Gas based power sector is likely to heave a sigh of relief, as the Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that he will soon seek the Cabinet nod for capping the price of gas for the power sector at $5 per mmBtu. The minister said that the government has made it clear that any additional gas produced in the country will be diverted to the power sector after meeting the requirement of the urea plants. Until now, gas-based fertiliser plants had topmost priority in the allocation of gas, followed by LPG-extraction units, power projects, city gas, steel and refineries.
Gas-based power plants have been suffering due to the short supply of the gas and the Power Ministry had sought parity for electricity utilities with fertiliser units in the allocation of gas after a drop in output from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block led to reduced domestic supplies. In March this year, electricity generating stations stopped getting gas from KG-D6.
Last month, the Minister had said that power projects would get the surplus gas until March 2016, after which the situation will be reviewed again, the decision was likely to benefit projects with a combined capacity of over 7,800 MW. Around 16,000 MW of gas-based power projects require around 61 mmscmd of gas, while around 8,000 MW projects are under construction that would have additional demand of 38 mmscmd when the domestic production is around 30 mmscmd.
In case the government accepts the power ministry’s proposal to cap the gas price for power companies at $5 per mmBtu, the subsidy of $ 3.4 per mmBtu will have to be borne by the government and public sector oil companies, as the gas prices will be hiked to $8.4 from April next year.
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