Essar Oil Ltd (EOL), part of the USD 15 billion Essar Group, today announced that it has been declared winner for four Coal Bed Methane (CBM) blocks, as per the announcement made by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) yesterday.
The CCEA has approved award of seven exploration blocks under the CBM-IV bid round, which was initiated in October 2009 with 10 CBM blocks on offer. Of these, EOL has been declared winner for four quality CBM blocks at the following locations in India:
Shishir Agrawal, CEO - Exploration & Production, said: “We are delighted with this development. The four new blocks will give us an additional acreage of 2,233 sq. km and in-place prospective resources of over 7.6 tcf of CBM gas, according to the gas in-place resource estimates contained in the information documents issued by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) at the time of bidding.”
Speaking on the development, Naresh Nayyar, CEO & MD, EOL, said: "We now have the largest CBM acreage in India. CBM exploration is a key area of development in EOL’s E&P business and we have the best technical team that is helping us emerge as a leader in this space. “
EOL has another CBM block at Raniganj, West Bengal, where a Competent Person Report (CPR) has certified recoverable resources of 1 tcf. Drilling activities for the second phase have been resumed. Customers for the initial gas have already been tied up, and a long-term contract for sale of 2.8 mmscmd of gas has been signed with Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals.
About Essar Oil
Essar Oil is a fully integrated oil & gas company of international scale with strong presence across the hydrocarbon value chain from exploration & production to oil retail. It has a global portfolio of onshore and offshore oil & gas blocks, with about 45,000 sq km available for exploration. Essar Oil has over 300,000 bpsd (barrels per stream-day) of crude refining capacity that is being expanded to 750,000 bpsd. There are over 1,300 Essar-branded oil retail outlets in various parts of India.
About Essar Energy
Essar Energy (LSE:ESSR) is a world class, low-cost, integrated energy company with an established track record.
Essar Energy is India’s second largest private power producer with 1,200MW of installed capacity and projects under planning and construction to expand its capacity to 6,100 MW in Phase I and 11,470 MW in Phase II.
Essar Energy is one of India's fastest growing private sector oil and gas companies with a diverse portfolio of exploration and production assets. The Vadinar refinery, located in Gujarat, is India's second largest private sector oil refinery with throughput capacity of 14mmtpa and plans to expand to 18mmtpa by March 2011.
About Essar Group
The Essar Group is a multinational conglomerate and a leading player in the sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications, Shipping Ports & Logistics, Construction, and Mining & Minerals. With operations in more than 20 countries across five continents, the Group employs 60,000 people, with revenues of USD 15 billion.
