No coal bed methane block in Nelp IX?

The ninth round of auctions under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (Nelp IX) may not offer any coal bed methane (CBM) block as the coal ministry is learnt to be upset with the poor response of the participants towards blocks offered in the past bids.

“Only two blocks have been developed out of the 26 that we have offered in the past rounds of Nelp,” said a coal ministry official.
This could be a major setback for Nelp IX as it will reduce the choice for the participating bidders in the auction, which is slated to take place in July.

While confirming that the coal ministry was reluctant to give any CBM block for Nelp IX, a petroleum ministry official said, “We are trying to convince them to identify some CBM blocks.” It will only help the country if the private sector develops those blocks, the official added.

Analysts, however, do not see any major impact of the lack of CBM block in the auctions.