India's Essar Oil & Gas Secures 5 Coalbed Methane Blocks with Estimated Resources of About 6.6 Trillion Cubic Feet

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 15, Indian coalbed methane developer Essar Oil & Gas announced that it had been awarded 5 new blocks in the Indian government's dedicated coalbed methane bidding rounds for 2025 and 2026, and formally signed the contracts on the same day. The newly added exploration area covers approximately 1,281 square kilometers across West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana, with estimated gas originally in place of about 6.6 trillion cubic feet. The contract signing ceremony was presided over by India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.

Among the new blocks, two are located in the Raniganj area of West Bengal, covering a combined area of approximately 330 square kilometers, adjacent to Essar Oil & Gas's existing Raniganj East production area of about 500 square kilometers. With this award, the company's coalbed methane development area in the region will expand to approximately 830 square kilometers. The company plans to leverage existing production facilities and supporting infrastructure to integrate the new blocks into regional integrated development. Essar Oil & Gas currently produces approximately 950,000 standard cubic meters per day of coalbed methane in Raniganj, with cumulative investment in existing exploration and development exceeding 60 billion rupees.

Another block is located in the Singrauli area of Madhya Pradesh, and two other blocks are located in the Godavari Valley in Telangana, the latter being a new coalbed methane development region for the company. Essar Oil & Gas plans to apply its existing coalbed methane development technologies and production experience to the newly added resource blocks, progressively advancing exploration evaluation and subsequent production development.