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Badal Sanyal

Kolkata , June 21

A joint venture agreement between Essar Oil Ltd and Gardes Energy Services, US, has been signed aimed at ushering in a technology revolution in coal bed methane (CBM) exploration and development by bringing advanced drilling technology to India.

Essar Oil has also entered into a collaborative technical alliance with Providence Technologies Inc (US), which specialises in crossbore seismic survey. The technologies are being brought in to develop Essar Oil's Greenfield CBM project at Raniganj coalfields in West Bengal.

Confirming this, the Vice-President (Projects) of Essar Oil, Mr Ashwani K. Sethi, said here that the underbalanced and horizontal multilateral drilling technology offered by Gardes Energy Services Inc had many advantages and is gradually becoming the industry standard for CBM development in the US, reducing the cost with increased productivity and higher recovery of gas. Moreover, the technology has the potential to enhance the overall project value.

Essar Oil was allotted the virgin coal block at Raniganj coalfield about three years ago for commercial exploitation of CBM. The company had not been able to begin the exploratory work due to non-availability of a cost-effective technology. Mr Sethi said that the exploratory drilling would begin immediately after the monsoons.

More Stories on : Alliances & Joint Ventures | Petroleum

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