Great Eastern to kick off shale exploration bid
Great Eastern Energy, a London-listed coal-bed methane (CBM) driller active in India, is preparing to launch a new shale exploration programme at its producing Raniganj (South) concession, after executing an amendment to its petroleum mining lease (PML), the company said June 23.
Raniganj (South) licence contains up to 6.7 trillion ft3 of original gas-in-place. Great Eastern has so far drilled 156 of 300 planned wells in the contracted area, which is situated in northeastern India in the state of West Bengal.
Raniganj (South) is connected through a dedicated 77.62 km pipeline to industrial customers in the Asansol-Durgapur region, via Great Eastern's gas gathering station. Great Eastern also owns the Mannargudi CBM block, which comprises 980bn ft3 of in-place gas potential in the southern Indian state Tamil Nadu.
Prashant Modi, managing director and CEO of Great Eastern, said: "We are thrilled to achieve this significant milestone by executing an amendment to our PML and will now commence our shale programme."