The Hindu : `Gas to be produced from coal fields by year-end'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 28, 2003

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`Gas to be produced from coal fields by year-end'

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI May 27. The Petroleum Minister, Ram Naik, today said India would soon join the select league of nations producing gas from coal fields by the end of the year.

A coal bed methane (CBM) block in West Bengal is expected to begin producing gas estimated at 1.5 million standard cubic metres by that time.

Speaking at the roadshow organised here to promote the second offering of CBM blocks for exploration and production of gas, he said the Raniganj South block was likely to begin production by the year-end. However, commercial production of gas would begin only in 2005.

Mr. Naik noted that India would be the fourth country after the U.S., Australia and China to join the league of CBM producing countries. By 2005-06, production was expected to reach 10 to 12 mmscmd.

He said the ONGC had already spent about Rs. 30 crores in Jharia block and about Rs. 4 crores in Raniganj block. As a result, gas production was likely to reach about one mmscmd and 2 mmscmd respectively within two years.

He maintained that India could produce 10 to 12 mmscmd of gas from coal bed, which was around 20 per cent of the current natural gas production of 65 million standard cubic metres per day.

In the latest round of bidding, nine CBM blocks, with a combined resource of about 500 billion cubic metres of gas, are on offer.

Bids will close on October 15 and blocks are proposed to be awarded by December end. The nine blocks are in Andhra Pradesh (1), Chattisgarh (1), Gujarat (1), Jharkhand (2), Madhya Pradesh (1), Maharashtra (1) and Rajasthan (2).

Contracts for exploration have already been awarded for eight blocks in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

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