US, India discover natural gas in Indian Ocean

For the first time a joint exploration by India and US Geological Survey has led to a discovery a highly enriched deposits of natural gas in the Indian Ocean. This first of its kind discovery in the Indian Ocean that has the potential to be producible, according to US Geological Survey.

India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, along with US Geological Survey found huge deposits of natural gas hydrate, an icy form of the fuel in the Bay of Bengal off the country's east coast.

Natural gas hydrates are a naturally occurring, ice-like combination of natural gas and water found in the world's oceans and polar regions. The amount of gas within the world's gas hydrate accumulations is estimated to greatly exceed the volume of all known conventional gas resources, the agency said in a report.

"Advances like the Bay of Bengal discovery will help unlock the global energy resource potential of gas hydrates as well help define the technology needed to safely produce them," said Walter Guidroz, USGS Energy Resources Program coordinator.

"The USGS is proud to have played a key role on this project in collaboration with our international partner, the Indian Government," Guidroz added.

This discovery is the result of the most comprehensive gas hydrate field venture in the world to date, made up of scientists from India, Japan and the United States. The scientists conducted ocean drilling, conventional sediment coring, pressure coring, downhole logging and analytical activities to assess the geologic occurrence, regional context and characteristics of gas hydrate deposits in the offshore of India, the agency reported.

The international team of scientists was led by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited of India on behalf of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas India, in cooperation with the USGS, the Japanese Drilling Company, and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.