New Delhi: Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said he will soon seek the Cabinet nod for capping the price of gas for the power sector at USD 5 per mmBtu.
"We will soon approach the Cabinet for fixing the price of gas at USD 5 per mmBtu (Million Metric British thermal unit) for the power sector," he said here at a conference.
Scindia said the government has made it clear that any additional gas produced in the country will be diverted to the power sector after meeting the requirement of the urea plants.
Last month, the Minister had said that power projects would get the surplus gas until March 2016, after which the situation will be reviewed again. The decision would benefit projects with a combined capacity of over 7,800 MW, he had added.
The Power Ministry had sought parity for electricity utilities with fertiliser units in the allocation of gas after a drop in output from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block led to reduced domestic supplies. In March this year, electricity generating stations stopped getting gas from KG-D6.
Until now, gas-based fertiliser plants had topmost priority in the allocation of gas, followed by LPG-extraction units, power projects, city gas, steel and refineries.
In July, a panel of ministers had rejected a proposal to snap gas supplies to urea plants and divert the fuel to power companies.
PTI
