Essar Oil drops 12% despite nod for Raniganj gas field

With the environmental nod granted by the government of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests, the company is allowed to increase drilling to 650 wells.

"This environmental clearance allows the full field development of the Raniganj block, excluding forest area, and will enable Essar Oil to increase production to the targeted level of around 3 million standard cubic metres of gas per day (scmd), up from 60,000 scmd currently," the company said in its release sent to exchanges.

So far, 135 wells have been drilled at Raniganj, of which 57 are in production.

Shares tanked more than 15 percent intraday on Bombay Stock Exchange today.

Trading volumes increased 404 percent to 27,50,544 equity shares as against five-day average of 5,45,592 shares.