Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on 15 April 2006 signed an MoU to jointly undertake underground coal gasification, surface coal gasification and coal bed methane projects in Singareni coalfields.

The project will be taken up in a couple of locations in Khamman and Adilabad districts to ascertain the commercial viability of the three coal uses under equal cost-sharing basis. ONGC has partnered with Shell and a Russian research centre for technical support for the project.

The project cost is expected to be contributed equally by the ONGC and the SCCL.

The MoU also covers the areas of separation of fuel gases generated from various methods into various fuels and exploration of surface coal gasification and coal bed methane projects in the immediate future.

Commercial production of coal gasification projects is expected in the next 3-4 years.

Also see:

SCCL outlines Rs.3,835 crore expansion plan (06-Dec-04)