Oil India Betting Big on Shale

Oil India is now betting big on its prospects in the shale oil and gas arena. 

According to Economic Times, it is on the cusp of raising shale oil production in its acreage in the US, and it will also be appointing a new consultant to advice on its shale exploration strategy in north-east India. 

The company plans to boost shale oil production by 8,000-10,000 barrels before the end of this year in its US acreage, Economic Times reported.

Oil India and the Indian Oil (IOC) jointly bought a 30% stake in Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas' shale assets in Colorado for $82.5 million in October 2012. Oil India acquired a 20% stake while IOC picked up 10% in this acreage. 

In India, after Schlumberger's initial findings regarding the presence of shale formations in its blocks in the north east were not encouraging, Oil India is planning to hire another consultant to chart its exploration and production strategy in its acreages in the north east, added Economic Times. 

"Earlier, because we had not done any shale-specific work in our acreages, our data was not very reflective of the presence of shale formation. So Schlumberger was not able to give us a correct picture. Now we are doing specialised logging and also looking to hire a new consultant specifically to design a comprehensive shale strategy for us," a company executive told the newspaper. 

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