Govt told to formulate coal bed methane policy

A parliamentary panel has come down heavily on the present Coal Bed Methane (CBM) policy of the government which has not come up to the promised potential.

It has urged the government to formulate a new comprehensive CBM policy at the earliest after consultation with stake holders.

“India has the fourth largest proven coal reserves in the world. After the assessment of CBM potential in the 90s and formulation of CBM policy for 1997, several potential CBM blocks were carved out and allotted to companies for development. The blocks which were identified for CBM development were blocks where coal mining was not envisaged for the next 15-20 years,” the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas said in its report tabled in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

It further said that the government has a total of 52,000 sq km area under Gondwana basin of which about 26,000 sq km area was identified for CBM operations. However, in the four bidding rounds, when 33 CBM blocks were awarded, they covered only 16,600 sq km area.

 “So far as the production of CBM is concerned, it was 0.625 MMSCMD in 2014-15 and is projected to go up to 5.77 MMSCMD in 2017-18. The committee is sure that the projected production is much below the potential and expect the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to set higher targets,” the committee said, adding there was an urgent need to bring in more area for CBM extraction as no new area has been awarded for extraction since 1990s.