India's Essar Group has its eye on two coal-bed methane blocks in Indonesia and continues to look for investment opportunities in mining and power generation in the South East Asian country.

Mr KB Trivedi president director of PT Essar Indonesia on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on East Asia said that the group has submitted a bid for one coal bed and is conducting a joint study for the other.

The two blocks are located in Kalimantan, which is in the Indonesian part of Borneo Island. Essar's business operations range from energy to telecommunications.

An Essar Oil refinery in Gujarat. The company has submitted a bid for a coal bed in Indonesia, however, it is currently focusing on its existing projects such as power plants and expansion in crude oil refining in India.

The move reflects growing interests in Indonesia energy sectors from Essar and other Indian companies. A handful of Indian companies, including Essar, have in recent years acquired coal mines in Indonesia to help secure India's rapidly growing demand for energy.

Essar last year bought coal mines, with mineable reserves of 64 million tons, in Kutai, East Kalimantan.

Mr Prashant Ruia Essar Group's chief executive said that "We continue to look for other investment in the oil and gas, mining sectors and power generations (in Indonesia).”

Mr Ruia added that apart from Indonesia, Essar will evaluate opportunities as they come up. He mentioned the African continent and Australia as other potential regions where the company will look to invest.

In the short term, however, Mr Ruia said the company is focusing on existing projects at its home country, such as power plants and expansion in crude oil refining. He said that "Our focus in the next one year is to get these projects completed and then look at future development from there.”

He said that the company's imported coal requirement up to 2015 is around 25 tonnes of varying calorific from 4,800 kcal/kilogram to 6,400 kcal/kg.

(Sourced from online.wsj.com)