The Hindu Business Line : Panna-Mukta-Tapti jt venture to raise output from Sept

Kolkata, Aug. 28 Panna-Mukta-Tapti (PMT) joint venture will start producing an additional 5.5 million standard cubic metres of gas a day (mmscmd) beginning September 1. The additional capacity will be available from the expansion of Tapti oilfield. PMT currently produces approximately 12 mmscmd of natural gas.

The additional production will be supplied to Gujarat Gas Company Ltd (1.65 mmscmd), Reliance (1.6 mmscmd), Torrent Power (0.9 mmscmd) and the Dholpur Power Plant (1.5 mmscmd) of Rajasthan Vidyut Uthpadan Nigam Ltd. This will be the first-ever natural gas supply to Rajasthan.

Internal consumption

Reliance has 30 per cent interest in the unincorporated joint venture and will be using the gas for internal consumption at the merged facility of IPCL. Gujarat Gas is a subsidiary of British Gas. The latter is also a 30 per cent partner in PMT. ONGC holds 40 per cent stake in the joint venture.

Sources in PMT said that the expansion of Tapti oilfield was complete and additional gas would be available from September 1. “There is no time overrun in the project,” a source said.

The project was estimated to cost $515 (approximately Rs 2,100 crore). “We are yet to finalise the accounts. However, considering that there is no time overrun we are not expecting any significant deviation from the estimates,” the source added.

Capacity expansion

It may be mentioned that PMT planned to commission the capacity expansion project through a ‘large-scale turnkey contractor’. The effort, however, suffered a setback as none of the contractors agreed to complete the work in 18 months.

“Though the impending situation forced us to go through the tedious process of implementing 10 different project contracts separately, we have successfully implemented it within the scheduled period,” the source said.