Y K Modi-run Great Eastern Energy Corp (GEECL) today announced that the company would invest Rs 200 crore per year in the second phase of drilling of wells in its Raniganj coal block for exploiting gas from below the coal seams."GEECL has already invested Rs 250 crore and will make an additional investment of Rs 200 crore per year in the second phase of drilling and expect the figure to go up to Rs 500 crore per year in future," the company stated in a release.The total investment is expected to be around Rs 4,000 crore. GEECL will now continue to drill non-stop (approx 30-35 wells per year) to fully develop the field and supply coal bed methane (gas) to the nearby districts. The second phase of drilling of wells began yesterday.GEECL has already completed 23 vertical production wells and current production rate from Asansol has reached 2.6 million standard cubic feet per day. It would soon start supplying CBM for CNG purposes for vehicles through IOC petrol stations in the Asansol district.The London-listed GEECL was planning to list on the Indian bourses by the end of 2008, the release said.Y K Modi, executive chairman and managing director, GEECL, said, "This is a significant milestone for all of us at GEECL and for the city of Asansol. We are delighted to start this campaign with our own brand new rig. We have bought it from Atlas Copco, USA, who are a leading manufacturer of rigs."Prashant Modi, president and COO, GEECL, said: "Our first phase of drilling was very successful and was completed within our expected timelines and budget. We will now further leverage our expertise and knowledge along with world class service companies, to optimise the drilling of CBM wells in the second phase."India is the fourth country after the US, Australia and China to start producing gas from below the coal seams.
