Essar Oil and Gas invests in microbial eCBM technology to boost output

Essar Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (EOGEPL) has announced an investment in microbial eCBM technology to increase coal-bed methane (CBM) production from its West Bengal CBM block. The company, which has already invested Rs 50 billion in finding and producing gas from coal seams (CBM) plans to invest an additional Rs 20 billion to increase its reserve base and ramp up CBM production to contribute at least 5 per cent to India’s total gas production. Investment in microbial eCBM technology will help increase output by increasing the rate of recovery. EOGEPL has collaborated with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and ONGC Energy Centre (OEC) to establish the potential of eCBM microbial technology in the Raniganj-East Block of the company. The technique’s feasibility test was completed in collaboration with TERI-OEC, and parallel research and development for full-field application is ongoing. Following extensive research, eCBM microbial stimulation has been completed in five wells of the company’s Raniganj-East Block. These wells will be monitored for the next three to six months, and EOGEPL will implement the technology on a large scale to maximise gas yield and improve the reserves base based on the results and final design optimisation. The introduction of microbial stimulation technology is expected to increase CBM gas production while improving the reserve base by up to 10 per cent