EGoM meet on gas allocations-I: Gas only for power, fertiliser and CGD projects till 2012-13?

As the apex authority on allocation of natural gas in the country, the EGoM's (empowered group of ministers') word is final on any request for natural gas made to the government. In this regard, the petroleum ministry has put forward the following significant issues for discussion in the next EGoM meeting:

• With a view to the limited availability of natural gas in the coming years, the petroleum ministry has suggested that the EGoM should allocate gas only to the fertiliser and power sectors and to CGD (city gas distribution) projects across the country till the year 2012-13. Even if gas is allocated to these three sectors alone, there may still be a supply shortage, since the additional availability of NELP gas in the year 2012-13 is less than the gas requirement from these sectors of around 67.937 mmscmd.8Additional supplies of gas to these sectors, over and above their indicative allotment, should be considered by the EGoM only at a later date, subject to gas availability and actual offtake by allottees.
• The petroleum ministry has asked the EGoM to ensure that the department of fertilisers (DoF) and the ministry of power (MoP) keep a close watch on the progress of their respective plants and keep the petroleum ministry informed about the same. In turn, the ministry of petroleum would keep them updated on the status of field development activities in its NELP blocks.
• Moreover, it has been suggested that if a priority sector customer is not in a position to offtake its allocated gas, its allocation should be cancelled. The gas which is made available due to such cancellations should then be supplied to other priority sector customers.