PLL declines gas supply to NTPC, 2.5 mt LNG sold out

PETRONET LNG Ltd, India’s first liquified natural gas importer, is faced with a peculiar problem of having to turn away large consumers from power and fertiliser as industries outside the two sectors have gobbled up the entire 2.5 million tonne of LNG it is importing in 2004.

PLL recently said a polite ‘‘no’’ to National Thermal Power Corp which had sent an sos to the Oil Ministry for urgently sourcing 6-7 million standard cubic metre per day of gas to meet the summer demand for electricity. ‘‘We don’t have a single drop of LNG left. Our offtakers — GAIL, IOC and BPCL — are selling regassified LNG at market rates to 40 industries as per schedule,’’ PLL director (Finance) P. Dasgupta said.

PLL, which began commercial supplies from April 2, received the sixth cargo from Qatar as per schedule on Saturday and offtakers were selling 8.51 million standard cubic meter per day (2.5 million tonne on an annualised basis) to industries outside the subsidised pricing regime. Dasgupta denied reports of distress sale saying the offtakers were selling all the gas at $4.87 per million BTU (British Thermal Unit) in Gujarat and $4.93 per million BTU outside Gujarat.