Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI), a Coal India (CIL) subsidiary, is set to offer five coal mine methane (CMM) blocks with 30 billion cubic metres of estimated reserves in the first round of auctions. CMPDI decided to make this offer after the government clarified that the blocks will be under the dispensation of the coal ministry.
CMPDI chairman and managing director AK Debnath told FE that the blocks would be allotted after global bidding. CMPDI will have to go for retendering the blocks since the previous tender, which was floated in April last year, had to be cancelled with the petroleum and natural gas ministry claiming its ownership.
However, the issue has been sorted out and it has been decided that the methane extracted from operational mines would be under the dispensation of the coal ministry, while the methane in unmined coal beds would be under the dispensation of the petroleum and natural gas ministry.
