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Oil ministry to share methane data with pvt firms

The Petroleum Ministry will invite private firms next month to share data on seven blocks being offered for exploration and production of coal bed methane to meet rising energy demand, Oil Minister Ram Naik said.

"We want to acquaint interested CBM producers about the detailed data of seven blocks, which have been offered in the maiden round of blocks for bidding," Naik told reporters on Wednesday.

The meeting will be held in New Delhi on June 26, and firms can bid for the blocks until August 31, he said.

The offer is an extension of India's new exploration and licensing policy, a key liberalisation plank of India's nearly decade-old economic reform programme.

CBM is primarily methane gas which occurs in its natural state in coal or lignite bed seams in absorbed condition. It is expected to provide a new source of natural gas in the country which relies heavily on imported fuel.

Of the blocks on offer, three are in Madhya Pradesh, two in Jharkhand and one each in Rajasthan and West Bengal.

The seven blocks can produce 8 to 10 million cubic metres of gas a day to augment India's current natural gas output of 81 million cubic metres a day. Natural gas meets about 10 per cent of India's energy needs.

Naik said the offer of seven blocks for methane exploration had evoked a good response abroad.

"More than 30 American companies attended our roadshow in Houston," he said.

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