or in the future, at costs that justify their recovery, (ii) the change from crude to natural gas will be neither easy or costless, and sometimes not even possible.