Sedimentary Basins of India

There are 26 sedimentary basins in India, covering a total area of 3.4 million square kilometer. The area is spread across

onland, shallow water up to 400 meter water depth and deepwater farther up to Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Of the

total sedimentary area, 49% of total area is located onland, 12% in shallow water and 39% in the deepwater area. There

are 16 onland basins, 7 located both onland and offshore and 3 completely offshore. Tectonically, these basins are

classified into 3 groups, based on origin from rifting (intra-cratonic and peri-cratonic), plate collision and crustal sag.

An exclusive economic zone, as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the

Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has special rights regarding

the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and

wind.
These basins are divided into three categories based on maturity of hydrocarbon resources as under:

• Category-I: Basins, which have reserves and already producing.

• Category-II: Basins, which have contingent resources pending commercial production

• Category-III Basins, which have prospective resources awaiting discovery

Based on conventional resource potential, 7 basins are grouped under Category-I covering 30% of total

basinal area and holding 85% of the total unrisked conventional hydrocarbon in-place of 41.8 billion

ton oil and oil-equivalent gas. These 7 basins are namely Krishna-Godavari (KG), Mumbai Offshore,

Assam Shelf, Rajasthan, Cauvery, Assam-Arakan Fold Belt and Cambay. These basins are fairly appraised

to the extent of 47% of country’s total appraised area (1.6 million square kilometer) with 65% of

country’s total active operational area (0.3 million square kilometer).

Category-II basins cover 23% of total basinal area, holding 9% of the total hydrocarbon in-place. Five

basins fall in this category and those are namely Saurashtra, Kutch, Vindhyan, Mahanadi and Andaman.

These basins are moderately appraised to the extent of 22% of country’s total appraised area with 26% of

country’s total active operational area.

Further, Category-III basins cover 47% of total basinal area, holding 6% of the total

hydrocarbon in-place. Fourteen basins fall in this category and those are namely Kerala-

Konkan, Bengal-Purnea, Ganga-Punjab, Pranhita-Godavari(PG), Satpura-South Rewa-

Damodar, Himalyan Foreland, Chattisgarh, Narmada, Spiti-Zanskar, Deccan Syneclise,

Cuddapah, Karewa, Bhima-Kaladgi, and Bastar. These basins are appraised to the extent of

31% of country’s total appraised area with 9% of country’s total active operational area.
The grouping of the basins under the category is dynamic, a Category III basin can be upgraded to II in

case there is a discovery (recent instance of Bengal-Purnea basin) or Category II to I, if discoveries are

developed for commercial production (Kutch/ Saurashtra basin could be the next). For unconventional

resources, the above category will have completely different basin grouping. For example, CBM gas is

currently produced from Damodar sub-basin of Satpura-South Rewa-Damodar basin, which is a Category

III basin for conventional resources, however by virtue of commercial gas production, the basin will be

deemed Category I for unconventional resources.