GEECL Plans to List in India Next Year

Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd (GEECL), the country’s first company to commercially produce coal bed methane (CBM), plans to list on Indian stock exchange by next year to raise capital, Business Standard reported Monday.

“We look forward to listing at stock exchanges in India in a year to raise money, since the CBM project is capital-intensive. One good thing is that the (Raniganj) block has started giving us profits and valuation will be improving with rising production and profit,” said Y K Modi, chairman and chief executive officer of GEECL.

The company is already listed at the London Stock Exchange, with market capitalisation of £366 million.

The company has drilled close to 100 wells, and would be drilling 200 more over the next few years.

GEECL has also signed a franchise agreement with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation to set up CNG dispensing stations at their outlets in the region.

GEECL also has plans to bid for ONGC’s CBM blocks in Eastern India.

ONGC is looking for an experienced partner for its four CBM blocks — Raniganj, Bokaro, Jharia and Karanpura. It has 74-100 per cent stake in these, with partners such as Coal India and IOC, which have 10-26 per cent participating interest.

In the fourth round of CBM bidding in 2010, GEECL won the Mannargudi block in east-central Tamil Nadu. The block covers 691 sq km. and the effective area for CBM operations is 667 sq km. It is estimated to hold 0.98 trillion cubic feet of gas.