Take back CBM blocks if progress not satisfactory: Coal Min

The Coal Ministry has sought deallocation of blocks given to companies like Reliance Industries (RIL) and UK's BP Plc for extraction of natural gas from coal beds in case the progress is unsatisfactory, Parliament was informed today.

Moreover, the ministry wanted such deallocated blocks to be made available for mining coal.

"Ministry of Coal had suggested to Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas that in cases of allocated blocks, wherever the development work for coal bed methane (CBM) is not progressing satisfactorily or the blocks are unviable, the same may be taken back by them and released for coal mining," Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister added that as of now, "No such block has been indicated by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas."

However, Jaiswal said the Coal Ministry cannot take the blocks back, as it had not offered any mine to the Oil Ministry. Jaiswal had earlier written a letter to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora in this regard.

Till date, 33 blocks have been awarded to various firms like Reliance Industries and Essar Oil, among others. Essar Oil, Australia's Arrow Energy and Great Eastern Energy will invest $158 million in seven coal bed methane (CBM) blocks, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said here last week.

Prasada had said the total total CBM resources in the country are of the order of 92 trillion cubic feet, of which only 8.9 tcf has been established.

Meanwhile, the government is working to enhance coal production in the country and meet the growing demand from sectors like power and steel. At present, the domestic demand-supply gap stands at about 80 million tonnes. The deficit may double in the next few years.

State-owned Coal India, the world's largest coal miner, produced 431.5 million tonnes of coal in the last fiscal and is the primary producer of the dry fuel in the country. Besides this, the government has allocated 208 coal blocks for captive use, out of which only 26 have started production, Jaiswal added, in a separate reply.