Essar Energy to Invest $1bn in Indian CBM Blocks

Essar Energy is likely to invest $1 billion over next five years to produce gas from its coal bed methane (CBM) blocks in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.

"We are producing gas at the rate of 60,000 standard cubic metres (scm) per day and are confident of producing 3 million scm a day by the end of the next year from our Raniganj block in West Bengal," Iftikhar Nasir, the CEO of Essar Energy (E&P) told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview.

He said the company is looking to produce 6-10 million scm of gas a day in the next five years from its five CBM blocks.

Essar Energy is set to develop the Rajmahal block in Jharkhand, which is two to four times bigger than the Raniganj block, the newspaper said. The company has one more block in Sohagpur, Madhya Pradesh and two more in Talcher and Ib valley in Orissa.

"The total estimated gas reserves in these five CBM blocks are around 10 trillion cubic feet (tcf). Raniganj alone is around one tcf," Nasir told Hindustan Times.