Gujarat govt blames Centre for delay in cheap gas to state

Energy minister Patel wants GAIL to fix Dahej as delivery point instead of Suvali

Even as the Central gas utility, GAIL India Ltd has offered to supply cheaper gas to city gas distribution (CGD) companies in Gujarat, the wait for cheap gas seems to be getting longer for the consumers. Gujarat government’s energy minister, Saurabh Patel criticised GAIL for not following Supreme Court’s order properly as the latter has offered gas, which is technically unviable to supply to cities.

Lashing out at the Central gas utility, Patel said, “Even as the Apex Court has ordered Central government to allot cheap gas to consumers of Gujarat, GAIL has not followed the court directions. The delivery point fixed by the company at Suvali near Hazira has gas pressure as low as 35-45 Bar. Hence, it can’t be transported to anywhere in the state.” For a long-distance transportation of gas, the gas pressure requires to be around 80-85 Bar.

Sources revealed that GAIL has offered gas supplies to other CGDs including state-run GSPC Gas and Sabarmati Gas to supply 580,000 scmd and 170,000 scmd respectively and 356,000 scmd to Adani Gas. However, due to the technical problem, cheap gas continues to remain an unfulfilled dream for Gujarat consumers for some more time. State-run gas transmission player, Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL)’s high-pressure pipeline network is not connected to the Suvali gas grid, therefore transporting gas to other locations is not possible from this point.

Patel raised doubts about the Central government’s intentions to provide cheap gas for Gujarat’s consumers. “Low-pressure gas will eventually result to be costly for Gujarat’s consumers. This shows that Central government is not at all interested in giving cheap gas to Gujarat. If GAIL fixes Dahej as the delivery point, then we will quickly provide cheap gas to Gujarat’s consumers,” Patel said.

“We have been told by the pipeline company that low-pressure gas can’t be transported through a high-pressure pipeline. Hence, we have requested GAIL to change to location of delivery point and supply high-pressure gas from alternate location,” said a source of a CGD company.

It is learnt that GAIL has so far not responded to the requests made by the CGD player. “We have decided to approach the union ministry of petroleum and natural gas for the issue,” said an official of a CGD company.

GAIL officials could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts. According to sources, GAIL has offered PMT (Panna-Mukta-Tapti fields) gas at the price of $4.2 and $4.5 per mmBtU, against the present price of imported LNG at around US $ 18.80 per mmBtU.

“Once we get GAIL’s gas, CNG prices in the city will drop to as low as Rs  58 a kg against the present Rs  68 a kg,” an official of CGD company said. Following the directions from Gujarat High Court, the union ministry of petroleum & natural gas had mandated GAIL to allocate gas to CGDs proportionately according to their actual consumption. As per the ministry’s guidelines, GAIL will get 6.4 mmscmd of domestic gas to supply to CGDs for supplying CNG for transport and PNG for domestic sector.