EGoM meet on gas priority postponed again

25 Jul 2013 Evaluate

An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) meet that was to consider making available natural gas to fuel starved power plants from sources other than Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields, has again been postponed and no new dates of the meeting have been fixed.

The EGoM headed by Defence Minister A K Antony in its last meeting had decided against diverting abolishing the priority ranking in natural gas allocation so that the fuel currently consumed by urea plants can also be diverted to fuel-starved power plants, as it would have impacted crop harvest.

Currently, fertiliser plants consume all of the 14 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas produced from Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 fields. From November 2011, supplies to 25 power plants, which had signed for 29.74  mmscmd of KG-D6, were pro-rata cut and presently no gas flows to these power plants. As per estimates, only a third of the 72 mmcmd of gas requirement of the 18,713 MW gas-based power plants is being met and another 8,000 MW capacity is waiting for commissioning due to unavailability of gas. The gas output of D6 has dropped from 62 mmscmd three years ago to about 14.2 mmscmd present.

In the last meeting fertiliser ministry was asked to reassess its demand and spare some gas and it was reported that the government on its part will allow raising fertiliser subsidy marginally if the move would benefit the economy.

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