Bidding norms for Hyderabad gas networks by March

Fresh guidelines on bidding for the city gas distribution networks in the country would be put out for public feedback in three months, said Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) chairman S Krishnan.

Companies are awaiting fresh guidelines for a year now after the regulator cancelled the fourth round of bidding for city gas distribution (CGD) networks in November last year on concerns of irrational price bids filed by some in an attempt to get the CGD regions.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on natural gas here on Saturday, Krishnan said the guidelines for CGD bidding would be ready in 12 weeks. The board would then issue the final guidelines after inviting opinions from public and other stakeholders.

However, the guidelines alone would not help if the challenges in terms of availability of gas besides achieving a right mix of various sources of gas to make these projects viable were not addressed in right earnest, he said.

“The challenge is to bring the natural gas share in total energy basket to 25 per cent from the present 10 per cent level,” he said. The natural gas scenario in the country is expected to turn positive in the next 3-4 years once the transnational pipelines and the additional infrastructure to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) are set up.

Efforts were also being made to meet short-term requirement through floating terminals for LNG supplies, he said.

One such floating terminal with 3.5 million tonne capacity is being set up by public sector GAIL (India) Limited on the Andhra coast. “Gas will be made available at AP shores by this time next year,” S Venkatraman, director (Business Development) of GAIL, told reporters.

GAIL would supply LNG at a market determined price, roughly at $13-14 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) to the consumers, according to him.

On whether this price would be viable for power plants to generate power, Venkatraman said there were consumers in other sectors who were willing to buy natural gas at this price point.