Government may sell LNG terminal

The Indian Express, New Delhi, February 12, 2007


Government is considering selling Dabhol power plant�s liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal to firms like Reliance Industries or Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) who can keep the cost of fuel to the plant low by pooling costlier imported LNG with cheaper domestic gas. �The Empowered group of ministers (EGoM) last month considered hiving off the LNG terminal", a top official said. The new long term supplies are expected to be at a higher price than what RGPPL can absorb. The official said the government has brought down the cost of electricity to Rs 2.83 per unit after pooling the $10-10.5 per mBtu price of 1.5 million tonnes short-term LNG for Dabhol with Petronet's existing imports from Qatar to get a delivered price of $5.84 per mBtu. Reliance has already expressed interest while GSPC has intentions to build two import terminal on the west coast