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The Government is contemplating a review of gas allocation following the continued drop in domestic gas output.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said that he proposed to raise the issue with the Power and other Ministries concerned, with particular reference to Andhra Pradesh.
Agreeing that Andhra Pradesh was reeling under a severe power crisis, the Minister said that the priorities fixed by the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) for gas allocation in 2008 may require to be reviewed.
This follows a representation made by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday.
If the declining trend of the Reliance Industries-operated D6 block gas continues, gas from the Krishna Godavari Basin would not be available to the power sector and all the projects would remain stranded assets leading to a major power crisis in the State, the Minister said.
The State Government, in April, had drawn the attention of the Power and Petroleum Ministries and had requested the Prime Minister in May seeking necessary instructions to the concerned not to treat the Ratnagiri Power Plant on par with the fertiliser sector.
The State also did not want additional gas supplies to be made to Ratnagiri from D6.
In spite of this, this month, Ratnagiri was allocated 7.6 mmscmd according to priority equivalent to the fertiliser sector, based on the EGoM’s decision of 2008. The decision was based on estimates that D6 would produce 40 mmscmd gas by March 2009.
The Andhra Pradesh Government also wanted the Ministry and the Government to supply 75 per cent requirement of gas to it, as per the EGoM’s decision.
The State has 32 lakh pump sets, the highest in the country.
The cumulative power supply-demand gap during April-June in the State was around 3,009 million units, whereas the gap in Maharashtra for the period was 1,312 million units, the State Government said.
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