Hyderabad, Dec 8 (IANS) Two floating re-gassified liquified natural gas (RLNG) terminals off Andhra Pradesh coast will be commissioned in two years, officials said.
While the first terminal at Kakinada will be commissioned by December next year, the second terminal at Gangavaram port will commence operations in 2014.
The Rs 1,000-crore RLNG terminal at Kakinada is being set up by the AP Gas Distribution Corporation Ltd, a joint venture between Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corporation and Gail Gas Limited, a 100 percent subsidiary of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL).
GDF Suez LNG UK Ltd, which has vast experience in building floating RLNG terminals, is the strategic partner for the project, S. Venkatraman, director, business development, GAIL (India)told a conference on natural gas organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.
The 3.5-million-tonne unit, which will be housed on a floating ship instead of land, can deliver equivalent to 14 MMSCM (million metric standard cubic metres per day).
Andhra Pradesh's Natural Gas Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said Petronet was establishing another RLNG terminal at Gangavaram Port in Visakhapatnam district, which will commence operations by the end of 2014.
The two RLNG terminals are expected to provide much needed relief to gas-based power projects in Andhra Pradesh, which is reeling under power crisis.
The minister said about 32 MMSCMD of natural gas will be available to the state through imported LNG through these two terminals. The state can generate about 6,500 MW power with the imported gas.
The state has about 2,700 MW gas-based power plants but due to shortage of natural gas they are operating at 20 to 25 percent plant load factor (PLF).
The minister said about 3,800 MW gas-based power plants were ready to commence the generation and were waiting for allocation of natural gas.
The gas-based power plants in the state currently have an allocation of six MMSCMD as against a requirement of 32 MMSCMD.
He said Krishna Godavari Basin, off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, was identified as one of the potential gas reserves in the world.
"However the production is not to the expected levels. Reliance's D6 field was estimated to produce about 80 MMSCMD where as it is producing about 26 MMSCMD which is far below the projections," he said.
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