Reliance Industries begins commercial production of coal bed methane in Sohagpur, India

Reliance Industries (Reliance) began commercial production from its Coal Bed Methane (CBM) block SP (West)-CBM-2001/1 last month, and is currently supplying CBM for commissioning the Shahdol Phulpur Pipeline (SHPPL).

The production from Reliance’s Sohagpur CBM fields will be gradually scaled up in the next 15-18 months. This will make Reliance among the largest unconventional natural gas producers in India, the company claimed.

CBM is an environmentally friendly natural gas extracted from coal-bed and an important source of unconventional gas in many parts of the world.

Reliance bagged the licence to explore two adjacent CBM blocks SP (West) and SP (East) with an area of 995km² in the Round 1 of CBM block bidding, conducted by the Government of India in 2001.

During the first phase of development, Reliance drilled more than 200 wells connected to two gas gathering stations.

The company is expected to drill between 600 and 800 additional wells, as well as develop related infrastructure over the next phases of development.

Reliance Gas Pipelines Limited (RGPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, laid a 302km Shahdol Phulpur Gas Pipeline that connects Sohagpur CBM fields from Shahdol to HaziraVijaipur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) pipeline network of GAIL at Phulpur.

This new pipeline network enables CBM gas fields to be connected with the Indian Gas Grid.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of $44.7bn, and net profit of $4.2bn for the year ending 31 March, 2016.