Union Government constituted Inter-Ministerial Group to maximise Coal, Shale Gas exploitation

The Union government constituted an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) for developing a coordinated approach for optimal exploitation of coal bed methane (CBM), underground coal gasification and shale gas.

The IMG is to be headed by Planning Commission Member B K Chaturvedi and includes petroleum secretary GC Chaturvedi, coal secretary Alok Perti, ONGC CMD Sudhir Vasudeva, Coal India chairman S Narsing Rao and Reliance Industries CEO P M S Prasad.
The IMG was entrusted the responsibility of recommending a coordinated approach by oil, gas, and coal companies to work together for maximising exploration of hydrocarbon resource potential. ONGC and Coal India have been entrusted the responsibility of providing support on the technical details.

The initiative to appoint the committee was taken amidst reports that oil ministry found a wide variation in CBM prices offered by Reliance Industries and Essar.

Essar has discovered the price for its Raniganj (East) CBM at $4.2 per mmBtu, while RIL has pegged it in the range of over $11 a mmBtu for its two blocks in Madhya Pradesh, oil ministry sources said.

The oil rich states get 10 per cent royalty and 13 per cent value added tax from CBM while the Centre nets 12.5 per cent production-linked payment and 2 per cent central sales tax.