Essar Plans Major India Shale Capex
India’s Essar Oil & Gas Exploration and Production (EOGEPL) plans to invest $1bn to extract shale gas from its Ranjiganj coalbed methane (CBM) block in the eastern state of West Bengal, Financial Express reported April 12.
The company is ready with the proposal and it is awaiting policy clearance from the ministry, the newspaper quoted CEO Vilas Tawde saying.
EOGEPL is already producing 1mn m3/d CBM from the Raniganj block. Tawde said the company expects policy relating to shale gas exploration in CBM blocks to be announced by the end of June.
CBM at present contributes 3% of India's overall natural gas requirements, but Tawde believes it can go up to 10% by 2021, Financial Express reported. In a bid to further spur CBM production, the Indian government April 11 made it easier for state-owned Coal India to explore and produce CBM from its mines.
As of today, four companies (EOGEPL, GEECL, ONGC and Reliance Industries) own CBM assets in India. ONGC is not currently producing CBM. Of the other three that are, EOGEPL is the largest producer.