22 Firms bid for CTL project

Tamil Nadu: Reliance Industries, Tata Group and Anil Ambani's Reliance Power are among the nearly two dozen firms that have bid for setting up projects to convert coal into oil.

'In all, 22 applicants have applied for allocation of coal blocks for coal-to-liquid (CTL) project. Some of them have submitted multiple applications through more than one firm,' a senior official in the Coal Ministry said.

Among the private players that have expressed interest in the project, include Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, Anil Ambani's Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure, Tata Group, Essar Oil, JSPL, JSW Steel, GMR, Vedanta Aluminium, Sterlite Energy, Indiabulls, Welspun and Strategic Energy.

The public sector undertakings, which have submitted applications for the CTL, include SAIL, GAIL and Indian Oil.

In their applications, a couple of the companies have said their proposed CTL plants would have a capacity to produce 80,000 barrels of oil a day.

Sources said an inter-ministerial group would soon examine the proposals received for allocation of coal blocks for the CTL project.

The ministry of coal is offering three coal blocks in Orissa with cumulative reserves of about six billion tons for the project.

'Though there are three coal blocks on offer, only one would be actually allocated for the CTL project. Companies, however, can give their choices for the block,' the Coal Ministry official added.