Adani inks JV with Carbon Energy to bid for UCG projects

Adani Group today said it has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an Australia-based firm Carbon Energy to form a joint venture to pursue Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) projects in India.

"The two firms have inked a MoU for a strategic joint venture, where they shall jointly be bidding in tendering process for UGC projects likely to be announced on tenements of Coal India (CIL)," a company official said here.

"The MoU is for a period of 18 months during which it is anticipated that Adani group and Carbon Energy will jointly submit bids for establishing UCG project on the Coal India tenements in India," he said.

UCG is a process of converting un-worked coal into a combustible gas which can be used as a fuel for heating, power generation, manufacture of hydrogen or even diesel fuel.

"Adani has selected Carbon Energy as technology partner for important submissions to Coal India, as it is the leading proponent of UCG globally," Adani Group President-Corporate Planning Harsh Mishra, said in a statement.

"The company has superiority in UCG technology based on extensive research conducted in conjunction with Australia's CSIRO," he said.

The Adani Group has already signed contracts to mine, move and supply around 110 million tonne of coal per year for use by the government owned power utilities in India, a company statement said.

Adani Shipping Pte Ltd (ASPL), a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), has purchased two cargo vessels with capacity of 175,000 DWT for transportation of coal from Adani Group's mines in Indonesia and Australia.

Delivery of M/V Rahi has been made, while the second vessel M/V Vanshi is scheduled to be delivered soon, a company official said.

AEL in August last year had concluded a binding agreement with Australia's Linc Energy to purchase their Galilee coal tenement in Queensland.

The Group had announced in December last that its port and logistics business arm Mundra Port and Special Economic zone (MPSEZ) has successfully commenced operation of a fully mechanised coal handling terminal in Mundra.

The Group has proposed to expand capacity of its mechanised terminal from 60 million tonne to 100 million tonne.

The fully-mechanised facility will be supplying coal to small and big power plants in the Northern and Western regions.