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India clash with Sri Lanka and Pakistan over Seabed
Even as the Indian general election was in full swing in May, India quietly staked a claim to nearly half a million square kilometers of seabed that contains potentially large reserves of oil, minerals, metals and gas hydrates, the Mint news agency reported yesterday. It said in the next few weeks, it was likely to vie for another half a million square kilometers, some of which may directly conflict with a similar claim made by Sri Lanka and Pakistan on the unmarked seabed.
There could be some dispute with Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Primarily because some regions that Sri Lanka and Pakistan has claimed are simply over-ambitious. We can definitely prove them wrong, a top Indian government official involved in preparing Indias claim said.
The claims arise from an international, United Nations (UN)-facilitated agreement that allows a coastal country to stake a claim over the seabed that extends beyond its exclusive economic zone.
To do so, the country has to prove that the seabed is part of its continental shelf, defined as a continuous sloping chunk of rock that connects the seafloor and the mainland. Currently, a country is allowed rights to mine waters within 200 nautical miles (322 km) of its coastline.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as the agreement is called, allows nations to extend their claims to a maximum of 150 miles more.
On May 12, India staked a 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.
Though a perusal of maps indicating seabed area claimed by Pakistan and Sri Lanka does not indicate a conflict with India, its Indias second claim, expected later this month, that can directly clash with Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Thats because some regions that India will claim includes portions already claimed by Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Preparing Indias claim was part of a mammoth, five-year exercise that primarily involved research organizations under the MES, Council of Scientific and Industrial Researchs National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad, and the Geological Survey of India.
This included surveys of the deep ocean, estimating land depths as well as gauging the economic wealth within the ocean.
Weve never had an economic estimate of the wealth in our seas, but these surveys have given us a good idea of which regions to look for, like gas hydrates or other hydrocarbons, Earth Sciences Ministry secretary Shailesh Naik said.
Gas hydrates are crystalline solids consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, each surrounded by a cage of water molecules, akin to ice. Methane hydrates are stable in ocean floor sediments at water depths greater than 300 meters, and where they occur; they are known to cement loose sediments in a surface layer several hundred meters thick and extracting this gas, may lead to tapping a new source of energy.
Indias External Affairs Ministry which formally submitted Indias claim and Sri Lankas and Pakistans Foreign Ministries did not respond to emails and repeated calls seeking comment. (Sri Lanka and Pakistan monitoring the situation)
There are no immediate gains from the exercise. In fact, Indias submission to the UN is unlikely to be considered before May, according to the Unclos website.
Any resulting disputes must either be settled bilaterally or be taken to the International Seabed Authority -- an UN-constituted body that rules on mining rights in the oceans.
Typically, if there are regions common to both countries, the UNs International Court of Justice at the Hague or a tribunal makes a decision, and in many cases countries fix a line equidistant from their shores, said M. Ravindran, a former director at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in Chennai.
NIOT has been involved in some of the surveys to determine continental shelf depths. India, which ratified Unclos in 1995, had a May 13 deadline by which it was to submit its bid. But it chose to submit only part of its bid, citing a caveat in the UN agreement to do so. Since we are part of a group of countries in the southern Bay of Bengal, we are allowed a two-part submission, the government official said.
Though the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea may not have as copious oil reserves as the Arctic Circle, where a host of countries from Russia to Denmark are staking claims under the same UN treaty, India has an ongoing programme to tap gas hydrates -- a major component of untapped seabed wealth.
The National Gas Hydrate Programme was started in 1997 by the petroleum ministry along with Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd, GAIL (India) Ltd, Oil India Ltd, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), department of ocean development, the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa and NGRI.
In 2000, DGH became the technical coordinator of the programme, and through a scientific cooperation programme with the US, acquired core samples of gas hydrates.
After the US and Japan, India is the third country in the world to have done this. Scientists, however, are cautious about the prospect of extracting methane from gas hydrates.
I would not be able to tell you Indias commercial potential yet, because a lot more research has to be done. Very few expeditions have been undertaken yet, said M.V. Ramana, a scientist at NIOT who is involved with the gas hydrates initiative.
Its all about our future strategy. Only if we try securing these regions now can we expect gains from the ocean in the coming decades, Mr. Ramana added.
Source: Sri Lanka Breaking News-Daily Mirror Online
Even as the Indian general election was in full swing in May, India quietly staked a claim to nearly half a million square kilometers of seabed that contains potentially large reserves of oil, minerals, metals and gas hydrates, the Mint news agency reported yesterday. It said in the next few weeks, it was likely to vie for another half a million square kilometers, some of which may directly conflict with a similar claim made by Sri Lanka and Pakistan on the unmarked seabed.
There could be some dispute with Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Primarily because some regions that Sri Lanka and Pakistan has claimed are simply over-ambitious. We can definitely prove them wrong, a top Indian government official involved in preparing Indias claim said.
The claims arise from an international, United Nations (UN)-facilitated agreement that allows a coastal country to stake a claim over the seabed that extends beyond its exclusive economic zone.
To do so, the country has to prove that the seabed is part of its continental shelf, defined as a continuous sloping chunk of rock that connects the seafloor and the mainland. Currently, a country is allowed rights to mine waters within 200 nautical miles (322 km) of its coastline.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as the agreement is called, allows nations to extend their claims to a maximum of 150 miles more.
On May 12, India staked a 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.
Though a perusal of maps indicating seabed area claimed by Pakistan and Sri Lanka does not indicate a conflict with India, its Indias second claim, expected later this month, that can directly clash with Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Thats because some regions that India will claim includes portions already claimed by Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Preparing Indias claim was part of a mammoth, five-year exercise that primarily involved research organizations under the MES, Council of Scientific and Industrial Researchs National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in Hyderabad, and the Geological Survey of India.
This included surveys of the deep ocean, estimating land depths as well as gauging the economic wealth within the ocean.
Weve never had an economic estimate of the wealth in our seas, but these surveys have given us a good idea of which regions to look for, like gas hydrates or other hydrocarbons, Earth Sciences Ministry secretary Shailesh Naik said.
Gas hydrates are crystalline solids consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, each surrounded by a cage of water molecules, akin to ice. Methane hydrates are stable in ocean floor sediments at water depths greater than 300 meters, and where they occur; they are known to cement loose sediments in a surface layer several hundred meters thick and extracting this gas, may lead to tapping a new source of energy.
Indias External Affairs Ministry which formally submitted Indias claim and Sri Lankas and Pakistans Foreign Ministries did not respond to emails and repeated calls seeking comment. (Sri Lanka and Pakistan monitoring the situation)
There are no immediate gains from the exercise. In fact, Indias submission to the UN is unlikely to be considered before May, according to the Unclos website.
Any resulting disputes must either be settled bilaterally or be taken to the International Seabed Authority -- an UN-constituted body that rules on mining rights in the oceans.
Typically, if there are regions common to both countries, the UNs International Court of Justice at the Hague or a tribunal makes a decision, and in many cases countries fix a line equidistant from their shores, said M. Ravindran, a former director at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in Chennai.
NIOT has been involved in some of the surveys to determine continental shelf depths. India, which ratified Unclos in 1995, had a May 13 deadline by which it was to submit its bid. But it chose to submit only part of its bid, citing a caveat in the UN agreement to do so. Since we are part of a group of countries in the southern Bay of Bengal, we are allowed a two-part submission, the government official said.
Though the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea may not have as copious oil reserves as the Arctic Circle, where a host of countries from Russia to Denmark are staking claims under the same UN treaty, India has an ongoing programme to tap gas hydrates -- a major component of untapped seabed wealth.
The National Gas Hydrate Programme was started in 1997 by the petroleum ministry along with Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd, GAIL (India) Ltd, Oil India Ltd, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), department of ocean development, the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa and NGRI.
In 2000, DGH became the technical coordinator of the programme, and through a scientific cooperation programme with the US, acquired core samples of gas hydrates.
After the US and Japan, India is the third country in the world to have done this. Scientists, however, are cautious about the prospect of extracting methane from gas hydrates.
I would not be able to tell you Indias commercial potential yet, because a lot more research has to be done. Very few expeditions have been undertaken yet, said M.V. Ramana, a scientist at NIOT who is involved with the gas hydrates initiative.
Its all about our future strategy. Only if we try securing these regions now can we expect gains from the ocean in the coming decades, Mr. Ramana added.
Source: Sri Lanka Breaking News-Daily Mirror Online
