The Hindu Business Line : CCEA defers decision on CBM blocks

At a glance
The empowered panel should have four Secretaries, but was attended by only one - the Petroleum Secretary - and two joint secretaries.
CCEA wants technical evaluation to be done by the full committee.
A full strength of the committee would meet shortly to vet the bids.

New Delhi , Aug 31

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today decided to defer a decision on award of 10 coal bed methane (CBM) blocks and instead referred the issue to an empowered committee of Secretaries for further consideration on technical grounds.

This decision could prove to be a breather for Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL), the Anil Ambani-promoted company, which had bid for all the 10 blocks along with an international consortium.

The company had raised objections over the methodology of selecting the winners.

Official sources said that the decision was deferred as the empowered panel should essentially have four Secretaries, but was attended by only one - the Petroleum Secretary - and two joint secretaries.

Since this is the committee that vets the bids, the Government wanted the committee in full strength to decide on the successful bidders, they added.

"The bid evaluation was done by a Secretary and two joint secretaries and the CCEA wanted the technical evaluation to be done by the full committee. In view of some technicalities, the whole issue has been referred to the full committee to enable the CCEA to take a final decision," the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, told newspersons.

A full strength of the committee would meet shortly to vet the bids.

It consists of the Secretaries of the Petroleum, Coal, Finance and Law Ministries.

The Government had invited bids to auction 10 blocks under the third round of CBM policy earlier this year.

All blocks received multiple bids, with 26 companies bidding, including eight foreign firms.

RNRL, which was expected to get four blocks, said that it should be getting six.

The consortium of RNRL, Reliance Energy Ltd and Geopetrol Resources of France is likely to get two blocks in Barmer district of Rajasthan, and one each in Andhra Pradesh (Kothagudem) and Madhya Pradesh (Sohagpur).

Refuting any allegations of discretion, the Petroleum Ministry maintained that its award process was most transparent and can stand legal scrutiny.

While the Anil Ambani Group has been backing its claims with legal opinions from eminent jurists, the Ministry is backing its arguments with several Supreme Court rulings upholding the Government award process.

Apart from the RNRL consortium, Arrow Energy-GAIL (India)-EIG Infrastructure Group-Tata Power is expected to get two blocks and Arrow Energy-GAIL-EIG may get one.

Coal Gas Mart-Adinath Exim Resources-Deep Industries, Coal Gas-Deep Industries and British Petroleum are expected to get one block each.