Coal India starts project to replace diesel with LNG in dumpers

Coal India Ltd, the country's biggest coal miner, is retrofitting its diesel-engine trucks used in mines with LNG kits to cut its carbon footprint and save fuel costs, a government statement said.

India, a signatory to the Paris climate accord, wants to raise the share of gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030 from the current 6.2%.

Coal India has over 2,500 dumpers running in its opencast coal mines. Use of LNG will cut diesel consumption by 30%-40% and fuel costs by about 15%, the statement said.

The company spends over 35 billion rupees ($479 million) annually using about 400,000 kilolitres (335,600 tonnes) of diesel in the dumpers - big trucks that transport coal in mines, the statement said.

Initially, Coal India in partnership with gas importer GAIL (India) Ltd and engineering company BEML Ltd , will retrofit LNG kits in its two 100 tonne dumpers operating at the subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd.

($1 = 73.0010 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan Editing by Mark Potter)

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