At a time when India is largely dependent on imports (by over 70 per cent) for its oil and gas requirements, there have been discoveries made that need to be studied further before their exact potential can be realised. The Bundelkhand area of Madhya Pradesh is one such place where discoveries of gas have been made in the recent past. The first instance of this was when Rajesh Tiwari of Rahatganj (38 km from Sagar on the way to Bhopal) struck gas when he was getting the land next to his dhaba drilled for water over 15 years ago. Since then, he has been using this gas for cooking food in his dhaba. "We have never capped the gas, though we have uninterrupted supply of it all through the day and night," says Tiwari. "There are many others who also struck gas, but unfortunately, their supply didn't last for more than a few days." "It may be hard to believe, but over 16 tube wells drilled in and around Sagar and western Damoh have found gas," says Arun Kumar Shandilya, professor in geology in Harisingh Gaur University, Sagar, and the man behind the study of these discoveries. "If you light a match over them, the flame will shoot up a metre high. The depth of the wells averages 350-700 ft," he adds. Shandilya has not been able to get gas turbines (of 5 kW capacity) to generate power from the tube wells that are not being utilised. "The gas that has been found here has a high content of methane (between 72 to 99 per cent). Other ingredients include helium, oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen," Shandilya explains. "Most of the rocks around this area are over 500 million years old (probably the oldest in the world) and there is a wide potential of there being petroleum reserves too. We have been in touch with the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (dgh) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ongc) on this. However, they would be conducting their own study before they offer this area as a block for exploration." On being asked about these finds, the dgh stated that they would be looking into this, ongc is showing some interest. "Sagar is not under our operational control. However, we have got samples collected and sent the reports to the dgh for further review," says Sudhir Sharma, dgm, exploration, ongc. "Seepages of oil and gas are not uncommon in sedimentary basins that have hydrocarbon pools in the subsurface," says V.K. Sibal, director general, hydrocarbons. "They are considered direct indicators of hydrocarbons and are often used in conjunction with other geo-scientific information for oil and gas exploration. There are two types of seepages: macro and micro," he adds. "While micro-seepages can occur almost over any subsurface hydrocarbon pool, macro-seepages are more common in areas that have been tectonically disturbed, resulting in development of faults or fractures that act as conduits for migration of oil or gas from deeper depths. Seepages can also occur due to the presence of shallow biogenic gas that is generated by bacteria that feed on organic matter," Sibal explains. The area where these discoveries have been made falls in the Vindhya basin which contains rocks belonging to the Proterozoic era. The ongc has carried out exploration for oil and gas in this basin. "In fact, its efforts in the Damoh-Jabera area of the Vindhya basin did yield gas, but it was not of commercial significance. It is continuing its efforts in the Vindhya basin in two blocks. The dgh has acquired seismic and surface geochemical data in the basin and has been offering blocks in the area for exploration," Sibal adds. Despite the fact that these seepages have not led to a bigger discovery, one cannot rule out the possibility of something big being found in the future. Until then, Tiwari can continue to cook with a free supply of gas in his dhaba, while Shandilya gets on with his efforts to make authorities realise the potential of reserves in this area!