ONGC to invest Rs4,000 crore in four coal bed methane gas blocks

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) has decided to invest Rs.4,000 crore to

develop its four coal bed methane (CBM) gas blocks. Two of the four blocks in North Karanpura

and Bokaro, in Jharkhand would start production by the second half of 2017-18, a senior ONGC

official said. Methane is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds.

The company has sold a 25% stake in its North Karanpura CBM block to Prabha Energy Pvt. Ltd

(PEPL), a unit of Deep Industries Ltd. The block in Bokaro would be developed by ONGC. The

venture with PEPL is on a joint operatorship model and PEPL would make investments

proportionate to its 25% interest in North Karanpura.

“We expect to begin CBM production by the later half of year 2017-18. The cumulative plateau

production after development of all the four blocks is estimated to the tune of 1.7 million metric

standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd),” said a spokesperson for ONGC in an emailed

response.

NGS INDIA