Following a Gujarat High Court order, the government ordered all of domestically available natural gas for city gas projects to be equitably distributed among all the companies in the country than convert the fuel into compressed natural gas for sale to automobiles. Prior to this, cheaper domestic gas was largely available to firms retailing CNG in Delhi and Mumbai.
Keeping in view the limited domestic availability, the government ordered that about 80 per cent of the requirement of CNG retailers be met from cheaper domestic gas and the rest to be imported.
For IGL, which is the sole retailer of CNG in national capital, the order would not have made a big difference as domestic gas made up for 77-80 per cent of its requirement.
But for Mahanagar Gas Ltd, which solely relies on domestic gas for CNG retailing in Mumbai, the cut would have meant a Rs 16 per kg increase in CNG price in the city because of costlier imported LNG coming in to replace the cut in allocation.
With such a steep hike in price on horizon, Mumbai's auto rickshaw owners association approached Maharashtra High Court and got a stay on implementation of the order in the state.
‘This essentially meant that our APM (cheaper domestic) gas supply was cut to implement the uniform allocation order (of Gujarat High Court that was also upheld up the Supreme Court),’ IGL managing director Narendra Kumar said. IGL's APM gas allocation was reduced from 23,42,000 cubic meters per day to 22,28,000 cubic meters a day. ‘APM gas makes up for only 72 per cent of our requirement,’ he said.
He said the shortfall was made good by increased buying of imported LNG which has led to rise in
gas cost by 13 per cent. ‘We have not passed on the entire increase to customers. Some 20 per cent of the increase that was due has been absorbed by us,’ he said.
Coal Ministry identifies 4 mines for allocation to power projects
New Delhi: The government has identified four coal blocks to be allocated to power producers on tariff- based bidding and has invited applications for them.
'Four coal blocks have been identified for allocation to power projects on the basis of competitive bids for tariff and applications for the same were invited on 20 December,' a statement by the Coal Ministry said on Friday. The procedure for the allocation of area containing coal through auction by competitive bidding is under the process, it added.
Under the newly-initiated bidding policy 17 coal mines - 14 for power and three for mining - were allocated to state government companies and Central PSUs.
The government has also decided to put on offer five lignite blocks in Gujarat and Rajasthan for power/commercial mining/ underground coal gasification and had invited
applications in July. 'The applications received... are under process,' the statement said.
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had said earlier this month that the much-awaited auction of coal blocks may happen in March.
The Cabinet had earlier approved the methodology for auction, providing for upfront and production-linked payments and benchmarking of coal sale prices.
The policy provides for a production-linked payment on a rupee per tonne basis, plus a basic upfront payment of 10 per cent of the coal block's intrinsic value.
Keeping in view the limited domestic availability, the government ordered that about 80 per cent of the requirement of CNG retailers be met from cheaper domestic gas and the rest to be imported.
For IGL, which is the sole retailer of CNG in national capital, the order would not have made a big difference as domestic gas made up for 77-80 per cent of its requirement.
But for Mahanagar Gas Ltd, which solely relies on domestic gas for CNG retailing in Mumbai, the cut would have meant a Rs 16 per kg increase in CNG price in the city because of costlier imported LNG coming in to replace the cut in allocation.
With such a steep hike in price on horizon, Mumbai's auto rickshaw owners association approached Maharashtra High Court and got a stay on implementation of the order in the state.
‘This essentially meant that our APM (cheaper domestic) gas supply was cut to implement the uniform allocation order (of Gujarat High Court that was also upheld up the Supreme Court),’ IGL managing director Narendra Kumar said. IGL's APM gas allocation was reduced from 23,42,000 cubic meters per day to 22,28,000 cubic meters a day. ‘APM gas makes up for only 72 per cent of our requirement,’ he said.
He said the shortfall was made good by increased buying of imported LNG which has led to rise in
gas cost by 13 per cent. ‘We have not passed on the entire increase to customers. Some 20 per cent of the increase that was due has been absorbed by us,’ he said.
Coal Ministry identifies 4 mines for allocation to power projects
New Delhi: The government has identified four coal blocks to be allocated to power producers on tariff- based bidding and has invited applications for them.
'Four coal blocks have been identified for allocation to power projects on the basis of competitive bids for tariff and applications for the same were invited on 20 December,' a statement by the Coal Ministry said on Friday. The procedure for the allocation of area containing coal through auction by competitive bidding is under the process, it added.
Under the newly-initiated bidding policy 17 coal mines - 14 for power and three for mining - were allocated to state government companies and Central PSUs.
The government has also decided to put on offer five lignite blocks in Gujarat and Rajasthan for power/commercial mining/ underground coal gasification and had invited
applications in July. 'The applications received... are under process,' the statement said.
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had said earlier this month that the much-awaited auction of coal blocks may happen in March.
The Cabinet had earlier approved the methodology for auction, providing for upfront and production-linked payments and benchmarking of coal sale prices.
The policy provides for a production-linked payment on a rupee per tonne basis, plus a basic upfront payment of 10 per cent of the coal block's intrinsic value.