R-Power not in priority list for next D6 gas flow

Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Power does not figure in the first six companies that will get gas on priority from Reliance Industries' KG -D6 when output from the block goes beyond the current capacity of 60 mmscmd, a power ministry official told.

The list, which is being finalised by the ministry, includes GSPC’s 700 mw Pipavav power project, Gujarat State Energy Generation Ltd’s 350 mw project at Hazira, Pragati Power Corporation’s 1,000 mw Bawana power project, Lanco’s 740 mw Kondapalli Phase III, GMR’s Vemagiri expansion project, and Uttarakhand’s Kashipur project.

“The list will be submitted to the empowered group of ministers (EGoM). Priority is given to these plants as they will be commissioned between 2010 and 2012,” an official said, requesting anonymity.

If the EGoM accepts the recommendations of the power ministry, it may delay Reliance Power’s plans of setting up about 8,000 mw gas-based power projects in the country as the next allocation of gas will happen only in 2012. The company had earlier told the power ministry that it plans to commission its projects by March 2012. An email sent to a Reliance Power spokesman did not elicit a reply, though the spokesman confirmed that he had received the mail. 

A government official said a second list of companies that will get natural gas is likely to be announced next year and it is possible that Reliance Power will figure in that list. Reliance Power’s 2,400 mw Samalkot project in Andhra Pradesh has been identified by the power ministry for allocation of about 8 mmscmd gas from KG-D6 for 2012-13, he said.“The second list is not yet finalised and will depend on the verification of the commissioning schedule,” a power ministry official said.
The EGoM, in its meeting on Wednesday, did not allocate gas to any new power plant and decided to ask fertiliser and power ministries to prepare a new list of projects that would require gas on an urgent basis. “The prioritisation is being done due to scaled-down projection of gas flows from the KG basin,” an oil ministry official said.The first priority list prepared by the power ministry is based on around 16 mmscmd gas supply to run six plants at 70-75% capacity, the power ministry official said.