Essar Oil said that it will begin sale of natural gas it is extracting from below coal seams in West Bengal in January to March quarter.

Reputed international agency, NSAI has certified the in place reserves at the company's Raniganj coal bed methane block in West Bengal at a level of 3.1 Trillion cubic feet. Of this one third reserves are recoverable with upside potential.

It said that “Gas flow has already started and sales are likely to commence from Q4 FY 2010.”

Having won the 3.2 Tcf Rajmahal CBM block in Jharkhand in the just concluded fourth round of bidding for CBM blocks, Essar has emerged as a leading CBM player.

Mr Naresh Nayyar MD of Essar Oil said that “Essar Oil is fast emerging as a major player in the CBM space in India, with a potential in-place resource of over 8 Tcf. Going forward there would be a lot more focus on E&P.”

(Sourced from Business Line)