Great Eastern Energy Corp to start shale gas prospecting

New Delhi: Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd (GEECL) on Thursday said it has signed an amendment to a petroleum mining lease that will allow it to prospect for shale gas in its Raniganj coal-bed methane (CBM) in West Bengal. The block is estimated to hold inplace shale gas reserves of 6.63 trillion cubic feet.

"GEECL, the fully integrated, pioneering Indian coal bed methane (CBM) company, is pleased to announce that it has executed an amendment to its Petroleum Mining Lease (PML) and will now progress with its shale exploration programme," the firm said in a statement.

The lease agreement will enable mining for shale gas in GEECL's existing CBM in Raniganj area in Paschim Burdwan.

The shale gas mining will bring in an investment of Rs 15,000 crore and will create further ancillary industries and generate thousands of new jobs. It will also boost industrial activity by providing cleaner and cheaper energy and aid the transportation sector growth.

This is in addition to a further investment envisaged in the GEECL's continuing CBM programme of Rs 1,500 crores.

Prashant Modi, Managing Director & CEO of Great Eastern, said: "We are thrilled to achieve this significant milestone by executing an amendment to our PML and will now commence our shale programme. Given the large potential shale gas resource in our Raniganj (South) block of up to 6.63 Tcf of original gas in place, it provides an exciting and excellent growth opportunity for the company."

The state-owned GAIL is laying a pipeline for evacuation of the fuel to customers.

This, he said, offers the company an ability to deliver additional future production volumes to new customers and markets.

"We will now make plans for the initial core wells in the shale program and, based on the results obtained, we will then progress to a development plan to drill pilot production wells," he said.

(With PTI inputs)

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