Andhra govt seeks gas allocation for power plant
Press Trust of India / New Delhi August 05, 2010, 16:56 IST

Natural gasThe Andhra Pradesh government has sought allocation of 8 million standard cubic meters a day (mmscmd) of natural gas for a proposed power plant in the state, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said today.

The state government has "requested for allocation of 8 mmscmd natural gas for the proposed 2,100 Mw combined cycle power plant at Nedunur village in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh", Prasada said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

"It has been decided that, subject to the availability of gas, necessary allocations from (Reliance Industries') KG-D6 fields will be made to projects in the pipeline, including inter alia this project, as and when such projects are ready to commence production," he said.

For supply of natural gas to domestic and transport sectors in Hyderabad and Vijayada, 0.1 mmcmd of government-controlled gas, called APM, has been allocated to Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd (BGL).

In addition, BGL has also been allocated 0.1 mmscmd and 0.047 mmscmd of KG-D6 gas on firm basis for supply of natural gas to domestic and transport sectors in Hyderabad and Kakinada respectively, the minister said.

To a separate question, Prasada said around 15.14 mmscmd gas was being supplied to customers in the fetilizer sector at APM rate of $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu).

Further, around 2.72 mmscmd natural gas was being bought from Panna/Mukta and Tapti (PMT) joint venture at $5.73 per mmscmd price and is being supplied to customers in the fertilizer sector at the APM rate of $4.2 per mmBtu, he said, adding that the difference was being made up from the Gas Pool Account.

"Regular supply of natural gas at a reasonable rate enabled the fertilizer companies to function optimally and produce urea at lower rates. This has resulted in substantial saving in fertilizer subsidy paid by the government," he added.