India's Coal Ministry Wants Relinquished CBM Blocks

India’s Coal Ministry has asked the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to hand over the relinquished coal bed methane (CBM) blocks that were earlier allocated for exploring gas.

The Coal Ministry wants to re-allocate these blocks with substantial coal deposits to power producers, a top bureaucrat told Business Line.

“Several CBM blocks have been relinquished because of inadequate gas reserves. But these have potential coal reserves, which can be mined and used for electricity generation,” the Government official said. The Government is targeting to facilitate captive coal blocks to power producers to meet their fuel requirement.

CBM blocks have been allocated in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Assam, Business Line said.

Coal Ministry is not willing to go for simultaneous mining of exploring gas and coal in the blocks. “That has regulatory hurdle. We do not have such licences yet and it would further delay the process. So we can directly allocate the relinquished blocks to power companies,” the Government official said.