Coal India and BPCL Ink Pact for Coal-to-Synthetic Gas Project

2 Dec 2024 , 06:20 PM

Coal India Limited, or CIL, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, or BPCL, signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to study a coal-to-synthetic natural gas project. The MoU was finalised on 2 December in Mumbai and it would make use of surface coal gasification at Western Coalfields Limited.

Synthetic natural gas will convert coal to fuel, which is cleaner to burn than other forms of the fuel, providing a cleaner source of energy and making a greater utilisation of the fuel. This collaboration leads towards diversification of use of coal and enhanced energy security for India.

Coal India (CIL) under Ministry of Coal caters to majority of the coal needs for India, whereas BPCL under Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is moving forward with clean energy project. The project will study the technical and economic feasibility for this venture of coal-to-SNG.

The share of Coal India is always in focus as the company witnessed a 2.4% increase in coal production for the period between April to November this year, which settled at 471 million tons compared with 460 MT last year. Production was up by 1.7% in November 2024 at 67.2 MT compared with 66 MT November 2023. Domestically, Coal India caters to more than 80% of the country’s coal production and plays an important role in the Indian energy ecosystem.