Bechtel Consulting To Script 'Gas Master Plan'
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has commissioned Bechtel Consulting to draw up a "gas master plan" for India, which will provide details like demand-supply equation, optimum number of LNG terminals and gas pipelines in the country. The plan is expected to estimate the number of companies in need of gas for their proposed expansion and new projects.
Senior ADB officials say the purpose of the entire exercise is to make effective investment plans for the future. The required data and the master plan is expected to cost the bank $600,000.
Executives from Bechtel Consulting are already holding talks with multinationals which in collaboration with their Indian partners have proposed LNG projects in the country.
After the plan is submitted and deliberated, ADB officials will firm up investment for various LNG import terminals and proposed gas pipelines.
"There is always a probability that two LNG importers may have same corporates in their customer list. This would lead to importers projecting higher gas demand since they will have an overlapping customer list. The gas plan will scan through prospective customer lists provided by LNG importers to project gas requirement in the country," sources add.
Explaining the overlapping of customers, sources point out that several prospective LNG terminals on the western coast have aimed their imported gas for the same customer. An LNG importer in Gujarat or Maharashtra would be able to supply gas through pipelines to prospective customers throughout the Western regions.
In fact, recently, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas also decided against the proposed 2.5 million tonnes of LNG terminal project at Mangalore by Finolex -Mobil combine. The decision was taken in view of poor list of customers for imported LNG from this terminal. Moreover prospective buyers of gas like Cogentrix and Nagarjuna Power have decided to import coal for their power projects.
There are over five proposed LNG terminals on the west coast: British Gas with Gujarat Pipavav and Petronet LNG at Dahej in Gujarat, Shell-Essar as well as Reliance at Hazira, Total-Tata in Trombay, Enron at Dabhol, Petronet LNG at Kochi in Kerala and Mobil-Finolex at Mangalore.
Barring Tata-Total combine, almost all the LNG terminal projects have proposed importing of gas parcels of five million tonnes, the economic size of liquified gas. Tata-Total plans to import 1.2-1.5 million tonnes of gas annually at Trombay.
Depending upon the optimum gas projects in the gas master plan, ADB intends to pick up equity by investing in the LNG import terminals as well as setting up infrastructure like gas pipelines in the country.
At present, ADB isconsidering funding Petronet LNG's project at Dahej in Gujarat. It is also funding the foreign currency requirement in the 1,200-km Jamnagar-Loni LPG pipeline project of Gas Authority of India Ltd.