Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Nov 04, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Nov 04, 2005 |
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Alliances & Joint Ventures Investment arm: Coal India hopeful of early approval MoU with ONGC on gasification Our Bureau
New Delhi , Nov. 3 COAL India Ltd (CIL)'s proposed investment arm for acquisition of coal mines overseas may take shape by the end of this fiscal. ``We have applied to the Government for setting up Coal Videsh Ltd. We expect an approval by this fiscal,'' the CIL Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Shashi Kumar, said on the sidelines of a function to sign an MoU with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for active association in underground coal gasification (UCG), an alternative energy source. CIL is targeting coal mines in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Australia and Indonesia, Mr Shashi Kumar said adding that Coal Videsh Ltd would look at acquiring equity in a running mine or a direct acquisition of a coal block. Earlier, addressing presspersons after signing the MoU, Mr Subir Raha, Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC, said the collaboration effort proposes to undertake pilot projects to prove the potentialities of the process of UCG, which is expected to culminate in the establishment of UCG stations by 2009. By December 15, the experts are expected to identify the pilot project sites, he said adding that data available reveals that West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu have such sites. UCG is an alternative and supplementary energy source, which assumes importance in view of enormous coal resources in India. Talking about the investments, Mr Raha said that as per the estimates one UCG station would cost around Rs 75 crore. Both ONGC and CIL would have equal participation in terms of investments and benefits, he added. The site of such project would be selected jointly by CIL and ONGC in consultations with experts based on the suitability on various considerations including coal quality, area and environmental aspects, he said. The sites would be mainly in areas where the coal was non-recoverable. ONGC has selected Skochinsky Institute of Mining (SIM) for technical collaboration. ONGC and SIM are working together to evolve a detailed work plan to develop and apply this technology in various parts of India, Mr Raha said.
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