Coal India May Soon Exploit Shale Gas

State owned Coal India is looking to venture into shale gas space in India and has tied up with the US-based Advance Resource International for exploration and identification of the potential shale deposits within the company’s coal blocks.

 “A pilot project is already happening in this regard in the Gondwana basin of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) and studies are going on in some parts of Central Coalfields Ltd. The results are expected to be out by the mid of this year, possibly by September,” Business Standard quoted a top official of Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) as saying.

Through this, Coal India is likely to become the second firm to succeed on shale in India, after ONGC's success in its pilot project at Ichhapur in Burdwan district of West Bengal.

This comes on the heels of Coal India Chairman S Narsing Rao pitching into a turf war between the petroleum and the coal ministries over the authority of natural resources like coal-bed methane (CBM) and shale. While showing keenness on foraying into both sectors, Rao had told Business Standard since there were safety issues concerned to exploration of shale and CBM, Coal India wanted to explore these natural resources by itself not involving any third party.

The company had said its concerns were logical as the process of hydraulic fracturing or fracking for shale extraction was risky and involved massive pollution of underground water and seismic activity, apart from huge amounts of wasted water in bringing shale gas to the surface.