GAIL to double investment in exploration

 GAIL, which holds interest in 10 exploration blocks, is expecting two more onland blocks in Tripura and Cauvery basin. Besides, it hopes to bag one of the coal bed methane (CBM) blocks that it bid for.

 The company is also in talks with Royal Dutch/Shell for a 15 per cent stake in an offshore medium-sized gas field in Egypt, GAIL chairman and managing director Proshanto Banerjee said at a press conference here today.

 In order to expand its international operations, the company is evaluating participation in natural gas exploration and production and planning city gas projects in many countries, he said.

 The company, which already has a 10 per cent stake in the A-1 gas field off Myanmar