Fracking Could Trigger Windfall For India, But What’s The Trade-off?

Fracking – the word sounds like some kind of slang. And guess what, it really IS! The term is relatively new and it is liberally used all over the world to describe some serious interventions we have with Mother Earth. Sounds judgmental? Nope, it’s not.

Fracking means ‘hydraulic fracturing’ or piercing into the layers of shale rocks lying deep inside the earth to tap natural fuels such as gas and oil. But these reserves have been unavailable so far for a simple reason. Although scientists were aware of their existence, they could not remove them without disturbing the bed of shale rocks.

The method involves 3D imaging of the site where shale rocks with high untapped reserves exist. Once the presence of gas is confirmed, fracking is carried out – sometimes well over a mile into the depth of the earth – with horizontal drilling mechanisms, allowing highly pressurised fracking fluids into the shale area. The ‘vent’ that is created, yields high amount of gas (and oil as well, depending on the location), compared to the conventional methods. Once the reserves are extracted, the smallest vent created through fracking fluids is cemented to keep the ground water levels intact.

Conventional technology had to give way to the new-found method of tapping these reserves. And that was when hydraulic fracturing or fracking, as it is called, came into existence. This technology has been hugely popular in several countries such as the US, Canada, Russia and China, which have moderate-to-rich reserves of oil and gas.

The reserves, according to energy companies, are so abundant that they have raised the estimates of the US gas reserves from 30 years to nearly a century. The country hadn’t thought shale gas was worth extracting for the high cost involved vis-à-vis the amount of extracted gas, till Houston billionaire George P Mitchell came out with fracking techniques.

As the fracking frenzy grows worldwide, India perhaps has the biggest role to play, apart from its own lands, which are identified as suitable locations for fracking.

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and some regions in the mountainous north-east are estimated to hold high reserves of natural gas, which can help solve some of the fuel challenges that the country is facing. Natural gas and crude oil mark some of the biggest imports India makes from the neighbouring countries while trying to maintain the fluctuating fuel prices in the domestic market.

Last year, the Indian government declared it was exploring opportunities to tap the shale gas reserves and had already undertaken mapping of locations with sedimentary rocks and rich gas reserves. Reliance Industries, one of the biggest energy bidders, has also shown immense interest to invest in this exercise. In fact, the company has already made a billion-dollar investment in the Marcellus shale reserves across the East Coast in America.

About six sites will undergo mapping under the new Prime Minister’s regime in India. Cambay, Assam-Arakan basin, Gondwana, KG onshore, Indo-Gangetic basin and the Cauvery basin are going to be explored for the gas reserves.

Apart from tapping its own river basins and mountainous ranges, here’s where India’s windfall lies. The dry lands of India grow the most necessary ingredient for the aquifer or the chemical cocktail that goes into the process of fracking. The country produces 80% of the world’s guar gum, produced from the guar bean or Indian cluster bean.

Known as guar bean, these cluster beans look like the less-fleshier form of French beans that grow on a semi-creeper in various parts of India. Known as the ‘poor man’s curry bean,’ the otherwise inconsequential vegetable/crop didn’t even merit any space in the kitchen of the moderately well-off, let alone gracing the dining table. But the lean bean has suddenly hit a jackpot with its unique ability to gel up the fracking water stream that will enter the rocks.

Fracking is sure to catch up soon in India and may turn out to be a boon or a bane for the nation. And just like random mining created billionaires overnight, it may witness the same outcome, if it really becomes an ‘emerging’ trend across the globe.

If it does answer India’s demand for natural gas, it can strengthen the economy from within, making it a self-regulatory and self-sufficient nation that can meet its domestic requirements. Even while supplying the guar gum while the world looks for alternatives such as Xanthan gum, among others, India still holds the key to fracking.

Last time it happened was when the IT boom started and India was at the forefront. Does this mean good days are here for Indian farmers this time around?