India's Shale Policy to be Ready Within a Year

India's shale gas exploration policy is under discussion and will likely to be ready within a year, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Pannabaka Lakshmi said Saturday.

"The draft policy of shale gas exploration is already discussed with various stakeholders and is likely to be ready within a year," IANS reported her as saying.

The production of natural gas in India was 135 MMSCMD  during 2011-12 as against a requirement of about 200 MMSCMD. The country currently imports 25 percent of natural gas.

Pannabaka Lakshmi said the national endeavor to bridge the ever-increasing gap between demand and supply of petroleum products in India by intensifying exploratory efforts for oil and gas in the Indian sedimentary basins and abroad need to be supported by other alternate sources of energy like coal bed methane, shale gas, gas hydrates, ethanol and bio-diesel.