GAIL to pump Rs 150 crore into E&P business

 The company has so far 10 blocks, of which nine are located in India and the rest is in Myanmar.

 Of these properties, three are in deepwater western offshore and four in eastern offshore. The fund will be utilised for further exploration and development of these blocks.

 However, the total E&P budget for GAIL may go up substantially if any of its acquisition plans materialise this year.

 GAIL is also looking at various firm-in / acquisition of participating interest in three blocks of Tata Petrodyne.

 The company is also looking at acquiring a stake in a coal bed methane (CBM) block in West Bengal which is owned by Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd (GEECL).

 GAIL also plans to increase stake in Cambey on-land block CB-ONN- 2000-1 from 40 per cent to 50 per cent.

 It is also evaluating few proposals for the overseas market. Company recently announced that Royal Dutch Shell has offered GAIL a 15 per cent stake in an offshore medium sized gas field in Egypt.

 The company has tied up with number of domestic and multinational E&P companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India Ltd (OIL), Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), Gazprom, Daweoo International and Hardy to carry out these activities.

 The development gains in significance as domestic petro majors are now increasingly looking at vertically integrating their operation in the entire hydrocarbo chain.

 While refining to marketing PSUs Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) have announced to foray into upstream sector, exploration company ONGC has ventured into petrochemicals and marketing.

 In addition to the E&P activities, GAIL is evaluating participation in gas distribution projects across the globe to expand its international operations. GAIL has also signed an agreement with Turkish pipeline company BOTAS.