Highlighting the partnership between the University of Houston (UH) and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH)—the technical arm of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas—UH Energy recently unveiled the UH-DGH Center for Hydrocarbon Exploration. The center aims to provide reliable and high-quality information—including seismic, well, reservoir, and production data—for research, development, and commercial opportunities involving Indian offshore basins.
The data center will tap into India’s wealth of geoscience data to investigate key exploration and production data while building an extensive knowledge base of India’s sedimentary basins and fields.
Secretary Panjak Jain, with the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said Houston, as a global oil and gas hub along with UH being a Carnegie-designated Tier One research university with globally renowned researchers, offered key advantages for the center being located there.
“This is something we’ve aspired to make happen. What we need is smart brains and fresh eyes to look at the data. There’s a special kind of credibility that comes with working alongside UH,” Jain said. “If you’re here [in Houston], you’re at the nucleus from where everything will evolve.”
To commemorate the occasion, UH Energy hosted DGH dignitaries along with industry and academic representatives, featuring presentations focused on India’s offshore potential in regard to natural resources.
UH Vice President for Energy and Innovation Ramanan Krishnamoorti said the center culminates several years of work toward establishing an alliance that opens doors for impactful research.
“This is a dream come true for many of us,” Krishnamoorti said. “We’ve been thinking about how to get this fantastic data from the DGH and showcase it to people to the United States. It’s a great opportunity to bring this information to the forefront and share it with the world.”
Subject-matter experts, including Rob Stewart, professor of geophysics, and David Hume, business development specialist and geoscience specialist, shared in-depth analysis of India basins. Stewart said the UH-DGH alliance, along with the initial data reports, suggested significant potential for investigation and development at a global scale.
“We’re thrilled to be able to bring our connections and network to this exploration and development effort,” Stewart said. “We’re looking to make the data globally available with our colleagues, and we’re excited about the potential for a number of universities, not only in India but stateside as well. We’re excited to put it all together. We see this as being a major center that involves a lot of different parties.”