30 COMPANIES PARTICIPATE IN CBM ROAD
SHOW IN HOUSTON
India has invited
investments in exploration and production of Coal bed Methane
(CBM) in the country that would go a long way in supplementing
gas requirements. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri
Ram Naik and Minister of Coal, Shri Kariya Munda are currently
in Houston for the CBM-II Promotional Road Show to invite investments
for the exploration and production of CBM in India. Investment
in CBM will help in meeting the gas requirements of India.
Shri Naik suggested
that in order to interact with CBM producing countries like the
U.S., Indian CBM companies may form an Association for sharing
global CBM experience, transfer of technologies, and management
practices for expeditious exploration and production of CBM.
Both Shri Naik and
Shri Munda expressed happiness at the "excellent response" to
the Roadshow by CBM companies in the U.S. A total of 85 delegates
from over 30 companies, oil and gas field service providers and
other organisations participated in the Houston Roadshow. The
companies which participated in the Roadshow include Chevron Texaco,
Occidental Petroleum, CDX Gas, El Paso Production, Duke Energy
and Burlington Resources, Inc. Large size seismic companies were
also represented.
The Ministers are
accompanied by their senior officers of both Petroleum and Coal
Ministries. Shri J.M.Mauskar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum
and Natural Gas made a presentation on the "attractive fiscal
and contractual terms" offered by the Government of India under
CBM-II. Dr. Avinash Chandra, Director General, Hydrocarbons, made
a presentation on the technical features of the 9 blocks on offer.
India will be the
fourth country after US, Australia and China to join the global
league of CBM producing nations when gas from coal seams starts
flowing in coming years. Nine CBM blocks, with a combined resource
of about 500 billion cubic metres of gas, are on offer in the
second round. The nine blocks are in Andhra Pradesh (1), Chattisgarh
(1) - partially in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat (1), Jharkhand (2),
Madhya Pradesh (1), Maharashtra (1) and Rajasthan (2). Government
has already awarded contracts for exploration of CBM in eight
blocks in Jharkhand (3), Madhya Pradesh (2) and West Bengal (3).
To facilitate information
on technical data on the blocks on offer, a website has been created.
Data centres are also being opened in Delhi and the office of
the Consulate General of India at Houston. The bid closing date
for CBM-II is October 15, 2003.
At the invitation
of the U.S. Department of Energy, Shri Naik would be visiting
the Bryan Mound Petroleum Strategic Reserves in Texas. The visit
to the site will help India in planning and financing, including
techno-economic aspects of building its own strategic reserves.
