ONGC, BP in renewable energy talks

The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is in talks with BP Plc for setting up a coal gassification project, and renewable energies including wind energy and biofuels.

"We had a meeting with BP Group chief executive officer John Browne on October 13, and the results are satisfying. We have decided to collaborate on renewables as well as onshore and offshore explorations," said Subir Raha, chairman of ONGC. He, however, refused to divulge further details.

On whether ONGC was considering rebidding for PetroKazakh in case China National Petroleum Corporation backed out, Raha declined to comment.

ONGC has tied up with Mittal Investment Sarl to form to ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL) and ONGC Mittal Energy Services (OMESL).

"The ventures would be set up in Cyprus with headquarters in London," Raha said, adding that OMEL would actively look at overseas explorations.

Late last year, the company's move to take up coal gassification projects jointly with Coal India (CIL) had suffered a setback as the CIL's board has expressed reservations in undertaking such ventures as per terms specified by ONGC in its draft proposal.

Underground coal gassification (UCG) involves a process whereby coal is burned underground to produce gas which can be converted into various types of fuel, such as gas for electricity generation or even oil and is considered a sustainable form of mining.

In September 2005, however ONGC commissioned two pilot projects for UCG - one in coal and another in lignite. An MoU was entered by ONGC with the public-sector Neyveli Lignite in September 2005 regarding the same.