The Power Ministry on Monday said it is against hiving off the LNG terminal from the Dabhol power plant.
The $3-billion Dabhol power project in Maharashtra is facing delays in completion of the LNG receipt terminal, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said on Thursday.
The government is considering selling Dabhol Power Plant's LNG terminal after hiving it off from the electricity generating unit, due to delays in completion of unfinished part of the terminal and huge cost-overruns, a power ministry official said.
This supply is likely to start in the next few weeks. A proposal to hive off the terminal was turned down by the government last year after it was opposed by NTPC Ltd and Gail, which hold 28 per cent each in the project. The terminal has an LNG regassification capacity of five million tonnes per annum. It will, however, be fully operational only after the completion of the breakwater facilities in 2011.
The proposal to hive off the LNG terminal at the revived Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra is likely to be scrapped, with promoters and financiers agreeing to pump in Rs 24 billion to restart construction work at the plant.
Petronet LNG Ltd will begin supplying liquefied natural gas imported from Qatar, Egypt, Algeria and Oman to the beleaguered Dabhol power plant once a small 15-km stretch of pipeline is completed, a company official said.
State-owned Gail India Ltd, which has been given the task to source fuel for restarting the Dabhol power project in Maharasthra, is talking to LNG suppliers in Qatar, Australia, Malaysia, Oman and UAE.
the terminal will not be used to run the Dabhol power plant and would be supplied entirely to other domestic companies
Qatar has agreed to supply 1.2 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas to fire the Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra, but differences persist over the price.
Originally, it was envisaged that the 2,150-MW power plant would shift to imported-LNG once the terminal is completed but now natural gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore D6 field is envisaged to fire the plant.
"There are eight companies (who have put in expression of interest)... RNRL is one of them," said A K Ahuja, managing director, Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd, the company that operates the nation's biggest gas-fired power plant and the adjacent LNG import facility. Others in the fray include state power utility NTPC and GMR. Ahuja said RGPPL will frame the bidding criteria and call for financial bids by next month.
Dredging of the sea-channel leading to the Dabhol terminal is likely to be completed by end of 2011 but the construction of a breakwater that will guard ships against high tides, was not likely before 2013-14.
The plant started operations after Supreme Court vacated a stay granted by Gujarat High Court on pooling of LNG prices to make fuel affordable to the power plant.
ExxonMobil-owned RasGas will supply liquefied natural gas by December to restart the Dabhol power project in Maharashtra, a top official said on Friday.
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's largest private firm, is keen to take over the Dabhol power plant to fulfill its long planned ambition of having an LNG import facility on the west coast, a company official said.
GAIL (India) Ltd is in talks with US energy major Exxon for importing 5 million tons of liquefied natural gas at Dabhol, company chairman U D Choubey said on Wednesday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh met Petroleum Minister Murli Deora Wednesday to request for alternative sources of gas for the state's Ratnagiri plant.
The beleaguered Dabhol power project has hit a fresh roadblock with Punj Lloyd and its British partner Whessoe, the contractors for completing the LNG terminal, threatening legal action against Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd for default on payments.
The $3 billion Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra is likely to be completed by 2007-end, the Empowered Group of Ministers was informed on Thursday.
Reliance Industries may sell one-fourth of the 40 million standard cubic metres per day of natural gas production likely from its gigantic Krishna Godavari field off the Andhra coast to Dabhol Power project in Maharashtra after its revival.
India may source liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Indonesia and Qatar for restarting the $2.9 billion Dabhol power plant.
Dabhol's assets will be demerged into the power plant and the LNG terminal.
The Empowered Group of Ministers on Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd on Wednesday decided to pool the price of gas for Dabhol
Petronet LNG Ltd will seek equity in Ratnagiri Gas and Power Ltd, a JV between NTPC and GAIL for restarting the Dabhol Power Plant, in view of sourcing LNG to the beleagured plant.
The first stretch of Dahej-Panvel-Dabhol pipeline, which will feed natural gas to the beleaguered Dabhol power project in Maharashtra, has been commissioned.
Qatar and Australia are likely to supply fuel for restarting the $3 billion Dabhol Power Project in Maharasthra from the fourth quarter of 2006.
The government had this month more than doubled RGPPL's allocation from KG-D6 to 5.67 million standard cubic meters per day that will help generate about 1,000 MW of electricity.
Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd, the joint venture of state-run GAIL India and NTPC Ltd which owns the 2,150-MW power plant and the adjoining LNG import terminal, plans an IPO to raise Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion), company Chairman R K Goel told reporters in New Delhi. The Dabhol plant will be fully operational by next month when the third generating unit is commissioned, he said adding that currently, two units were generating about 1,100 MW electricity.
The Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd is likely to get gas for power production by June-end, GAIL (India) chairman UB Choubey said.
New Delhi The government has decided not to sell the Dabhol power plant, which has been struggling thanks to huge debts it owes to the contractors.
Finance Ministry has written to the Power Ministry asking to freeze the completion costs of Dabhol plant.
The beleaguered Dabhol power plant will from October 1 start buying natural gas from Reliance Industries to cut electricity generation cost at the nation's largest gas-fired unit.
The government's move is crucial as the state distribution utility MahaVitaran was purchasing about 95 per cent of power since the Dabhol project began generation in April 2006
New recast plan calls for more loan rate cuts and lower equity returns.
Electricity from Dabhol project in Maharasthra, which is being targeted to restart from July 2006, may cost over Rs 3 a unit as LNG suppliers quote twice the price of gas than the previous estimates.
