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Chapter 16

Natural resources

P. C. BANDOPADHYAY1*, BISWAJIT GHOSH1 & A. CARTER2

1
Department of Geology, University of Calcutta, 35 Ballygunge Circular Road, Kolkata-700019, India
2
Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK
*Correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract: The natural resources of the Andaman –Nicobar Islands and surrounding seas are discussed. Rocks and minerals
found on the Andaman Islands include magnetite, pyrite-chalcopyrite, chromite, gold, nickel, sulphur, coal and limestone,
but in most cases their concentrations are sub-economic. Lensoid bodies of algal-biohermal limestones of Palaeogene age
on Middle Andaman Island are abundant, accessible and of good grade for cement or foundry work. The Neogene limestones
are also suitable for this purpose. Basalts and strongly indurated sedimentary rocks, without any overburden, are quarried for
construction work. Limited offshore exploration for oil and natural gas shows great promise, but has yet to be developed.

This chapter examines the natural resources of the Andaman – Miocene-Pliocene bioclastic limestones are relatively unde-
Nicobar Islands. The earliest recorded evidence of the search formed and mainly found on the islands of Ritchie’s Archipel-
for economic minerals can be traced back to Mallet (1884) ago, especially on Long and Guitar islands (Fig. 16.1).
who documented Cu-, Fe-, Cr- and Pt-bearing rocks on Bandyopadhyaya et al. (1973) mentioned that limestone sam-
South Andaman and Rutland islands, but he concluded that ples from the Guitar and Oyster islands of Ritchie’s Archipel-
none of the occurrences had economic value. Boileau (1950) ago contain 50.65 and 53.20 wt% CaO, respectively. They also
was perhaps the first to draw attention to the occurrence of reported that a few samples from Henry Lawrence, John Law-
oil and/or gas on Baratang Island based on the examination rence, South Button and Havelock islands (also of Ritchie’s
of the liquid mud, gas and brownish oily substances issued Archipelago) show 25.19– 50 wt% CaO with 3.17– 40.67
by the mud volcano, but no effort was made to follow this wt% insoluble and 33.46 wt% with 27.15 wt% insoluble.
up. Records show that there was no sustained systematic effort The limestone on Interview Island is considered to be the
to search for minerals, oil and gas prior to Indian indepen- most favourable for exploitation.
dence. Post-independence investigations, initiated during the
early 1960s, included the start of a programme of mineral sur-
veys by the Geological Survey of India and exploration for oil Limestone blocks
and gas by the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
(ONGC). Mineral exploration, which involved geological The limestones of pre-ophiolite age occur as boulders and
mapping, geophysical and geochemical surveys and explor- blocks and vary in size from .1 to 4 m in length and 0.5 to
atory drilling, identified occurrences of magnetite, chromite, 2 m in width. Scattered across low-lying ground, these blocks
nickel, gold and sulphides, the platinum group of elements are found around Sippighat near Port Blair on South Andaman
(PGE), coal, gypsum and limestone. Exploration for oil and Island (Fig. 16.2). The limestone blocks are strongly indurated
gas in the Andaman Sea to the east of the Andaman –Nicobar and extensively chertified. They are made up of coarsely crys-
Islands began in earnest in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The talline calcite showing interlocking mosaic, and the calcite
seismic data and pilot wells revealed a structurally and tecton- grains show strain-shadow extinction. On fresh surfaces the
ically complex region that contains many of the elements for limestones are light pink in colour. The resistant cherty mate-
successful hydrocarbon exploration, but no commercial dis- rial in the form of veins and stringers in the limestones consists
coveries were made. Since that time there has been wide inter- of stretched and recrystallized quartz, calcite and opaque
est but limited new exploration, partly due to international oxides. The flattened quartz shows sutured grain contacts
investors being put off by the country’s heavy regulations and undulose extinction, resembling metamorphic chert.
and red tape. The following sections provide further details There is no mud matrix as has been observed in Figure 8.2f
of the natural resources. in Chapter 8 (Mithakhari deposits). These blocks are of little
economic value, but are of interest to researchers investigating
the geological history of Andaman Islands.
Limestone

The oldest limestones occur as: (1) blocks within the chaotic Palaeogene limestones of the Tugapur Limestone Member
terrane composed of dismembered and deformed units of ultra- Middle Andaman
mafics, basalts and thinly bedded chert, jasper/mudstones,
metasedimentary rocks of pre-ophiolite age; and (2) within Among the shallow-water carbonate build-ups associated with
the sedimentary rocks of the Palaeogene Mithakhari Mélange the late Paleocene –Eocene Mithakhari Mélange (see Chapter
(Bandopadhyay 2012). The most extensive outcrops are late 8 for details), a number of occurrences could have economic
Paleocene shallow-water algal-foraminiferal reef limestones potential. Several lensoid and folded bodies of carbonate
found in Middle Andaman (Fig. 16.1). These limestones are build-ups with clear contacts with sandstone units occur
deformed and show antiformal and synformal structures between Mayabandar and Ranget on Middle Andaman Island
affected by faulting. By contrast the younger well-bedded (Fig. 16.1). Based on drilling in the Burma Dera sector situated
From: Bandopadhyay, P. C. & Carter, A. (eds) 2017. The Andaman–Nicobar Accretionary Ridge: Geology, Tectonics and Hazards.
Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 47, 225–232. https://doi.org/10.1144/M47.16
# 2017 The Author(s). Published by The Geological Society of London. All rights reserved.
For permissions: http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/permissions. Publishing disclaimer: www.geolsoc.org.uk/pub_ethics
 Downloaded from http://mem.lyellcollection.org/ at University of Exeter on February 2, 2017
226 P. C. BANDOPADHYAY ET AL.

Fig. 16.1. Geological map of Middle Andaman including Long and Guitar islands. Modified after Pandey et al. (1992) and Roy & Das Sharma (1993), the
map shows several north–south-oriented lenticular folded units of Palaeogene carbonate build-ups that are promising for exploration of limestones. Also note
the occurrences of Neogene limestones in Long and Guitar islands.
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NATURAL RESOURCES 227

Fig. 16.2. Blocks of coarsely crystalline

limestone of pre-ophiolite age lying
scattered in mud matrix, Sippighat,
South Andaman.

6 km SSE of Mayabandar, these rocks occur over an area of The Long Island limestones were further investigated by the
c. 4000 m2. Bandyopadhyaya et al. (1973) reported a total Geological Survey of India (GSI) and a programme of drilling
reserve per metre depth of approximately 10 000 tonnes. It was carried out between 1986 and 1990 to better estimate lime-
was also reported that the main lensoid limestone body stone reserves in the northern part of the island (Govt of India
expected to have an extension up to a depth of 30 m. In the 2012). Two limestone horizons were identified, separated
Tugapur Rest Camp sector located 16 km SW of Mayabandar, by about 30–50 m thick calcareous mudstones. The lower
the main limestone body has a surface area of about 3000 m2. horizon, varying in thickness over the range 10– 20 m, often
The total reserve per metre depth is approximately 8500 contains several centimetre-thick intercalations of clay/
tonnes. In the Buddha Nala area 20 km south from Mayaban- shale. The upper limestone horizon varies in thickness from
dar, the limestone has a surface area of about 5000 m2 with an 4 to 10 m and occurs in the stratigraphically higher and upland
expected reserve of 12 000 tonnes per metre depth. Bandyo- portion of the island. This upper limestone is reported to have a
padhyaya et al. (1973) mentioned that the available chemical promising percentage of CaO suitable for cement manufacture
data show the limestones are of high chemical purity; most (.45 wt% CaO and ,3 wt% MgO is considered as suitable).
of the samples conform to the specifications of blast furnace During the first phase of investigation, 561.95 m of drilling in
(BF) and steel melting shop (SMS) grades, although no analyt- six boreholes along a strike distance of 1.6 km yielded a
ical data were provided to support this. An environmental pro- reserve of about 5.92 million tonnes of cement-grade lime-
tection act enacted by the Indian Ministry of Forest and stone above sea level, including a reserve of one million tonnes
Environment means it is unlikely that these resources will of float limestone, taking into consideration a CaO content of
be developed. 40 wt%. The drill core showed an interstratified sequence of
limestone and argillaceous limestones, the latter increasing
Neogene limestones (Melville Limestone of Long Island) with depth. During 1989– 90 a second phase of investigation,
which also involved large-scale mapping, focused on the
The Melville Limestone described by Karunakaran et al. northern part of the island. Here, drill core showed that the
(1968) belongs to the middle Miocene Long Formation of argillaceous limestones became more prominent; the calcu-
Long Island (Srinivasan & Azmi 1976). The formation and lated reserve is 0.48 million tonnes of limestone including
type area are exposed at Melville Point on Long Island and 0.13 million tonnes of float limestones. The analyses of sam-
the Meetha Nala and PWD Nala sections on Havelock and ples revealed that the CaO varies from 39.96 to 50.43 wt%.
Guitar islands. Based on planktonic foraminiferal assem- The other important elements such as magnesium and silica
blages, the age of the formation ranges from middle to late also vary widely. The silica content varies from 2.40 to
Miocene (Srinivasan & Azmi 1976). A logged section of the 5.77 wt% SiO2 in the limestones and reached up to
Long Formation made at Jetty Point on Long Island by Sharma 32.17 wt% in bands rich in argillaceous matter. The magne-
& Srinivasan (2007) recorded soft greenish-grey calcareous sium content varied from 1.00 to 9.02 wt% MgO.
silty mudstones at the base of the section overlain by massive
moderately soft grey calcareous mudstones, a hard dirty yel-
low limestone and finally a soft granular white limestone. Ban- Chromite and PGE investigation
dyopadhyaya et al. (1973) reported an approximate reserve of
limestone for the upper 3.7 m thick band of about 9700 tonnes The search for chromite deposits and the associated Platinum
per metre depth. Analyses showed some samples are of high Group of Elements (PGE) began nearly five decades ago and
chemical purity and correspond to SMS grade (low in silica), focused on the ultramafic rocks of the Panchawati area of Mid-
but in general the limestones on average show BF grade. dle Andaman and on Rutland Island (Ray 1982; Vohra et al.
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228 P. C. BANDOPADHYAY ET AL.

1989; Pal et al. 2003). Recent studies have added more details commonly range from 8 to 20 cm, although the maximum
about the type of occurrences, the precise nature of chromite size reaches up to 50 cm, and are commonly oval to lensoidal
mineralization and petrogenesis (Pal et al. 2003; Ghosh et al. in section and seldom irregular in outline. Because of the high
2009, 2012, 2013; Bhattacharya et al. 2013; Ghosh & Bhatta rheological contrast between the chromitite pods and their
2014). Pal et al. (2003) noted that chromite-rich deposits host rocks, alteration and weathering removes the contact
along the Rutland coast occur mainly as: (1) placers in two nar- zone and the pods mostly occur as loose boulders. This break-
row zones with extensions of 40 m in Mitha Nala and 45 m in down means that it is often difficult to establish the relation-
Chain Nala areas; and (2) thin stringers hosted in altered dunite ship between the pods and the host rocks at outcrop. One
and harzburgite. In the Panchawati area, chromite occurs as exception is in North Andaman where several lenticular
small pods with a maximum size of 76  60 cm, concentrated pods arranged along-strike within an intensely serpentinized,
in a small zone (11  3.5 m) within serpentinized harzburgite. semi-concordant dunite define the melt channel.
Globally, ophiolite-hosted chromitites occur within the Chromitite pods are massive and preserve the magmatic
shallow mantle peridotite section and/or in the overlying cumulus texture. The mantle host rocks together with the chro-
transition-zone dunite (Boudier & Nicolas 1985; Nicolas & mitite pods are hydrothermally altered, and are dissected by
Al Azri 1991; Arai 1997). The mantle section of the Anda- networks of cross-cutting millimetre-scale serpentine-rich
man –Nicobar ophiolite hosts rarely developed podiform chro- veins with development of andradite-uvarovite along the
mitite (Ghosh et al. 2009, 2013; Pal 2011; Ghosh & Bhatta vein wall (Ghosh & Morishita 2011). Near their contact with
2014) (Fig. 16.3a). Other than pods, chromitite also occurs the serpentinized envelope the pods show cataclasis and brec-
as millimetre- to centimetre-scale massive bands within the ciation, likely related to emplacement. Chromian spinel grains
transition zone dunites (Ghosh et al. 2009). Massive chromitite also show deformation microstructures such as pull-apart
pods within harzburgite have also been reported from Rutland cracks and subgrains which are interpreted as having formed
Island (Ghosh et al. 2009), whereas the same in lherzolitic in response to mantle flow (Ghosh et al. 2013). Composition-
mantle rocks have been reported from North Andaman ally, the chromitite pods belong to two classes: (1) high-Cr
(Ghosh et al. 2013; Ghosh & Bhatta 2014). In the Andaman pods; and (2) low-Cr pods. The high-Cr pods occur in the harz-
Islands they are rarely found in situ and embedded in rocks, burgite mantle rocks on Rutland Island (Ghosh et al. 2009)
reported mostly as strewn boulders, and occasionally envel- (Fig. 16.3a) and in lherzolites on North Andaman (Ghosh
oped by serpentinized dunite. The size of the chromitite pods et al. 2013), whereas the low-Cr pods are only known on

Fig. 16.3. Field photographs showing: (a) oval-shaped chromitite pod embedded in altered harzburgite from Rutland Island; (b) lenticular chromitite pod
in lherzolite from North Andaman; (c) chromitite band hosted in dunite from Rutland Island; and (d) concentrated black sands rich in chromite on the
beach floor from Rutland Island.
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NATURAL RESOURCES 229

North Andaman (Ghosh et al. 2013) (Fig. 16.3b). Geochemi- centimetres thick occur interbedded with the Andaman Flysch
cally, the chromian spinels of these high-Cr chromitites have sandstone, recognized by the authors at Danros Point on South
an arc-spinel trend and suggest a supra-subduction zone set- Andaman.
ting; by contrast, the low-Cr chromitites show a MORB-spinel
trend (Ghosh & Bhatta 2014).
Chromitite bands (millimetre- to centimetre-scale) and Sulphides
stringers hosted in dunite overlying the mantle rocks have
been reported from Rutland Island (Ghosh et al. 2009) The occurrence of small nests and veins and streaks with dis-
(Fig. 16.3c). Chromite occurs mainly as subhedral intergranu- semination of pyrite and chalcopyrite have been known from
lar phases to olivines in these bands. Chromite also occurs in the basic to intermediate members of the volcanic units, espe-
natural concentrations in black sands as beach placers through- cially along the eastern coasts of South Andaman between
out the Andaman Islands (Ghosh et al. 2012; Bhatta & Ghosh Corbyn’s Cove and Chiriyatapu through to Brooksabad, Bea-
2014) (Fig. 16.3d), especially along the eastern coast where the donabad, Rangachang and Kodiaghat. Apart from some pre-
rock types in the close vicinity consist of ophiolites, various liminary investigations through shallow pitting around
types of peridotites and volcanic rocks. They are most con- Beadonabad, no detailed investigation has been carried out
centrated at the confluence of streams meeting the Andaman to determine the extent of the sulphide mineralization.
Sea whose catchment areas are covered by ophiolitic rocks.
The best concentrations occur north of Chain Nala (118 290
0100 N, 928 400 3300 E) on Rutland Island (Pal et al. 2003; Nickel
Ghosh et al. 2012) and Panchawati (128 340 4500 N, 928 570
4100 E) and along the Betapur coast (128 350 1200 N, 928 570 Since 1960 detailed investigations through soil sampling has
3200 E) on Middle Andaman (Ghosh et al. 2012). XRF analyses been carried out to locate possible nickeliferous occurrences
of samples of chromite and the host rocks from the Panchawati in the Andaman Islands. Several reddish-brown latosolic
area of Middle Andaman show that Cr2O3 ranges from 49.50 to areas above in situ basic and ultrabasic bodies have been iden-
55.50 wt%. The host harzburgite has SiO2 ranging from 39.04 tified. Geochemical analyses for nickel content have also been
to 39.48 wt% and MgO from 26.92 to 28.43 wt%. These are carried out in a few cases on the parent basic and ultrabasic
economically important values; however, apart from small bedrocks. Ultrabasic plutonic rocks such as dunite and perido-
metre-scale pockets, no large outcrops of the high-Mg rocks tite contain 200 –400 ppm nickel on average, while nickel con-
have been found. PGE prospecting in chromite bodies found tent in the serpentinite varies between 2000 and 3000 ppm.
PGE values with sub-economic concentration (Ru , 10 – Occasionally the altered serpentinite immediately below the
56 ppb, Ir , 10–12 ppb, Rh , 10 ppb, Pd , 10–136 ppb soil profile contains 4000–5000 ppm nickel; rarely, it may
and Pt , 10 –28 ppb) (Pal et al. 2003). go as high as 2–3 wt%. Average nickel content in grey brown
soils rarely exceeds 100 ppm, but in latosolic soil it ranges
between 1000 and 5000 ppm with an average of c. 2500 –
3000 ppm. No distinct anomalous zone or belt has been
Gold and base metal investigations located. The 3000 ppm nickel levels seen in the serpentinized
and latosolic bodies should be taken as the background (thresh-
Geophysical surveys conducted by the geophysical division of old) value of nickel for these lithotypes. It is presumed that
GSI identified an induced polarization (IP) anomaly zone at nickel occurs in the lattice of the silicate minerals (like olivine)
depth over the pillow basalts. There are several occurrences constituting ultrabasic rocks and in the hydrated silicates of the
of gossans (senso lato) pockets in and around Beadonabad soil fraction.
on South Andaman and a search for gold and base metal min-
eralization in this area was carried out on gossan-rich zones
developed over the local basic rocks. Large-scale geological Construction material
mapping on a 1:2000 scale and trench sampling in the miner-
alized zone were also carried out. The major rock types in and This is the only geological resource of the Andaman –Nicobar
around the Beadonabad area are pillow basalt, andesite, pla- Islands that is used effectively. Strongly indurated and less
giogranite and acid volcanics. Sulphide mineralization was altered and fractured slabs of bedded sandstones of the Anda-
observed in a silicified zone within the pillow basalts as well man Flysch serve as good building stone, as do the strongly
as in the diorite and acid volcanic-andesite assemblages in indurated gritty sandstone beds of the Namunagarh Grit.
the area to the south and east of Beadonabad. A few samples Large-scale mining of rocks from a serpentinized ultramafic
collected from the silicified gossan zone over the pillow basalts hill (locally known as Badmashpahar) on South Andaman
yielded gold values as high as 1.97 ppm. (Bandopadhyay et al. Island has long been carried out for road construction, bridges,
1992; Chakraborty & Biswas 1995). The occurrences are sea wall defences and other infrastructures (Fig. 16.4). Dutta
highly restricted and do not persist at depth. In the coastal Gupta & Sen (2001) examined the feasibility of basalts of
tract ESE of Beadonabad, thin ramifying veins of pyrite with the Brookshabad quarry on South Andaman for marine
rare chalcopyrite were also found. construction work, and a conservative estimate suggests
150– 180 m3 of the basalt remain. Clays suitable for the
brick and pottery industry are plentiful in the Neogene Archi-
Coal
pelago Group among the islands of Ritchie’s Archipelago and
the Nicobar Islands.
Occurrences of small lenticular pockets of coal have been
reported from the Lipa Black Shale. The individual bodies
are very thin, from a few centimetres to just over a metre
thick. Laterally, and even depth-wise, the coals hardly con- Resources of Barren Island
tinue for several metres. The coal is black, soft and friable. It
burns with a very smoky flame and is a high volatile sub- Sulphur
bituminous to bituminous coal. No occurrences are large
enough to be economically useful. Persistent but limited occur- Small occurrences of solfataric sulphur have been investigated
rences of bituminous coal in the form of seams a few tens of in the main crater and in the cone of Barren Island volcano.
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230 P. C. BANDOPADHYAY ET AL.

Fig. 16.4. Stone quarry of serpentinized

ultramafic rocks (locally known as
Badmashpahar) in South Andaman.
The large thrust-block of serpentinized
ophiolite rests on Mithakhari
sediments.

These are pure elemental sulphur, sometimes associated with Both Palaeogene and Neogene successions may be suitable
volcanic ash. The deposits are small and not economical. as source, reservoir and cap rocks for the generation and
accumulation of oil and natural gas. Simple alternate synclinal
Volcanic ash and anticlinal structures of the large part of the Great Nicobar
Island were suggested as suitable targets (Karunakaran et al.
The volcano has a long history of eruptions of ash and larger 1975). Similarity in terms of stratigraphy and geotectonic
tephra including extensive flows of basaltic lava to the present setting of the Andaman –Nicobar Islands to that of the oil-pro-
day. While reviewing the resources of the Barren Island, Hob- ducing basins in Myanmar in the north and Indonesia in the
day & Mallet (1885) wrote: ‘there is an unlimited supply of SE, as well as the detailed petrographic examination of a
fine volcanic ash, or “Puzzuolana” on the Island, a material large number of Neogene limestones on Ritchie’s Archipelago,
which is used in Central France and other parts of Europe as led Srinivasan & Chatterjee (1981) to suggest the possible
an ingredient of hydraulic mortar or cement’. These authors presence of hydrocarbon-bearing strata in Miocene rocks.
also mentioned that if the ash could be shipped to Port Blair Roy (1983) discussed the prospects of hydrocarbon explora-
at a sufficiently low rate, it would be worth experimenting tion in various geotectonic settings of Andaman –Nicobar
on by mixing with lime. It is in this context that the fine ash, Basin on the basis of detailed seismic profiles drawn across
lapilli and blocks and boulders of basaltic composition from the Andaman Island at 118 N. He mentioned that the evidence
the recent eruptions could be of value both as a constituent of hydrocarbon in the outer high (outer arc) which includes the
in building materials but also for landscaping. It is estimated Andaman Island is found in the form of minor gas and oil
that the 1991 eruption produced a total of 8 million m3 of vol- shows associated with mud volcanoes. On the basis of seismic
canic ash (Haldar & Luhr 2003). The subsequent eruptions sections and the structural configuration of Miocene marine
during 1994 –95, 2005 –06 and 2008– 09 that continue inter- sequences, Roy & Das Sharma (1993) considered the offshore
mittently have added to this. areas in the Andaman Sea back-arc basin as suitable targets.
Interest in the Andaman Sea basins to the east of the islands
stems from geophysical surveys conducted by ONGC since
Oil and natural gas 1977; over 245 000 km2 of seismic lines showed anticlinal
and fault-related structures suitable as hydrocarbon traps in
Boileau (1950) first considered Baratang Island for exploration post-Oligocene sediments, as well as stratigraphic traps such
of oil and natural gas based on the presence of mud volcanoes. as pinch-outs, wedge-outs, reefs and gravity-flow deposits.
Several indications suggested the presence of oil and gas: At least 13 exploration wells were drilled between 1980 and
within the grey saline mud are emissions of amber-coloured 1987 to accompany these investigations (Fig. 16.5), although
crude oil along with colourless flammable gas. A recent gas they were confined to shallow waters close to the main Anda-
chromatography study of gases emitted from the Baratang man Islands; two wells found gas hydrates. Well AN-1-1
Island mud volcanoes found a high concentration of CH4 drilled east of the Andaman shelf found gas in a middle Mio-
(55.7 vol%) and CO2 (2.0 vol%) emissions, consistent with a cene limestone (flowing at 180 000 m3/day) as well as traces
link to gas hydrate formations (Chaudhuri et al. 2012), but in deeper Cretaceous sands. Indications of gas were also
as yet these are not considered useful as a resource. Due to found in early Miocene ash beds of well AN-32-1. Data
the overpressure rock fragments are also ejected with the from well AN-63C-1 found good to mature organic matter of
mud, and Boileau noted both argillite and limestone fragments Kerogen Type-II and -III in the pre-Neogene section. A well
within the mud volcano on Baratang Island which, similarly to drilled in the Andaman Sea (site 17) by the Indian National
the other mud volcanoes, is located within the Baratang For- Gas Hydrate Program, Expedition 1 in 2006 to investigate
mation. Boileau also speculated that oil and gas might be reservoir-scale controls on gas hydrate distribution confirmed
found in rocks of the Archipelago Group of Ritchie’s Archipel- the presence of methane-hydrate-bearing sediments, espe-
ago. The search for oil has moved from land to sea. cially in volcanic ash layers.
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NATURAL RESOURCES 231

Fig. 16.5. (a) Locations of exploratory wells drilled between 1980 and 1990. (b) Exploration blocks allocated under the New Exploration Licensing Policy
(NELP) scheme formulated by the Government of India. Also shown are the large oil and gas fields in Myanmar waters.

There is little published seismic data from the Andaman offered to public and private sector companies under the
basins: Goli & Pandey (2014) reviewed multichannel seismic New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) scheme formulated
reflection data acquired from a 2500 km line spanning the by the Government of India (Fig. 16.5). Two exploration
outer arc to back arc by the Directorate of Hydrocarbons blocks in deep waters, namely AN-DWN-2002/1 and AN-
(DGH) during 2002–03, and described a number of structures DWN-2002/2 offered under NELP-IV round, were awarded
suitable as traps. The National Gas Hydrate Programme to the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
(NGHP) involved both seismic data collection as well as drill- Another two exploration blocks, AN-DWN-2003/1 and AN-
ing in 2006 (Collett et al. 2008). A collaboration between the DWN-2003/2, were offered under the NELP-V round and
Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, US Geological Survey awarded to ONGC and an ENI-ONGC-GAIL consortium,
and the Consortium for Scientific Methane Hydrate Investiga- respectively. However, little progress was made following
tions used the research drill ship JOIDES Resolution and drill- the awards of these blocks as international investor confidence
ing/coring equipment provided by the Integrated Ocean waned due partly to bureaucratic hurdles. A prime example is
Drilling Program (IODP). Well NGHP-01 (site 17, Fig. 16.5) the case of the multinational company ENI that was awarded
was drilled off the east coast of Little Andaman (108 part of the AN-DWN-2003/2 deepwater block off the east
45.19120 N, 938 6.73650 E) in a water depth of 1344 m. Sedi- coast of the Andaman Islands (Fig. 16.5). The company later
ment core and borehole-related data recovered by drilling to found out that drilling required clearance not only from the
a depth of 693 m below the seafloor included detection of nat- Ministry of Environment and Forestry but also from the
ural gas hydrates, especially in the more porous late Miocene Department of Space, as India’s East Coast Space Centre
volcanic ash layers. Descriptions of the sedimentology, strati- had plans to launch rockets and satellites over the acreage. It
graphic ages and gas hydrates for this well are contained in later chose to relinquish its stake and focus on prospects in
papers published in a special volume of Marine and Petroleum the Moattama – South Andaman basin belonging to Myanmar.
Geology in 2014 (e.g. Flores et al. 2014; Rose et al. 2014). Blocks awarded to ONGC in the ninth NELP round in 2010
Today, the Andaman Sea Basin as a hydrocarbon pros- (AN-DWN-2009/1-18) were located in deeper waters at
pect can be viewed in the context of discoveries made in neigh- depths of 2795–3420 m off both the east and west sides of
bouring territorial waters such as the giant Yetagun gas fields the Andaman–Nicobar Islands (Fig. 16.5). The tenth round
in the Myanmar sector (Fig. 16.5). The main reservoir rocks of NELP offerings, which included blocks in the Andaman
are lower Miocene shallow-marine to shelf-edge deltaic sand- region, was delayed to make the bidding process more interna-
stones and the source rocks are lower Miocene marine shales. tionally attractive; at the time of writing (late 2015) it had still
From 1999 until 2012 blocks in the Andaman sector were not gone ahead.
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232 P. C. BANDOPADHYAY ET AL.

The authors thank the reviewers for their constructive reviews and Rob Stra- Ghosh, B., Morishita, T. & Bhatta, K. 2013. Significance of
chan for his careful and judicial editorial handling of the manuscript. Much chromian spinels from the mantle sequence of the Andaman
of this work stems from support provided by NERC award NE/B503192/1 ophiolite, India: paleogeodynamic implications. Lithos, 164 –
to Carter and Book Writing Project by the Department of Science and Tech- 167, 86– 96.
nology, Government of India to Bandopadhyay. Goli, A. & Pandey, D.K. 2014. Stuctural characteristics of the Anda-
man forearc inferred from intepretation of multichannel seismic
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