There was good news for India’s energy sector a few days ago. Fresh oil finds were reported from Arunachal Pradesh. But except for local media coverage, the matter went somewhat unnoticed in national media. A major reason could have been that such discoveries may not prove game changing for the grimly negative scenario that the energy sector faces at present.
Nevertheless, any addition to domestic gas and oil production even in small quantities helps national policymakers in a country that imports 82% of its fuel requirements. According to one report, Oil India (OIL) authorities, during their recent operations struck oil afresh at Kumchai (Kumchai-15, to be precise). Oil had been found earlier in the region. An area measuring around 427, square kilometres at Kumchai had been earmarked for operations. However, OIL did not then receive requisite clearances to start work full steam. Production was restricted to around 20 KPLD levels which brought in an annual turnover of Rs 20 crore for OIL.
Their new find will enable OIL to ramp up daily production to around 140 KLPD, a seven fold increase. Further, experts are confident in finding more gas and oil, which should certainly help the long term growth of the regional/national economies.
Arunachal Pradesh has figured significantly in future plans for domestic power production. Mostly, its hydropower production capabilities had been studied and impressive production capacities planned. The focus was on utilising the abundant water resources and the hilly terrain of the region.
However, hydropower production involves the building of major dams and reservoirs. There are major seismological, environmental and relocation issues directly affecting the local people that have to be considered. With China’s persistent claim to Arunachal Pradesh as part of the Southern Tibet territory, developing the state economically and integrating it with the rest of India has not been easy. Given the present uneasy relations between the two of the most powerful countries in Asia, there is no sign that this is going to change, much to India’s regret.
A further complicating factor is China’s unannounced, but already effective control of the water flow along the River Brahmaputra (Tsang Po in Chinese) in recent years. This is a direct outcome of the construction by China of several major dams and reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra in the high Himalayas. Beijing plans to use the rich outflow from Brahmaputra and its tributaries to increase irrigation and agriculture in its arid northern territories. Amidst an impending global scenario of reduced rainfall, such a major diversion of water is bound to pose problems for the downstream countries such as India and Bangladesh. The signs are not encouraging. Already, there have been instances of sudden drops in the water level and an occasionally high increase in turbidity along the Brahmaputra that have caused concern in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.
Given this backdrop, the fresh finding of more conventional energy sources like gas and oil might just be a lucky break for India.
