Moily to consider gas price pooling for electricity generation
Updated: Mar 21, 2013 04:34:07pm
New Delhi, Mar 20 (KNN) The Petroleum Minister M Veerappa Moily said yesterday that he would approach an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to consider allocation of scarce natural gas for electricity generation, oil minister said after meeting top industrialists whose plants are suffering because of fuel scarcity.
The Petroleum Ministry is considering the step after after meeting the top industrialists whose plants are suffering because of fuel scarcity.
“They (head of power companies) have suggested solutions to overcome gas shortage to power projects spread all over the country. Around 24,000 MW of power have been denied (natural gas) and they are partially or fully non-operational,” Moily told media persons after the meeting here.
Many power plants are suffering as natural gas from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block has fallen significantly, leaving little fuel to fire power plants. Also, imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) is too costly to be viable.
Power companies have demanded that the power sector be treated on a par with fertiliser sector for allocation of domestically-produced gas so that available domestic gas can be equally distributed among consumers of the two sectors, Moily told reporters here.
According to the Association of Power Producers (APP), 15,000 mw of gas-fired plants are getting less than 30% of their original allocation, making their operations unsustainable and unviable. Another 8,700 mw of new gas-based generation capacity is stranded, with no gas available for commissioning the plants.
Power companies have proposed averaging prices of cheaper domestic gas with costly imported gas to make fuel affordable for generation units, he told reporters. They also demanded that the government should divert 6 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of gas from non-core sector to power sector and reserve 10 mmscmd gas for the sector from future output, Moily said.
Moily said he was not authorised to take gas-related decisions independently as such matters would require the EGoM’s approval. "But, it is the oil ministry that will convene the meeting of the EGoM. I have agreed to convene the EGoM meeting to consider these issues," he said.
The EGoM, which had fixed pricing and utilisation of Reliance Industries' KG-D6 gas about five years ago, had accorded top priority to the fertiliser sector, followed by power, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and city gas distribution. Steel, refineries, petrochemicals and captive power consumers followed, in the order of declining priority. There is no gas left for power sector consumers of KG-D6 gas as output from the field has dropped below 18 mmscmd, oil ministry officials said. (KNN)
The Petroleum Ministry is considering the step after after meeting the top industrialists whose plants are suffering because of fuel scarcity.
“They (head of power companies) have suggested solutions to overcome gas shortage to power projects spread all over the country. Around 24,000 MW of power have been denied (natural gas) and they are partially or fully non-operational,” Moily told media persons after the meeting here.
Many power plants are suffering as natural gas from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block has fallen significantly, leaving little fuel to fire power plants. Also, imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) is too costly to be viable.
Power companies have demanded that the power sector be treated on a par with fertiliser sector for allocation of domestically-produced gas so that available domestic gas can be equally distributed among consumers of the two sectors, Moily told reporters here.
According to the Association of Power Producers (APP), 15,000 mw of gas-fired plants are getting less than 30% of their original allocation, making their operations unsustainable and unviable. Another 8,700 mw of new gas-based generation capacity is stranded, with no gas available for commissioning the plants.
Power companies have proposed averaging prices of cheaper domestic gas with costly imported gas to make fuel affordable for generation units, he told reporters. They also demanded that the government should divert 6 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of gas from non-core sector to power sector and reserve 10 mmscmd gas for the sector from future output, Moily said.
Moily said he was not authorised to take gas-related decisions independently as such matters would require the EGoM’s approval. "But, it is the oil ministry that will convene the meeting of the EGoM. I have agreed to convene the EGoM meeting to consider these issues," he said.
The EGoM, which had fixed pricing and utilisation of Reliance Industries' KG-D6 gas about five years ago, had accorded top priority to the fertiliser sector, followed by power, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and city gas distribution. Steel, refineries, petrochemicals and captive power consumers followed, in the order of declining priority. There is no gas left for power sector consumers of KG-D6 gas as output from the field has dropped below 18 mmscmd, oil ministry officials said. (KNN)
Loading...
