(a) whether the Ministry of Power had requested the Government to intervene in the matter
of supply of natural gas by Reliance Industries Ltd. to NTPC’s Kawas and Gandhar Power Plants;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
(c) the details of the action taken by the Government thereon?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)
(a) to (c): Ministry of Power’s proposal for distribution of KG D6 gas to power sector vide
their letter dated 17.3.2009, inter alia, recommended that existing power plant outside Andhra
Pradesh be supplied KG D6 gas to enable them to operate at 60.5% Plant Load Factor (PLF),
entailing allocation of 1.76 mmscmd and 0.30 mmscmd to Kawas & Gandhar power plants respectively.
Accordingly, the mentioned quantity was allocated to NTPC’s Kawas & Gandhar plants.
Subsequently, Ministry of Power vide their letter dated 8.6.2009 informed that, in view of
litigation between RIL and NTPC regarding supply of gas for the latter’s expansion projects
in Kawas & Gandhar, NTPC would not take any KG D6 gas for their existing plants at Kawas &
Gandhar. It was requested that gas earmarked for NTPC’s Kawas & Gandhar plants be supplied
to NTPC’s plants in Northern part of the country and an equivalent quantity of Administered
Price Mechanism (APM)/ Panna-Mukta-Tapti (PMT) gas should be diverted from NTPC’s plant in
the Northern part of the country to its Kawas & Gandhar power plants. Accordingly, Government
agreed to the proposed swapping arrangement and decided to swap 2.71 mmscmd to enable NTPC’s
plants to operate at 70% PLF.