Source: Financial Express, 09 May 2023
Essar Oil and Gas Exploration and Production will invest another Rs 2,000 crore to ramp up production of coal bed methane (CBM) gas and increase the total number of wells to 500 in the next 2-3 years.The company, which has already drilled 348 wells, has invested more than Rs 5,000 crore for development of its Raniganj CBM block in West Bengal.
The investments, which would be made at its coal seam block in West Bengal, will help in increasing the production to contribute about 5% to India’s total gas production. A part of the investment would be earmarked for eCBM microbial technology and R&D initiatives such as hydro-fracking, radial drilling and microbial treatments among others.
The company will start drilling of the new wells in the next 18-24 months to take production to about 3 mscmd.“The investment in Microbial eCBM technology demonstrates our commitment to increase production and reserves base,” CEO Pankaj Kalra said.Essar Oil, which primarily focuses on unconventional hydrocarbons, has a resource base of 12 trillion cubic feet CBM and shale gas resources.