The Hindu Business Line : Ambani brothers in race for CBM-III blocks

The Government has received 54 bids for the 10 Coal Bed Methane (CBM) blocks that it offered for exploration under the third round of its CBM policy, with Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd bidding for all the blocks on offer and Mukesh Ambani-managed Reliance Industries putting in bids for five blocks.

The tally of 54 bids, which includes bids from eight foreign players and 18 domestic firms, is the highest-ever received by the Centre under its CBM policy so far. Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) put in joint bids with Reliance Energy Ltd and GeoPetrol of France for all the 10 blocks, having a CBM resource base of 586 billion cubic metres and spread over Jharkhand, West Bengal (one block each), Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh (two blocks each).

Among the big foreign players, British Petroleum has made bids for two blocks, while CDX Gas of the US has marked an entry into India with bids for five blocks. ONGC has tied up with Indian Oil Corporation for two blocks and with GSPC for another two. It put a solo bid for the Jharkhand block.

Essar Oil bid for seven blocks, while GAIL (India) Ltd tied up with Arrow Energy of Australia for seven blocks. The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Dinsha Patel, said CBM-III attracted more number of bids than the earlier two rounds put together.

Other foreign players that are participating as consortium partners for CBM-III include EIG and MOLOPO of Australia and OMIMEX and Coal Gas of the US. The contracts for all the 10 CBM blocks would be awarded in two months and Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) would be signed by October 31.