Essar Oil plans major CBM output ramp-up at Raniganj

Essar Oil Ltd plans to ramp up production of its coal-bed methane block at Raniganj in West Bengal to 3 mscmd by the end of financial year, 2013-14, chairman Shashi Ruia (pictured) said on Thursday at the company’s annual general meeting.
“At Raniganj, our flagship CBM block, we are currently producing 43,000 standard cubic metre a day (scmd) of gas , which is scheduled to rise to 3 million scmd by the end of next fiscal, making us the largest CBM player in the country,” Ruia said.

He said the company’s other blocks, which were at various exploratory stages, are also on track to achieve their milestones. “Going forward we expect E&P (exploration and production) to be a significant value creator for our business,” the chairman said.

In the last 12 months, the company has completed expansion and optimisation of its projects taking its refining capacity from 10.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 20 mtpa.

The company’s development and production assets also include Ratna and R-Series oil fields in offshore Mumbai, and the Mehsana oil block in Gujarat.
Shares of Essar Oil on

Thursday ended down 0.5% at Rs71.50 on the National Stock Exchange.