Petrobangla, the Bangladesh-based oil company, has offered GAIL (India) the development of Jamalganj coal field and coal gasification on nomination basis.

Gail has also offered to assist Petrobangla in monetising stranded gas from the Kutubdia offshore gas field in Southeast Bangladesh.

Gail has access to both underground (in-situ) and above-ground coal gasification technologies and the Jamalganj coal field is one of the biggest coal fields in Bangladesh. It has coal reserves worth 1,050 million tonnes at a depth of 650-1,150m.

For monetisation of stranded gas, Gail may transport gas in compressed form in cascades or transport CNG by ships and install gas turbines for power generation. The power thus generated may subsequently be transmitted by laying sub-sea cables.GAIL has offered to provide full support and consultancy services to Petrobangla for examining these options.

GAIL has already completed a pre-feasibility study for transportation of gas in the form of CNG by ship using VOTRANS (volume optimised transportation and storage) technology of EnerSea, USA in February 2005.