State-owned Coal India Ltd. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. today signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to explore the viability of a coal-to-synthetic natural gas project in Maharashtra as part of the strategic push to increase homegrown energy production and lessen dependence on imported LNG. The collaboration is for using surface coal gasification technology at the Western Coalfields’ Majri area.
The proposed project is likely to involve a capital investment of about ₹12,214 crore and would produce 633.6 million Nm³ of synthetic natural gas per annum. The feasibility study was carried out by Projects & Development India Ltd. (PDIL), and the Coal India board gave in-principle approval to the initiative.
This project is a significant stride for Coal India, which has already taken such initiatives into work with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) and Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) through joint venture agreements. Such collaborations support the National Gasification Mission of the government to reduce India’s import dependency on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and strengthen the country’s energy security.
Availability of Mumbai-Nagpur gas pipeline as critical infrastructure development to achieve a new growth path in increasing supply for the growing energy requirement of India; this also leads to enhancing domestic production for natural gas that has a bearing on Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.
Besides this, Coal India has also reported a miniscule increase in coal production for November 2024, which increased by 1.7% year-on-year to 67.2 million tonnes (mt). But the offtake has been reported to have grown by just 0.03% year-on-year, aggregating 63 mt. For the period from April to November 2024, Coal India’s total production went up by 2.4% to 471 mt while offtake increased by 1.5% to 492.6 mt.
Signing the MoU between Coal India and BPCL addresses that the two Maharatna PSUs are increasingly coming together to take forward India’s energy objectives and innovation in coal utilization technologies.
