Sudhir Vasudeva (right) being feted in Dhanbad on Saturday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, Feb. 10: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) chairman-cum-managing director Sudhir Vasudeva today promised to invest more than Rs 1,500 crore to increase commercial production of coal bed methane (CBM) at its four projects in Jharkhand.

Emphasising on growing demand of energy even as industry sought CBM increasingly, Vasudeva said ONGC aimed to increase production in the state from 7,000 cubic metres per day at present to more than 4 lakh cubic metres in three to four years.

The four project sites of ONGC in the state are in Jharia (Dhanbad), Parbatpur (Bokaro), North Karnpura and Karnpura in Bokaro.

Vasudeva, who was addressing students at Indian School of Mines (ISM) in Dhanbad, was awarded with Basant Samman for 2013 by the institute’s alumni association in recognition of his contribution to ONGC.

As of now, ONGC is extracting CBM from 22 wells at Parbatpur, 30km from Bokaro.

A form of natural gas extracted from coal beds, CBM is an important source of energy that is being adopted in the US, Canada and Australia. ONGC hopes to jack up production in the state by tapping 42 wells.

“Jharkhand is on the priority list of ONGC for CBM projects. As several sites of Jharkhand are expected to have deposits near coal mines, more and more money will be pumped for further exploration of CBM,” said Vasudeva.

The CMD later told mediapersons that ONGC also aimed to double its production of oil from 1.24 million barrels, with an investment of Rs 2.65 lakh crore on fresh explorations, laying supply pipelines and increasing storage capacity.

Stressing energy needs of the country, Vasudeva said his company was planning oil explorations outside India, too. It would involve big investments and long-term planning.

Praising ISM as one of the premier institutes for students especially in the fields of petroleum and mining, Vasudeva said his company was keen on hiring its students.

Earlier, during an inspection of ISM Vasudeva interacted with the faculty, research scholars and students regarding developments in oil and gas. He asked them to lay stress on research and development in the sector.