·
Deviated drilling successfully
commissioned.
·
GGS capacity expanded.
PROJECT OF GEECL
GEECL's Raniganj (South) block licence area
covers 210 sq. km (52,500 acres). We will drill 300 wells in the contracted
area. A 5-well cluster pattern will be followed for drilling the wells. The
wells are connected by an internal MDPE pipeline network going into our Gas
Gathering Station and then feeding the gas into our dedicated external steel
pipeline network.
·
Area
of 210 sq. km;
·
2.62
TCF of Gas-in-Place (as estimated by Advance Resources International, Inc);
·
156
wells drilled;
·
A
further 144 wells planned to be drilled;
·
56
deviated wells have been successfully drilled;
·
Dedicated
pipeline of 77.62 km running through the heart of the Asansol-Durgapur
industrial belt;
·
Franchisee
agreements with Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation
Limited for supply of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
Kaveri delta coal-bed methane project
undertaken by Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd (GEECL), a
private company based in Gurgaon, Haryana.
The Company received its second CBM block
in 2010 in CBM IV round conducted by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
(MoPNG). The block is situated in the state of Tamil Nadu located in the
southern region of India.
·
Area
of 667 sq. km;
·
0.98
TCF Gas-in-Place as per the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons;
·
Single
seam of up to 80 m;
·
High
permeability expected;
·
Existing
external pipeline infrastructure in place;
·
Petroleum
Exploration Licence (PEL) signed with Tamil Nadu Government;
·
Plan
to drill 50 core wells and 30 pilot production wells as per the minimum work
program;
·
Environmental
clearance received; consent to establish in progress.
The company received licence to explore and extract coalbed methane from Nagapattinam, Thanjavur and Thiruvarur districts which are the major rice cultivating area of Tamil Nadu. Farmers, environmentalist and experts are opposing
the project and hence it is currently suspended by the Government of Tamil Nadu
Farmers, experts oppose coal bed methane project THANJAVUR: JANUARY 01, 2013
They
say it is a threat to environment, food security in Cauvery delta area
Farmers and agriculture
experts have expressed apprehensions over the proposed coal bed methane
exploration in the Mannargudi area of Cauvery delta and said it would threaten
the environment, water resource and food security.
Speaking at the seminar
on ‘coal bed methane gas production and food security of Cauvery delta’
organised by the Centre for Cauvery Delta Development Studies (CCDDS) here on
Monday, they said the Cauvery delta was a food-producing area and there was a
vast difference in extracting coal bed methane in Mannargudi and other places such
as Ranikunj.
Mannargudi is a lignite
zone and a fertile land, while it is not so in places such as Ranikunjthey
said.
S. Janagarajan from the
Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) said Cauvery delta was already
vulnerable and production of coal bed methane would damage it further
environmentally, economically and socially. He said methane was much worse than
CO2. The Great Eastern Energy Corporation Limited (GEECL), which is
going to explore and produce methane gas in Mannargudi area had silently
applied for a Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) with the State government.
Exploration and other
tests would continue for five years and the GEECL had got the permit to quit if
tests proved that production was not profitable. But by that time the land and
water in the region would be damaged, he complained.
P. M. Natarajan, member
of working group, Planning Commission, Government of Tamil Nadu, said coal bed
methane production would affect underground water table. As the project was to
be taken up in the ancient Cauvery delta region, it would affect food
production and livelihood of farmers and farm labourers too.
N. Ramachandran,
Vice-Chancellor, Periyar Maniammai University, said that technology was not
used on a large scale in agriculture. He called for evolving waterless
technology to cultivate crops as water had become a problem.
S. Ranganathan, Chairman
of CCDDS, said livelihood of farmers and farm labourers would be affected if
the project was allowed.
Danabalan and
P.R.Pandian, farmers’ representatives, said farmers had not been consulted
before clearing the proposal.
Jayaram Srinivasan,
Managing Director of GEECL, however, said methane was an important natural gas
and the cleanest form of energy. GEECL was the first company to produce methane
and commercially market it in India. He said that methane produced in the
Mannargudi area wold be used only locally.
GEECL has been given
permission to produce coal bed methane in 33 blocks in the country, including
Mannargudi.
Methane was a better
substitute for petrol and diesel. Water pumped before taking methane would be
tested for its quality and used either for irrigation or allowed to evaporate.
Sethuraman from Tamil
Nadu Science Forum, C. E. Karunakaran, irrigation expert, P. Natarajan,
hydrogeologist, Anthonyraj, agriculture scientist, Paranthamam, former
Superintending Engineer, PWD, H. Natarajan, agriculture scientist, spoke.
IN
33 BLOCKS IN THE COUNTRY
Coal Bed Methane Resources in the Country
The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum
& Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a written
reply today that in order to harness Coal Bed Methane (CBM) potential in the
country, the Government of India formulated a policy in 1997 wherein CBM (being
natural gas) is explored and exploited under the provisions of Oil Fields
(Regulation & Development) Act 1948 and Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules,
1959 and administered by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
CBM blocks were carved out by Directorate
General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) in consultation with Ministry of Coal (MoC) and
Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI). Till date, 33 CBM blocks
have been awarded in four rounds of CBM bidding, which covers 16,613 sq. km.
(64 %) of the total available coal bearing area (26,000 sq. km.) in 12 states
of India viz. Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Assam, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.
Total prognosticated CBM resource for 33
awarded CBM blocks is about 62.4 TCF (1767.06 BCM), of which so far, 9.9 TCF
(280.36 BCM) has been established as Gas-In-Place (GIP). Current production
(March 2016) is 1.637 MMSCMD from 4 CBM blocks.
Under the National Biogas and Manure
Management Programme (NBMMP), State Nodal Agencies/State Nodal
Departments/Khadi and Village Industries Commission are setting up Family Type
Bio-Gas Plants. Installation of biogas plants to help in generation of clean
gaseous fuel (Methane Gas) for cooking and simultaneously provide enriched
organic bio-manure as by product for increasing farm productivity and improving
soil health.
To promote the use of Bio-gas to run
vehicles, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification no.
G.S.R. 498(E) dated 16th June, 2015 providing the standard of Bio-CNG as
alternate composition of the compressed Natural Gas for use in vehicles.
Jaya puts coal bed methane project on hold
Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa halted the coal bed
methane project in the southern districts of the state after farmers said it
could devastate agricultural land.
The Great Eastern
Energy Corp. Ltd (GEECL) project was awarded in July 2010 during the
previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) regime. The exploration work covers
seven taluks in Thanjavur and Tiruvarur districts.
A
committee has been appointed to file a report on the project in three months,
said a government press release. The government will take a decision based on
the committee’s report.
“Our
block in Mannargudi is awaiting the Consent to Establish from the Tamil Nadu
Government in order to start work. We have not started any work in the block,”
said the company spokesperson.”
The
committee will have representatives from Anna University, the Indian Institute
of Technology, Madras, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the MS
Swaminathan Research Foundation, besides officials from the Public Works
Department, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Tamil Nadu Industrial
Development Corp.
“Though
the Union ministry for environment and forests have given its clearance, it is
the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board that has to give clearance for drilling
deep wells. TNPCB has not given its clearance to the applications by GEECL so
far,” said Jayalalithaa.
Referring
to GEECL’s report, which said the coal bed methane in Thanjavur and Thiruvarur
was similar to that in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana in the US,
Jayalalithaa said, “One of the reports on the project said some of the
chemicals used to extract coal bed methane are toxic, soluble in water and have
radiation.”
The
release also referred to the steps taken by her government to implement a plan
to protect the Cauvery delta areas from sea water intrusion, with Rs1,500 crore
World Bank aid.
“There
are chances of sea water entering farming lands in Cauvery Delta areas due to
climate change in the future in addition to the recent doubts raised by
farmers. Hence the coal bed methane project in Thanjavur and Thiruvarur
districts can be allowed only after we are convinced that the project will not
affect the farmers,” she said.
“We
have received the Environment clearance from the Union Ministry for Environment
and Forests (MOEF) after going through the strict parameters laid down by
ministry and clearance from its Expert Appraisal Committee, which reviewed all
aspects in totality,” said the company spokesperson.
In
2010, the Central government had signed a production sharing agreement with
GEECL on extracting coal bed methane.
It
is pertinent to note that in 2010, further to the fourth round of coal bed
methane bidding, the Centre awarded the block to GEECL, to explore and produce
coal bed methane from 667 sq m area in Mannargudi region of Tamil Nadu, said
GEECL press release.
At
the central government’s bidding, the DMK regime had in January 2011 given a
petroleum exploration licence to GEECL and said various government departments
would help in the laying of pipelines and getting environmental clearance for
the project, Jayalalithaa said.
Jayalalithaa
said the environment ministry had not answered any of the doubts raised during
public hearings last year in both the districts and had instead given clearance
to GEECL on 12 September last year.
Methane project cancelled: Oil Minister Pradhan
Government of Tamil Nadu
suspended the project citing issues raised by the farmer. Also the Tamil
Nadu government constituted an expert committee comprising representatives from
Anna University, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, the Tamil Nadu
Agricultural University and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, and
officials from the Public Works Department, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control
Board and Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corp. The Union Ministry responded
to Mrs.Kanimozi, Rajyasabha M.P's (DMK) question about the project,stating
that the government had canceled the license to the company and the project had
stopped. On November 10 2016, the Union Minister of state for Petroleum and
Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, said that the project has
been withdrawn.
Union
Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also said that there was no action on the shale gas
front.
The project to explore
extraction of coal bed methane in Tamil Nadu stands cancelled, Union Minister
of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said on Thursday.
“There is a dispute going
on in the Mannargudi area due to some allotment overlapping. There are some
issues from our side. Local farmers are also against the project. So, the
project has been cancelled,” Mr. Pradhan said at the Economics Editors’
Conference here. He added that there was no activity in the State on the shale
gas front either. “According to my info, ONGC and OIL have allotted some blocks
to look into shale gas but not in Tamil Nadu.”
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