Dart Energy to Exit India in November

Coal bed methane (CBM) explorer Dart Energy will wind up its operations in India in November.

“We invested a lot in India. But our investments did not yield good results. Working in India is very tough. It wasn’t a very good experience for a foreign company like ours,” an official from Dart Energy told Business Standard newspaper.

Last year, the company surrendered its stake in ONGC’s CBM blocks. In June 2013, ONGC had offered a 10 to 25 per cent stake in four of its CBM blocks to Dart.

Currently, Dart owns 10 per cent in an Assam block (AS-CBM-2008/IV) with Oil India. The company is not optimistic about the prospects of the block, Business Standard said.

In India, Dart commenced activity in 2006, as Arrow Energy International. It obtained three blocks in the CBM III bidding round and two additional blocks in the CBM IV bidding round in 2010.

But later it relinquished the three blocks awarded in CBM III round as it faced problems with the local tribal community in one block and technical results showed insufficient gas for a commercial CBM project with regards to the other two blocks, according to Business Standard.

Last October, Dart Energy was acquired by UK’s IGas Energy Plc.

 ++