India boosts drive for greater CBM extraction

Tweaking the rules of the current administrative regime, India’s Coal Ministry has permitted Coal India Limited (CIL) and its wholly-owned subsidiaries to extract coal bed methane (CBM) under existing coal block mining leases. The liberalisation of the rules would permit CIL to fast-track its plans for CBM extraction without having to participate in an auction to secure new coal blocks for such projects, a Ministry official says.