Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.

State run, ONGC aims to recover Rs 120 crore by selling 35% stake to private sector operators in three exploratory coal bed methane (CBM) assets. ONGC board is planning to rope in two partners, with 25% and 10% stake each, as joint operators, at North Karanpura in Jharkhand), Bokaro in Jharkhand and Ranigunj in West Bengal assets. Each block is estimated to have 1 trillion cubic feet of methane reserve.

The entity has invested around Rs 350 crore in exploring methane in these blocks so far, out of which majority of the expenditure was incurred in drilling 15-20 wells, none of which are in production. So it is planning to recover 35% of the costs incurred in each field from the selected partners.