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Brief history of the country
Nepal (the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal) is a landlocked, dominantly Hindu, country in the Himalayas. It borders China to the north and India to the south, east and west.
Kusunda hunter-gatherers lived in the region 11,000 years ago. In 500 BC small kingdoms arose under the influence of Indian empires. The Licchavi Kingdom was established in central Nepal from 400 AD but conquered by dynasties from Tibet and India in 750.
New local rulers began to emerge in 1100 who consolidated into 3 kingdoms which were unified in 1768 into the Kingdom of Nepal by the Shah dynasty. Wars with China in 1778 and with the UK in India in 1815 (establishing the Gurkhas’ reputation as effective fighters) ended with Nepal ceding territory. A treaty with the UK made it a protectorate (superseded by a friendship treaty in 1923).
The pro-British Rana dynasty had taken over from the Shahs in 1846 until 1951 but it was not until 1990 that a parliament was fully established. In 1996 a Maoist Party tried to usurp the government and a civil war was fought up to 2005. A negotiated ceasefire ultimately led to the abolition of the monarchy in 2008 and Nepal became a republic.
Nepal’s economy depends on agriculture and textiles and remittances from employment of the Gurkhas. Mountain tourism is also important.
Oil and gas summary
Land-locked Nepal is entirely within the central Himalayan mountain range. It’s southern lowland plain (Terai) borders India and is part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Abutting the plain, the lower Himalayan range (Pahad) comprises mountains with populated valleys. The Mountain Region (Himal) north of this, contains 8 of the world's 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest.
The Himalayas are folded and thrusted remains of the Tethyan ocean that lay between the Eurasian plate and the Indo-Australian plate combined with Precambrian and Palaeozoic basement rocks of the southern edge of the Tibetan block of Eurasia. Collision began about 65 mm years ago when oceanic crust first began to subduct and was thrust over the Tibetan block. The Indian plate continues to be driven below the Tibetan Plateau, forcing the mountains higher and the plateau upwards.
Nepal lies within this collision zone in the central sector of the Himalayan arc. The zone accommodates massive crustal shortening as the rock sequences slide over each other. Earthquakes can occur the last of which was in 2015. Erosion of the Himalayas is an important source of sediments in the Indian Ocean which are often gas-bearing.
The Ganga Basin in Nepal is a lowland Tertiary inter-montane basin on trend with the oil producing Potwar Basin to the west in Pakistan and the Assam Basin to the east in India. They have similar geologic histories. Within the Ganga Basin oil and gas seeps have been recorded in western Nepal including the Muktinath gas seep and Dailekh oil and gas seep north of the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT).
In the 1980s a seismic survey was carried out by CGG in the southern strip of Nepal covering over 3,000 kms. The area was divided into 10 exploration blocks covering all of southern Nepal, each of around 5,000 square kms. These blocks were opened for bidding in 1985 and Shell acquired 2,000 kms of seismic data over block 10 in the southeast, drilling the only well in the southeastern lowlands in 1989 targeted at Palaeogene reservoirs. It failed to find hydrocarbons. No further activity was carried out until 2012 when BBB Champions Oil Company re-licensed Block 10.
Since then there has so far been very little exploration activity. Although potential plays may exist Globalshift believes the likelihood is that any traps present have been breached through recent uplift.
NEPAL
Map and National Flag
KATHMANDHU
Pashupatinath temple
South Asia
Capital
Population
Land area (sq kms)
Oil prod (000s b/d)
Gas prod (bcm/yr)
Oil cons (000s b/d)
Gas cons (bcm/yr)
Kathmandhu
28 mm
147,181
None
None
19
None
Government
Up until 1990, Nepal was a monarchy controlled by a King. In 1990 a parliamentary monarchy with the king as head of state and a prime minister as the head of government was created.
This legislature was bicameral with a 205-member House of Representatives and a 60-member National Council.
In 2008 the King gave up power and Nepal became a republic with a president as head of state and an increased membership of the lower house.
The Department of Mines and Geology is the government organization responsible for oil and gas exploration.
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) is a state-owned enterprise importing storing and distributing petroleum products.
