ONGC Confirms CBM Movement

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) will proceed with the filing of product sharing contracts and development plans for the Jharia, Bokaro, North Karanpura and Raniganj coal bed methane blocks on which it has found gas in viable quantities.

The company will be relinquishing the South Karnpura block in Jharkhand.

ONGC had received nine blocks in eastern India. It had relinquished four earlier and was working on the rest of the blocks.

"The Raniganj block in West Bengal is in the exploration phase. We have found potential CBM in this block and would be drilling one more well here in the next two months. We hope to make an estimate of the reserves over the next five-six months," an ONGC official said.

At Bokaro in Jharkhand, ONGC has found coal bed methane gas and the volume of reserves has been estimated to be commercially viable. It is in the process of submitting the development plan to the regulator. Development plan for the North Karnpura block will be submitted next month.

ONGC is also planning to drill two wells at its Jharia CBM block in Jharkhand, where it has found gas. Following this, it will submit the field development plan to the government by the end of 2011. "At present, we are dewatering the block," an ONGC official said.

The company can start production only after the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon approves its CBM development plans.

ONGC has started selling some gas from its Jharia block. "We have already been selling 5,000 cubic meter of gas from the Jharia block. Nevertheless CBM exploration requires a large number of wells to be drilled and land acquisition problems as well as overlapping coal blocks have led to slow progress of work at the Bokaro block," said A.K Hazarika, Director of Exploration at ONGC.