Citing inadequate supply for the current level of demand, the petroleum ministry has turned down Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's request for further allocation of gas in the state.
- The ministry had earlier been consulted, to up the supply of gas for upcoming power plant projects in Gujarat, which include GSPC Pipavav Power Company Limited's (GPPC) 702 MW gas based power project and a 351 MW power project under the Gujarat State Energy Generation Limited (GSEG). The present and project availability of natural gas, renders the ministry powerless to up allocations to new power plants. The demand to meet the shortfall of existing assets in different sectors is more than the available gas. No substantial increase is expected in indigenous natural gas availability either, upto the end of 2012-13. Importantly noted by the ministry, was the fact that the power sector is already receiving 56 MMSCMD (47%) of domestic supply of gas, of which, the highest shares are being supplied to Gujarat itself (13.8 MMSCMD).
- Secondly, the establishment prioritizes the fertilizer sector over the power sector, when reviewing gas allocations and demand in the former is already on the rise. By 2014-15, the cumulative additional requirement of gas, in the fertilizer sector, is expected to balloon up to 72.877 MMSCMD. 8While rejecting Modi's request, the ministry did however soften the blow, by asserting that necessary allocations from KG-D6 fields will be made to power projects, currently in the pipeline, as and when they are ready to commence production. At present, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has decided to not make any gas reservations and would only allocate KG D6 gas to existing plants.
No comments:
Post a Comment