Text Book on Natural Gas

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"Text Book of Natural Gas" serves the twin objective of academic as well as industrial sector for understanding the role of natural gas in energy sector. The book starts with fundamental and traverses through technology to commercial and finally lands on policy aspect. The book also complements for the policy of opening of hydrocarbon sector in India which has resulted into high optimism. The book provides innovative tips on negotiating gas supply contracts which is the outcome of author's two decades of experience in the area. The book will find wide acceptance among all concerned in the world of Natural Gas.

Dr. U.D. Choubey has been associated for almost three decades with the energy sector in general and natural gas in particular. As Ph.D. in Hydrocarbons Derived from coal and petroleum, Dr. Choubey has published a number of papers and spoken on national and international forums. He has made significant contribution in marketing of natural gas and commands good recognition in the natural gas industry. The author is presently Executive Director, GAIL (India) Limited, even though the views expressed in the book is purely personal.

Natural Gas is emerging fast on the energy map of India today. In view of increasingly dominant role played both as fuel and feedstock and proposed massive hydrocarbon development plan, the 21st Century has been named as Century of gas, overtaking the previous two centuries of coal and oil consecutively. Its inherent physico- chemical properties have made it a preferred energy option for industrial, commercial, Domestic as well as automobile sector. Because of its cleanliness and hundred percent burning capability with no obnoxious emissions, natural gas is highly eco-friendly. Operating cost in gas based plants is less and there is almost one third cost required in plant maintenance. Plant life is longer and there is improved product quality with better yield. Combined cycle-co- generation in gas based power plants has better plant-load factor, increased efficiency and lower gestation period. Various components of hydrocarbon present in natural gas contribute value addition for a large number of products to meet the competing demands and thereby providing best return to the national economy.

Because of being a late comer on the energy map of the country, the knowledge base of natural gas has confined itself mainly to those who are associated with oil and gas sector in particular and energy sector in general. So far such knowledge has not traversed to the academic world of universities in India even though it is lately being realised by number of universities/management institutions to introduce natural gas in the course of study. There is not only dearth of good teachers in this line but also there is lack of books by the Indian authors to describe all facets of natural gas in the country. People associated with natural gas industries have been more confined to their day-to-day jobs but their wide experience and expertise have not benefited in the academic world. Having served in natural gas and energy sector for almost two decades and realizing such a necessity in mind, an effort has been made to cover wide areas of fundamentals, technological and commercial aspects of natural gas so that it could serve the purpose of not only university students but also to those who are associated with oil & gas industries as such.

The Book has been broadly divided into four main chapters, these are (1) Fundamentals, (ii) Technology including exploration, production and transmission, (iii) Commercial and (iv) Policy aspects. Each chapter has been divided into sub-heads to provide wide coverage. The book would also find its relevance and importance because of huge gap between demand and supply of natural gas in this country. Demand has been growing at an alarming rate on one side whereas there is depleting on-shore/off-shore sources of gas. Some of the old gas wells have outlived their life and have dried. There has not been major breakthrough after Bombay High and South Basin off-shore field even though recent finds by some of the private players (thanks to opening of Hydro Carbon Sector in India) have started reflecting light at the end of the tunnel. Therefore the options being examined are import of gas through pipeline or in form of LNG to meet the huge demand. Such aspects have been covered in the book with special emphasis on international gas sale- purchase Contracts. Commercial aspect in Natural gas in industries will gradually find greater importance because of increasing trading activities in due course of time. Also, concern for Sourcing of gas from other non-conventional sectors like Coal Bed Methane (CBM) and Gas hydrates are emerging fast on energy map. These areas have been touched briefly.

End users of gas have realized the relative advantage of natural gas as a result natural gas has become the most preferred fuel and feedstock for large number of industries. New uses of gas have also started growing in India as has been prevalent in other parts of the world. Growing concern for environment has led policy makers to convert large many vehicles on compressed natural gas (CNG) mode. Use of natural gas for domestic sectors has also increased in recent past. All these factors have combined together to project huge demand potential of natural gas in the country.

Commercial aspect has been discussed in elaborate way describing various terms of gas supply contracts. Gas Supply Contracts have been given special importance particularly because a large many contracts shall be entered into in near future which will be based on international lines. The art of contract negotiations has also been discussed. Policy issues such as New Exploration & Licensing Policy (NELP), deregulation, Regulatory framework and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) have been discussed in details.