Essar Oil Ramping Up CBM Output in India

Essar Oil will be ramping up coal bed methane production in order to begin supplying gas to Matix Fertilisers, eastern India’s first urea making facility, Businessline reported.

The 1.3 million-tonne urea facility at Panagarh will begin operations next quarter.

Essar Oil is already the biggest CBM producer in India with output of more than 1 mscmd. It is looking to reach production figures of 3 mscmd by 2017-18 fiscal.

As per a 2016 NSAI (Netherland Sewell & Associates, Inc) report, the possible gross CBM reserves in the Raniganj (East) Block in eastern Indian state of West Bengal is estimated at 1.09 tcf (trillion cubic feet), the company said.

By next quarter, Essar will have enough gas to meet half of the 2.4-mscmd demand of Matix. This is after meeting nearly 0.4 mscmd demand of SAIL and some other local industries, Businessline added.

“Our production will touch 2 mscmd in March 2017,” Manish Maheswari, CEO – E&P, Essar, told newspersons on Wednesday in Durgapur.