India
issued guidelines for the
commercial use of underground coal gasification and has identified seven coal
blocks for the project, the coal ministry said Wednesday.
UCG is a process by which coal in deep inaccessible areas is converted into
commercially usable gaseous fuel.
Indian government data shows that using UCG has the potential to unlock larger
gas reserves than available from conventional natural gas reserves as a large
part of the country's coal reserves are at levels deeper than 300 meters.
India
has identified two conventional coal blocks and another five lignite or brown
coal blocks for UCG, the ministry said.
According to the World Coal Institute website, India has plans to use UCG to
access about 350 billion metric tons of coal.
The new guidelines for coal gasification will facilitate the allotment of
blocks and help supervise operations, the ministry said in an end of the year
review.
Four lignite, or brown coal, blocks have been identified for UCG at Sindhari
West, Chokla North, Nimbalkot and the Nagurda regions of the northern state of
Rajasthan. Another lignite block has been picked at Dungra in the western state
of Gujarat.
Two coal blocks--one at Bandha in the Singrauli coalfields of the state of
Madhya Pradesh and the other at Yellandu in Andhra Pradesh--will be awarded
also to companies to develop.
But the ministry didn't specify when the coal blocks will be given out, or how
the allotment procedure will be carried out.
State-run explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp. has an agreement with Russia's
Skochinsky Institute of Mines for UCG exploitation and gas transport utility
GAIL (India) Ltd. has a similar
pact with Canada's
Ergo Exergy Technologies Inc.