To explore shale gas reserves in the region, Essar Oil & Gas Exploration and Production (EOGEP) plans to drill two pilot wells in the Raniganj coal-bed methane (CBM) block by the end of 2019. The number of wells will later be increased to 20 at an investment of Rs 551 crore.
The exploratory arm of Essar Group has already received the environmental clearance for 20 wells. According to estimates, the Raniganj CBM block has a potential shale reserve of 8 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, and a recoverable potential of 1.6 tcf.
