MINISTER OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS AND PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI MANI SHANKAR AIYAR)
(a) & (b):- Yes, Sir. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. signed an Agreement of Collaboration (AOC) on the 25th November, 2004 with the Skochinsky Institute of Mining -National Mining Research Institute (SIM-NMRC) Moscow, Russia for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG).
The AOC envisages cooperation in the following areas:-
# Sharing technical know-how and technologies related to UCG.
# Development and application of expertise in UCG technologies.
# Establishing technical feasibility through field demonstrations for different geological, hydrological and environmental conditions.
# Establishing the commercial feasibility of the process through a pilot project.
(c) Yes, Sir. Dr. A. A. Kuznestov visited India from October 27-30, 2005.
(d) & (e):- The basic data in the format prescribed by SIM - NMRC from the coal fields of Coal India Ltd. (CIL) Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC), Gujarat Industrial Power Corporation Ltd. (GIPCL), Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. (NLCL) and Singereni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) have been sent to SIM ,Russia for site selection.
(f) The action plan chalked out to implement the project is as follows:-
(i) site selection - 7 months
(ii) geological and hydrogeological - 6 months
(iii) permission for use of land - 6 months
(iv) project design and techno economic analysis - 17 months
(v) construction - 24 months
Thus the project is envisaged to be implemented in 60 months.
