Indian coal bed methane (CBM) operator Essar Oil & Gas has been awarded five exploration blocks covering approximately 1,281km² across West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana in India.
Essar Oil & Gas is the upstream division of global conglomerate Essar Group.
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The acreage was secured through the Indian Government’s Special CBM (SCBM) Bid Rounds 2025 and 2026.
The formal contract signing took place during a ceremony presided over by India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri.
The five blocks collectively contain an estimated 6.6 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas-in-place resources.
In West Bengal’s Raniganj coalfield, two of the newly awarded blocks together encompass around 330km².
By combining them with the company’s existing Raniganj East operations, which cover roughly 500km², Essar Oil & Gas will hold a contiguous footprint of approximately 830km² in the region.
The company expects the consolidated acreage to yield operational efficiencies and ultimately form the country’s largest CBM-producing field.
A third block, located at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh, reinforces the company’s foothold in a region already associated with CBM activity.
The remaining two blocks sit in the Godavari Valley of Telangana, representing Essar Oil & Gas’ first foray into that particular basin.
The company has committed more than $632.4m (Rs60bn) to exploration and production work at Raniganj, where output currently stands at around 950,000 standard cubic metres per day.
That volume represents close to half of all CBM production across India.
Essar Oil & Gas CEO Pankaj Kalra said: “The award of these five CBM blocks marks a significant milestone in Essar Oil & Gas’ growth journey and reinforces our commitment to unlocking India’s vast unconventional hydrocarbon potential.
“Building on our proven track record at Raniganj, we see substantial opportunities to leverage our technical expertise, operational capabilities and established infrastructure to accelerate the development of these resources.
“Our focus will be on translating this expanded acreage into sustainable production growth, creating long-term value and contributing meaningfully to India’s energy security by strengthening domestic natural gas supplies and reducing dependence on imports.”
Essar Oil & Gas has set a longer-term target of supplying 5% of the country’s total natural gas output by progressively developing its CBM holdings.
The contract signings were facilitated by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons as part of wider government efforts to develop unconventional hydrocarbon reserves.
Imported gas currently accounts for roughly half of India’s consumption, underscoring the strategic importance of expanding domestic production capacity.
