Essar Oil & Gas gets environment clearance to begin shale gas exploration

Essar Oil & Gas Exploration and Production (EOGEPL) has received environment clearance for exploring shale gas reserves in its Raniganj block in West Bengal, an official said.

This follows the government's decision to allow operators freedom to explore both conventional oil and natural gas as well as non-conventional sources like coal-bed methane (CBM) and shale reserves within a exploration acreage.

Previously, companies could explore only oil and natural gas or CBM depending on their licence for the block.

The official said the expert appraisal committee (EAC) in January 29 meeting allowed Essar to drill 20 wells to explore shale gas in its Raniganj CBM block.

It has been awarded an exploration lease for shale gas, CBM and hydrocarbons in the Raniganj block.

EOGPL has got approval to drill 20 shale wells at a cost of Rs 10 crore. To start with, it will drill five wells in the block to test the shale potential.

When contacted, company Managing Director and CEO Vilas Tawde said: "We will start off with collecting the data. For this, we will need to drill the coal, identify the sweet spot and then drill horizontally for almost a km. Thereafter, we will analyse the coal, the shale, the strength of the shale, and the required volume."