Bay of Bengal had been divided into 33 blocks and Reliance obtained 23 blocks and later British Petroleum joined the venture. Originally public sector undertaking ONGC had explored and found oil/gas reserves and wanted to take British Petroleum as partner, but Government of India did not grant approval. British Petroleum had proposed in 2005-2006 to partner ONGC in three of its deep sea blocks off East and West coast of India. British Petroleum made formal proposal to take 40-50 percent stake in ONGC allocated Krishna-Godavari oil block and Gujarat-Kutch basin oil block. But Oil Ministry and Directorate of Hydrocarbon rejected it, because babus there wanted private sector to prosper. Similarly ONGC in August-September of 2007 proposed to give 15 percent stake in KG-DWN-98-2 oil block to Brazils oil giant Petrobras and 10 percent stake to Norway’s oil major Statoil Hydro. Oil Ministry did not approve this for a year and both oil giants went back. It shows how officials scuttle public sector undertakings and promote private sector. Comptroller and Auditor General of India too had indicted that “the more capital intensive the project, the lower government’s share of profits in petroleum.” Oil exploration blocks granted to Reliance which controls 90 percent of area in Bay of Bengal’
● Hoping to set up refineries and other industries to process oil and other minerals mined in deep sea, corporate sector had started to grab beaches. Our people thought for tourism and for real estate beach fronts are being bought and got, but Andhra Pradesh incident woke us from slumber. Out of total Andhra coast of 975 kilometers 348 kilometers of beach front had been given to private corporate sector. A secret note of Union Shipping Ministry brought out this grab to light. One fine day in the beginning of this year at Ministry of Shipping under Union Minister G.K.Vasan there was a meeting to deliberate on setting up a harbor cum ship building yard in the Andhra coast. It was to be a joint venture between Visakapatnam Port Trust, Cochin Ship Building Yard and Union Ministry of Shipping. In that meeting the Principal Secretary for Infrastructure and Investments in Andhra Pradesh Government claimed it won’t be a problem to identify 5000 acres of beach front land in Andhra coast for setting up this project. While for the new project they were hunting to locate 5000 acres the Union Ministry of Shipping was shocked to find out that 348 kilometers of beach front land had been given to Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam and Vanpic private ports.
Vishakapatnam harbor occupies 15.3 kilometer of beach front and oldest Chennai harbor has only 10.6 kilometers for its purpose whereas three private ports have been given 348 kilometers out of total Andhra coast of 975 kilometers. Yes private parties have captured one third of Andhra coast.
Definitely this port exclusive zone is not for port purposes only, it is for processing exploits from our seas. In Tamilnadu for every power project one captive port had been given resulting in Tamilnadu having ports in every 30 kilometer. Fishermen to vacate beaches and Corporate to grab beaches is what I wrote in a local Tamil weekly Manasatchi, which is in the CD given to you now. SAVE OUR SEAS, we in EAST COAST are demanding, hope in WEST COAST Kerala aborts corporate conspiracy before it is too late.
● All our Riverbasins from Indus to Cauvery had been identified as potential areas for shale gas. Our memorandum to Tamilnadu Chief Minister which is in the CD, prays for Saving our Seas and River basins. My article in Manasatchi which is in the CD, highlights that both Nagapattinam District of Tamilnadu and Karaikal of UT of Puducherry had been identified as areas of shale gas, and the danger of oil companies taking over both districts looms large.
Fertile Cauvery basin and its farmers had to give up farming my article forewarns. Hence the need of the hour is to remind the call Land for Tillers Sea for Fishermen once again.
● Hydrocarbon rich Bay of Bengal seems to be emerging as another centre of oil politics. This was recently manifested by a standoff between Myanmar and Bangladesh, when Dhaka sent three naval vessels to stop Myanmar from conducting exploration activities in their disputed Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). The crisis has since been diffused, though it is far from over.
Myanmar and India have made major discoveries of oil and gas in the Bay, and Bangladesh is feeling left out of all this action. Probably because of confidence that existing gas resources would meet its needs for decades, Dhaka had felt that there was no need to explore for new gas and oil fields. The lack of interest could also be because of the lack of necessary technology and capital within the country. At the same time, there was unwillingness to collaborate with foreign companies because of the widespread feeling that multinational companies were overcharging for exploring hydrocarbon.
Subsequently, however, Bangladesh has felt compelled to move on this front since its existing gas reserves have proved smaller than anticipated. The country currently produces 1,750 million cubic feet of gas a day (mmcfd) and faces a shortage of nearly 200 mmcfd for daily domestic consumption. But multinational companies have lost interest in exploring gas, given Bangladesh’s reluctance to allow them to sell gas to India – the nearest large market. As a result, there have been no new gas field discoveries since the 1990s. And now in the wake of the Indian and Myanmar successes in finding oil and gas resources, Dhaka is hurrying to engage in exploration of its own in the Bay of Bengal. The changing energy scene in the Bay of Bengal and the shortage of gas within the country prompted Bangladesh to divide its territorial waters into 28 blocks, which it auctioned off in January 2008. According to estimates provided by British Petroleum, Myanmar has 21.19 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves or 0.3 per cent of the world's total, while Bangladesh has 13.77 trillion cubic feet or 0.2 per cent of the world total at the end of 2007. Much of this is located in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh has disputes over territorial waters in the Bay with both India and Myanmar. International Law grants every country an EEZ of 200 nautical miles extending from its coast. However, given that the coasts of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar in the Bay follow a curve, there is overlap of the EEZs of the three countries, leading to disagreement on where exactly their respective maritime borders fall. Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), India and Myanmar have to delimit their maritime borders and file their claims with the United Nations before June 29 and May 21, 2009 respectively, while Bangladesh had to do this before July 27, 2011.
Efforts have been made since 2004 to sort out this dispute over EEZs, but without any success so far. In their last meeting, both Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed that they would not carry out any exploration in disputed territory.
But Bangladesh broke this agreement, which led to Myanmar auction off a block (AD-7) to the South Korean company Daewoo, which began exploration work in September 2008. In response, Bangladesh sent three naval ships on November 2, 2008 to stop this activity. At the same time, it also launched a multi-pronged diplomatic effort. Bangladesh approached China and requested it to persuade Myanmar to stop exploration, and at the same time also requested the South Korean government to convince Daewoo to stop work.
From the Indian perspective, a most important aspect of this crisis is the key role that China seems to have played. Bangladesh sought to influence the Myanmar government through Beijing. It did not bother to even consult India, probably because it has a similar dispute over its maritime borders with India as well. But the fact remains that China is quietly stealing a march over India in its own backyard.
KERALA
The geophysical field team of the ONGC found traces of oil in Kerala-Konkan basin as early as 1977.ONGC employed the service of Geo-searcher, a Norwegian seismic-survey ship, to find evidence of oil in the KK basin, located 55-nautical miles (102 Km) off the Kochi shore. Later that year, another survey ship owned by a London based company conducted a comprehensive survey of the Kerala coast. The ship mapped sea floor from the Kochi coast to Ponnani. In 2008, Norsecot, commissioned by ONGC began experimental drilling off the Kochi coast.
A floater type energy driller rig, capable of reaching 3500 meters into the sea was employed. In 2009, there were unconfirmed reports that the team had struck gold. The exploration was reported to have found traces of hydro carbons at a depth of 1500 meter.
The war for the Continental shelfs in Arabian Sea & Bay of Bengal
There is oil in the Bay of Bengal and the evidence of Methane gas in the Shale treasures of the Arabian Sea point to rich deposits of Carbon based riches on the shorelines of Pakistan. Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan are stuck in protracted stalemates on resolving the issues of the law of the sea. India’s claim over 300,000 sq. km of seabed in the Bay of Bengal that could potentially have large hydrocarbon reserves is being disputed by its eastern neighbours Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Myanmar,in 4 August 2009 letter to the United Nations (UN), has complained that India has unilaterally extended the maritime boundary between the two countries, contravening a 1986 bilateral agreement. A copy of the letter is available on the UN website.
The maritime boundary between nations is an important reference point for establishing claims over untapped oil and gas, and mineral wealth in continental shelves. A continental shelf is the relatively shallow seabed surrounding a continent that could, in many instances, extend beyond a country’s exclusive economic zone, defined by the UN as a sea area within 200 nautical miles (360km) from the shore.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea permits countries to claim continental shelf regions beyond the exclusive economic zone (giving exclusive fishing and mining rights), provided they can back it up with scientific data. On 12 May 2009, India staked claim to large swathes of seabed under the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, which a government scientist involved with the survey process pegged at approximately 0.6 million sq. km of continental shelf.
The Bay of Bengal is not the only Continental Shelf that is being contested. The Arabian Sea is also being contested. Sir Creek makes a huge difference in the number of Nautical miles which come under the control of Pakistan or Bharat.
Northwestern branch of the Indian Ocean, covering 3,859,000 sq km/1,489,970 sq mi, with India to the east, Pakistan and Iran to the north, and the Arabian Peninsula and Somalia to the west. It is linked with the Red Sea via the Gulf of Aden, and with the Gulf via the Gulf of Oman. Its depth is 2,730 m/8,956 ft. The chief river flowing into the Arabian Sea is the Indus, which is linked with a large submarine canyon in the continental shelf. The sea is rich in fish.
Chinese released a guideline on the oceanic science and technology development between 2011 and 2015, vowing to invest more to boost the country's maritime economy. China is the fifth country to send a man 3,500 meters below sea level, following the United States, France, Russia and Japan.
In our opinion, each country should think carefully of consequences ocean mining will have on the environment. Regarding who should share the profit, I think that both rich and poor countries should have the same rights. Those rights should be set by the International Law and everybody should respect that agreement.
N.Nandhivarman
in Tiruvananthapuram on 20th October 2011 spoke to Press Club
