5 more power plants seek gas from KG-D6 fields

They want a minimum allocation of 4.73 mmscmd.

Five more power plants have joined the scramble for natural gas from Reliance Industries’ K-G D-6 fields, seeking a minimum allocation of 4.73 million cubic metres a day (mmscmd).

Allocations and the price are decided by the Union government.

Two power plants in Delhi and one each for Andhra, Karnataka and Gujarat, all due for commissioning in this financial year, have sought gas from RIL fields, with approval from the Central Electricity Authority, a government official said.

RIL is currently producing 36 mmscmd gas from K-G D-6, half of which goes to power plants. The firm has the capacity to produce 60 mmscmd but is constrained to produce less, as the government is yet to identify customers for buying gas beyond the initial 40 mmscmd, which it has allocated primarily to fertiliser and power producers in accordance with the Gas Utilisation Policy.

RIL cannot sell gas to these and other users including its own refineries, which are starved of the fuel, unless allocation is approved by the government.

The official said the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the technical arm of the Ministry of Power, has recommended 1.37 mmscmd of gas to Lanco’s 366 Mw Kondapalli extension project, which will be commissioned in February 2010. It has also sought 1.21 mmscmd for the 374 Mw Utran plant in Gujarat, which will go on stream in November, and 0.82 mmscmd for the 220 Mw Tanir Vavi plant in Karnataka before its commissioning in March 2010. For the 108 Mw Tithalia and 250 Mw Bawana power plants in Delhi, the CEA recommended 0.40 mmscmd and 0.93 mmscmd of gas from KG-D6.

The oil ministry’s regulator, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, in a recent status report on KG-D6 gas, stated: “So far eight wells have been put on production. These eight wells have a maximum production potential of about 50-52 mmscmd and the wells are producing less to match the present offtake...The gas production potential is likely to increase further to 80 mmscmd after nine other completed wells are put on production by the end of August.”