Each topic below explains the evidence, the business problem it creates, how GLOBEIR solves it, the benefits to your organisation, and how your data stays private and secure.
1. Exploration Acreage and Basin Data
Under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) lets companies bid for exploration blocks across India's sedimentary basins. Nine rounds have awarded 172 blocks covering 3,78,652 sq km, and OALP Round X offers 25 blocks over 1,91,986 sq km, the largest acreage offered in a single OALP round so far [2][1]. About 1 million sq km of offshore "No-Go" area, blocked for decades, was released for exploration in 2022 [2].
Better data is part of the offer. A National Data Repository was set up in 2017, unappraised areas are being covered under the National Seismic Programme, and the Government is spending about Rs 7,500 crore on seismic data and stratigraphic wells so that quality basin data is available to bidders, including approval for 20,000 line km onland and 30,000 line km offshore of additional 2D seismic beyond the EEZ [3]. In the Andaman basin alone, a 2D broadband survey of about 80,000 line km was completed in 2024 and four OALP-X blocks covering 47,058 sq km are on offer [4].
Business problem
Bid windows are fixed, but the acreage is large and often in frontier or deep-water basins. Exploration teams must bring together block boundaries, seismic coverage, wells, discoveries, nearby infrastructure and surface constraints from separate data packages before they can rank blocks. When this is done in spreadsheets and static maps, screening is slow and the reasoning behind a bid is hard to show to management and partners.
Our solution
- A single spatial database per bid round or basin, combining block boundaries, basin category, licensed seismic and well data, fields, pipelines, ports, terrain or bathymetry, and protected areas and settlements.
- Coverage-gap maps that show where seismic and well control is thin inside each block.
- Block scoring on agreed criteria such as data coverage, distance to infrastructure and operating constraints.
- Block profiles and interactive maps for the bid committee on WebGIS, with the option to run entirely inside the client's own environment.
Benefits
- Faster, more consistent screening of large bid rounds.
- A documented, repeatable basis for bid decisions that partners and management can review.
- Early sight of surface constraints, such as settlements and protected areas, that affect operations and cost.
- Better use of the larger public data effort now under way [3][4].
Privacy & data security
- Licensed E&P data stays within the terms of the client's licence; GLOBEIR can work inside the client's own cloud, data centre or an on-premise or air-gapped setup.
- Bid-related analysis is commercially sensitive; access is limited by role, with audit logs, and covered by an NDA.
- Fine-resolution geospatial data is stored and processed in India, as the DST guidelines require for data finer than the threshold accuracy [20].
2. Pipeline Route Planning and Right of User
India's gas grid is expanding fast. PNGRB has authorised about 34,233 km of natural gas pipelines, of which 25,429 km were operational by June 2025 and 10,459 km were under various stages of construction [5]. Operational length has grown from 15,340 km in 2014 [9].
Pipelines are laid under the Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962. The Act provides for notification, survey, objections and a declaration of right of user (ROU) in the land, with compensation. After the declaration, the owner or occupier may keep using the land as before but may not construct any building or structure, excavate a tank, well, reservoir or dam, or plant trees on it [7]. Getting the alignment right therefore matters for the life of the pipeline.
Business problem
Route selection must balance length and cost against settlements, forests, rivers, steep or unstable ground, roads and railways, and existing utility corridors. Land schedules, crossing permissions and ROU notifications all depend on the chosen alignment. When route options are compared by hand, or the alignment is re-drawn late, projects lose time to re-surveys, objections and changes in land records.
Our solution
- Corridor studies that combine digital elevation models, satellite imagery, land use, settlements, forests, water bodies, transport and existing utility corridors.
- Least-cost route analysis that compares alternatives on length, number of crossings and constraint areas.
- Mapping of the selected alignment against village and survey-number boundaries, where available, to support land schedules and ROU work.
- One shared alignment and ROU layer on WebGIS that construction and operations teams carry forward.
Benefits
- Route choices backed by mapped evidence that can be explained to approving authorities and landowners.
- Fewer late alignment changes and re-surveys.
- A clean ROU record from day one, which supports later monitoring and encroachment action [7].
- Industry example: in the US, gas transmission operators must submit geospatial data on their pipelines to the National Pipeline Mapping System every year by 15 March [15], showing how central accurate pipeline maps are to regulation.
Privacy & data security
- Land and survey-number records can identify landowners; they are used only for the project and shared only with authorised project roles.
- Pipeline alignments are critical infrastructure data; access is role-based with audit logs, and data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
- DST guidelines give no right of access to restricted premises, and sensitive attributes may be regulated through a negative list [20]; GLOBEIR follows the client's classification of what may be shown and to whom.
3. Pipeline Monitoring and Encroachment Detection
Oil and gas companies protect underground pipelines from unauthorised digging with SCADA monitoring, security patrolling, leak detection systems, pipeline intrusion detection systems, negative pressure wave leak detection and GIS-based pipeline mapping. Under PM Gati Shakti, utility owners are notified of new projects in the vicinity through the Gati Shakti portal, which helps identify potential infringement, and the Call Before you Dig (CBuD) application is being used to coordinate excavation agencies with oil and gas companies [6].
The law backs this up. A District Judge can order structures, wells, tanks or trees on ROU land to be removed on the competent authority's application, and wilfully damaging a pipeline or inserting a device to extract product is punishable with rigorous imprisonment of up to ten years [7]. Globally, third-party activity remains a major risk: in Europe's EGIG database, external interference has the highest failure frequency over 1970-2022, at 0.125 incidents per 1,000 km-year, and holes in pipelines are mainly caused by external interference [14].
Business problem
Pipeline corridors run through growing towns, industrial belts and farmland. New houses, boundary walls, borewells, ponds, plantations and road works can appear over the ROU between patrols. Patrols cannot watch every kilometre all the time, and encroachments found late are harder to remove and raise the risk of third-party damage.
Our solution
- Satellite change detection along a buffer around each pipeline, using recent and earlier optical and radar imagery to flag new structures, earthworks, excavation, water bodies and tree planting.
- Machine learning with analyst review to reduce false alerts, with each alert placed by chainage and linked to imagery clips.
- Geo-tagged line patrol and alert verification in the My GLOBEIR app, with offline capture, time-stamped photos and structured forms.
- Supervisor views of patrol coverage, open alerts and closure status, with opt-in Live Tracking for patrol teams where the client wants it.
Benefits
- A wide-area check that complements SCADA, intrusion detection and patrolling rather than replacing them [6].
- Earlier warning of encroachment, while it can still be stopped or resolved on site.
- Dated, located evidence to support action under the P&MP Act [7].
- Industry example: European incident data show that holes are mainly caused by external interference, and that patrols, contractors and staff detected about 42% of incidents over 1970-2022 [14], which shows the value of organised surveillance.
Privacy & data security
- Imagery and alerts focus on structures and ground activity along the corridor, not on individuals.
- Patrol staff location is captured only as part of a work record; background tracking is optional and opt-in, with a persistent notification on the device.
- Alerts and pipeline maps are shared only with the client's integrity and security roles, with audit logs of access.
4. City Gas Distribution Network GIS
City gas distribution (CGD) has expanded to 307 geographical areas [9], covering almost all of India's mainland [1]. By September 2025 there were about 1.57 crore domestic PNG connections and more than 8,400 CNG stations [9]. PNGRB's minimum work programme targets about 12.63 crore PNG connections by 2032, and 5,20,176 inch-km of steel and MDPE pipeline had been laid by 31 May 2024 against an MWP target of 5,46,867 inch-km [16].
PNGRB's technical standards for CGD networks make GIS mandatory. Each entity must put in place a GIS-based system capturing the entire underground gas network and customer database, identify every pipeline through geo-referenced coordinates, map all failures for investigation, keep extensions and expansions updated, and use GIS during the entire life cycle of the asset [8].
Business problem
Networks grow every day through new mains, service lines and connections, often built by several contractors. As-built drawings arrive late, in mixed formats or with poor coordinates, and the network map drifts from what is in the ground. That slows leak response, makes third-party dig coordination harder and weakens planning for new connections and MWP targets.
Our solution
- A CGD data model for steel and PE mains, service lines, valves, district regulating stations, CNG stations and customer connection points, with attributes such as diameter, material, pressure and commissioning date.
- Digitisation of legacy drawings and a regular as-built loading cycle with quality checks.
- Mapping of leaks, failures and third-party damage for investigation, as PNGRB requires [8].
- Web maps for operations, emergency and planning teams on WebGIS, with field updates through the My GLOBEIR app.
Benefits
- A network GIS that supports the PNGRB requirement for lifetime, geo-referenced asset records [8].
- Faster location of valves and mains during leaks and dig requests.
- Better planning of extensions and new connections against MWP targets [16].
- Industry example: Call Before you Dig is being implemented by oil and gas companies to coordinate with excavation agencies and reduce damage to CGD infrastructure [6]; an accurate network map is what makes such coordination useful.
Privacy & data security
- The CGD customer database contains names, addresses and connection details, which are personal data under the DPDP Act [17].
- Customer details are separated from network geometry, and planning views use masked or aggregated customer data.
- Access is role-based (operations, emergency, planning, contractors) with audit logs, and data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
5. Retail Outlet and Energy Station Site Selection
India's fuel retail network has grown from about 52,000 outlets in 2014 to over one lakh in 2025 [10]. Public sector oil marketing companies are setting up 4,000 Energy Stations between 2024-25 and 2028-29 along major corridors, offering conventional fuels alongside biofuels, CNG, LNG where feasible and EV charging, and 1,064 had been set up by 1 November 2025 [9].
Public sector OMCs set up retail outlets at identified locations based on field survey and feasibility studies, and locations with sufficient potential that are economically viable are rostered in their marketing plans [11]. Private entities authorised to market transport fuels must set up at least 100 outlets, with 5% in notified remote areas within five years, and must add at least one alternative fuel such as CNG, LNG, biofuels or EV charging within three years of an outlet starting [12].
Business problem
With the network already this dense, every new outlet competes with nearby stations, including the company's own. Field surveys are costly, so sending weak candidates to survey wastes time. Retailers also need to meet remote-area commitments and choose where alternative fuels and charging will actually be used.
Our solution
- Site scoring using road networks and corridors, traffic proxies, vehicle registration trends, settlement growth, existing and competitor outlets and the client's own sales history.
- Travel-time catchments around existing and candidate sites to show overlap and white space, with Heatmap views of demand.
- Identification and shortlisting of candidate sites in notified remote areas.
- A ranked shortlist and map on WebGIS, with field feasibility checks recorded in the My GLOBEIR app.
Benefits
- Fewer, better-qualified sites sent to field survey [11].
- Less cannibalisation of the existing network.
- Evidence for where CNG, LNG and EV charging fit best in a multi-fuel station plan [9].
- A repeatable method that marketing teams can rerun each planning cycle.
Privacy & data security
- Catchment analysis uses area-level and aggregated data; individual customer identifiers are not needed.
- Sales data by outlet is commercially sensitive and is used only for the client's planning purpose, never shared with other clients.
- Results are shared with the client's marketing roles only, with audit logs.
6. HSE and Emergency Response
PNGRB's ERDMP regulations apply to hydrocarbon installations and pipelines and set out how emergencies are planned for and managed. They require zones and maps that highlight incident-prone areas, show where human life is seriously endangered, and mark assembly points and emergency control rooms. Entities must help the District Disaster Management Authority finalise maps of installations and nearby areas with vulnerable and sensitive locations such as schools and old age homes, and emergency control centres should hold maps and aerial photographs of the site, adjacent industries, the surrounding community, highways and rivers [13]. For road transport, tank truck crews must carry a route map [13].
Business problem
Emergency plans are often built on plot plans and paper maps that go out of date as towns grow around terminals, plants and pipelines. During a drill or incident, responders need to see the affected zone, access routes, isolation valves and the nearest hospitals and fire stations at once. HSE leaders also lack a location-based view of where incidents, near misses and inspection findings cluster.
Our solution
- Maps of installations, pipelines, emergency zones, assembly points, control rooms, isolation valves and response resources.
- Overlays of roads, hospitals, fire stations and nearby sensitive locations from public and client data.
- An emergency and HSE dashboard built on Administration Monitoring for drills, incidents and trend review.
- Geo-tagged inspection and incident records captured through the My GLOBEIR app.
Benefits
- Zone maps and community maps that stay current, as the ERDMP regulations expect [13].
- A shared picture for site teams and district authorities during drills and incidents.
- Location-based trends in incidents and near misses that point to where controls need strengthening.
- Industry example: PHMSA's pipeline mapping data is used, among other things, to give emergency responders a more reliable and complete view of pipelines and facilities [15].
Privacy & data security
- Emergency maps show facilities and public locations, not individuals; staff contact lists are kept in access-controlled systems.
- Installation layouts and valve locations are security-sensitive and are shared only with authorised roles and agencies.
- Incident records are retained and deleted according to the client's policy, with logs kept as CERT-In requires for ICT systems [19].