Petronet to set up power plant

NEW DELHI:  The country’s first LNG company, Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL), plans to set up 1,200 MW power plant at Dahej in Gujarat. The company’s board has approved a proposal to conduct a feasibility study for setting up the power plant at an
estimated cost of Rs 3,000 crore.

PLL, jointly promoted by GAIL (India), Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil Corporation, and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, also said it was in the final stages of selecting an engineering, procurement and construction contractor for setting up a 2.5 million tonne per annum LNG terminal at Kochi in Kerala.

PLL recorded net profit of Rs 115.51 crore and a turnover of Rs 1,670.50 crore during the quarter ending September 2007, posting 75% and 21% growth respectively over the corresponding quarter of last year. During the quarter, the company achieved 135% capacity utilisation.

P Dasgupta, managing director and chief executive officer, stated that the company has started supplying R-LNG from its Dahej Terminal for Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt Ltd equivalent to 1.5 million tonne per annum.

Work on the expansion of the existing Dahej terminal from 5 to 10 mtpa is on schedule and will be commissioned progressively between July 2008 and December 2008.