CMPDIL CBM data bank by March

The Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL) is now working on finalising the data dossier for the fourth round of bidding for coal-bed methane (CBM) blocks with the help of inputs from its newly started CBM clearing house at Ranchi.

CMPDIL would submit the dossier to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) next month.

Around 10 new CBM blocks would be put up for sale in the fourth round of CBM bidding soon.

CMPDIL and Coal India Ltd (CIL) started a clearing house in Ranchi in November 2008 with assistance from the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to expedite CBM extraction in the region.

“We are not looking at any profit. Authentic information about CBM blocks is rare and it will be published exclusively by DGH, the nodal agency for CBM blocks allocation and implementing agency for CBM," said Arjun Kumar Singh, chairman and managing director of CMPDIL.

The data dossier prepared by CMPDIL on request by DGH would provide information to potential investors, both global and domestic, about estimated CBM resources through the DGH website.

The dossier was in final stage for launch by March on website prior to invitation for bids, Singh informed.

The institute could provide technical expertise to prospective bidders, but no one had approached CMPDIL so far.

The development of VCBM (virgin coal bed methane) started in India following formulation of a CBM policy by the Government of India in 1997. Till date, 26 CBM blocks had been allocated through global bids for commercial development for estimated CBM resource of 1.4 trillion cubic metre (TCM).

With third largest proven global coal reserves, and fourth largest global coal producer, India was well placed for commercial recovery of CBM with estimated CBM resources of around 4.6TCM

CMPDIL, with expertise in resource management, exploration and mining, had prepared data dossiers on all the 26 CBM blocks allocated through the previous three rounds of global bidding.

Companies like Reliance Industries, Essar Oil and Great Eastern Energy Corporation for blocks as well as government companies. Recently, GEECL, the first to get its CBM block back in 1997, started commercial production and sale of methane gas from its Shyamdih plant. Others were expected to follow within a few years.