Friday, October 5, 2012

Exploration of Mannargudi coal methane bed to begin by year-end

Chennai: The exploration of natural gas in Mannargudi block will begin by the year-end, according to president and chief operating officer of Great Eastern Energy Corporation Prashant Modi.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, Modi said that his company, which has signed a memorandum of understanding for production of coal bed methane in the state in 2010, got the environmental clearance and petroleum exploration licence to tap the lignite basin which shows remarkable similarity with Powder River basin of United States, which is a prolific producer of coal bed methane.

The estimated gas in place as per the directorate general of hydrocarbons is 0.98 trillion cubic feet (TCF).

“We are awaiting for procedural approvals and once we get it then we will start drilling 50 core wells and 30 production wells by this year end with an investment of Rs 100 crore initially,” said Modi.

He said that initially the coal samples would be tested to ascertain what geology exists and the quality of lignite deposit in the 667 square kilometer block. After that the commercial production will start within a few years. “We are expecting to invest around Rs 3,500 crore in the project,” Modi added.

GEECL is the fully integrated leading Coal Bed Methane (CBM) company in India. It already produces coal bed methane from a block in Raniganjn in West Bengal, and supplies to various industrial consumers. “We supply compressed natural gas to vehicles in Asansol-Durgapur in West Bengal through the outlets of Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation under a franchise agreement,” Modi said.

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