CIL to ink pacts with BHEL, IOCL, GAIL for 4 coal gasification projects

State-owned CIL will sign agreements with three public sector enterprises -- Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and GAIL (India)-- in order to set up four surface gasification projects.

Through gasification process, coal is converted into syngas -- a fuel gas -- which can be used in downstream production of value added chemicals.

The government aims to achieve 100 million tonnes of coal gasification in the next eight years in order to reduce the import of crude oil which is otherwise used to produce syngas.

"Coal India Limited (CIL), under the aegis of Ministry of Coal, will be inking three major Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) on September 27," the coal ministry said in a statement.

The proposed projects would reduce forex outgo and create around 23,000 jobs, it said.

The government had earlier said that the target to gasify 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030 will entail an investment of over Rs 4 lakh crore.

This 100 MT coal gasification will happen in three phases, the government had said.

In the first phase from 2020-2024, 4 million tonnes (MT) of coal will be gasified and around Rs 20,000 crore will be invested for the same.

In the second phase from 2020-2026, 6 MT of coal will be gasified which will involve an investment of Rs 30,000 crore.

In the third phase from 2022-2030, 90 MT of coal will be gasified and Rs 3.6 lakh crore will be invested for the same.