Coal Bed Methane

In order to harness CBM potential in the country, the Government of India formulated CBM Policy in 1997. Till date, 33 CBM Blocks have been awarded after four rounds of CBM bidding under the CBM Policy.

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Following steps have also been taken to expedite development of CBM blocks:

  1. To increase the area under CBM exploration, Government has issued a notification in November, 2015 and re-notified the same on 8 May 2018, allowing Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries to exploit CBM from the coal mining lease areas held by them.

  2. On 8 February 2017, Government has formulated a Model Co-development Agreement for simultaneous coal mining and CBM operations in overlapping areas.

  3. On 11 April 2017, Government has issued Policy Framework for Early Monetization of CBM providing marketing and pricing freedom to the contractors of CBM blocks to sell the CBM at Arm’s Length Price in the domestic market.

In 2016, the Government has approved a new policy called Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP). Under HELP unified license is given for exploration of both conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources including CBM.