Great Eastern Energy Corp announces shale gas exploration project in West Bengal

West Bengal-based coal-bed methane extraction firm, Great Eastern Energy Corporation, has announced plans to explore and extract shale gas from its existing reserve. The government has recently permitted exploration and exploitation of all types of hydrocarbons including shale resources under existing coal bed methane (CBM) contracts.

Independent engineering firm Advance Resource International has estimated the reserve of shale gas to be around 9.25 trillion cubic feet. Its undiscounted value has been estimated at $13.78-bn while discounted value is estimated at $4.31-bn. At present methane is being produced from the Raniganj (South) block in West Bengal, which covers 210 square kilometres with 9.25 trillion cubic feet of original gas-in-place. The company’s second license is for Mannargudi block in Tamil Nadu, spread over 667 square kilometres with 0.98 trillion cubic feet of original gas-in-place.

Mr. Prashant Modi, Managing Director & CEO of Great Eastern Energy Corporation, said, “We believe that the shale gas resources can be explored and developed cost-effectively in tandem with our successful ongoing CBM development program through sharing of surface and other infrastructure facilities. We are currently planning initial exploration programme for exploiting shale in our block, and will make further announcements in due course when we commence the same. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to leap to the next level in the unconventional energy space. We continue to be confident and excited about the future of our Raniganj (South) block.”