22 November,2009 10:22 AM IST | | Shailesh Bhatia
You may not have heard of Padma Shree awardee Dr Rabi Bastia, yet this scientist's discoveries have put India on the hydrocarbon map
Dr Rabi Bastia is a rather unknown scientist from Mumbai, despite being the recipient of the Padma Shree award in 2007. This, he received for directing and implementing several major exploration programmes in the deepwater regions of the east coast of India which resulted in major hydrocarbon discoveries.
At 51, he has been recently listed in the top 100 educators by International Biographical Center, Cambridge, as a testament to the efforts made by him in the area of training and research.
Here Dr Bastia speaks about his life, which started in an obscure village in Orissa, and his journey to becoming one of the most accomplished scientists from the Indian subcontinent.
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Dr Bastia in his office pic/shailesh bhatia |
What were some of the most challenging discoveries of oil in India that you participated in?
Probably, the gas discovery in the Krishna-Godavari basin, in the deep waters of the Indian East Coast. It was the world's largest find in 2002 and part of the largest deepwater project of India (worth US $10 billion). More recently, there was the gas discovery in the Mahanadi offshore. This discovery was preceded by a long spell of futile exploration by previous operators.
For the man on the street, what is so significant about these discoveries?
The discoveries have put India firmly on the deep-water hydrocarbon map of the world. There is a huge potential future treasure of hydrocarbons in the Indian deepwater basins. This will go a long way in bridging the gap in energy supply-demand. This milestone has been achieved in less than six years and half years, from the day the first discovery was made.
What are you concentrating on now?
I am pursuing some research projects in the field of oil exploration with Stanford University, University of Utah and Norwegian Technological University. I am also currently teaching a course in Petroleum Exploration as Adjunct Professor in IIT, Mumbai, and have written a book titled Geologic Settings and Petroleum Systems of India's East Coast Offshore Basins.
