Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has commenced commercial production from its coal bed methane (CBM) block SP (West)-CBM-2001/1 from 24 March 2017 and is currently supplying CBM for commissioning the Shahdol-Phulpur pipeline in India.
The production from RIL’s Sohagpur CBM fields will gradually ramp up in the next 15-18 months, making RIL among the largest unconventional natural gas producers in India. CBM is an environmental friendly natural gas extracted from coal bed and has become an important source of unconventional gas in many parts of the world.
RIL was awarded the licence to explore two adjacent CBM blocks SP (West) and SP (East) with an area of 995 square kilometre in the Round 1 of CBM block bidding by the Government of India in 2001.
RIL has drilled more than 200 wells connected to two gas gathering stations in the first phase of development. RIL expects to drill 600 to 800 wells further and develop associated infrastructure over the next phases of development.
Reliance Gas Pipelines Limited (RGPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of RIL, laid the 302 kilometre Shahdol-Phulpur gas pipeline that connects Sohagpur CBM fields from Shahdol to Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HBJ) pipeline network of Gas Authority of India Limited at Phulpur. With this new pipeline network, these CBM gas fields are now connected with the Indian Gas Grid.
