Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said piped cooking gas would reach every kitchen in Andhra Pradesh, both in urban and rural areas, positively by next year end.
Reviewing the activities of the newly-constituted Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Corporation Limited (APGDCL), the chief minister asked the officers of the AP Gas Infrastructure Corporation (APGIC), APGDCL and Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) to complete the pipeline laying work fast so that piped gas could be supplied to all areas to ensure balanced growth.
The officials told the chief minister that the price of the cooking gas would be just one-third of LPG cylinders. “Works are in full swing with an aim to make available the piped gas in the state at the earliest. As far as Hyderabad is concerned, the piped gas distribution is ready to kickstart from the Nalsar Colony in Shameerpet soon. The rest of the city will also be covered at the earliest,” according to a press release on Sunday.
It may be stated that the state government, with an intention to utilise natural gas, particularly for the sectors like power, fertilisers, ceramics, glass, domestic fuel and automobile fuel, had created a special purpose vehicle APGIC.
APGIC, a government company and a joint venture of APIIC and APGenco with 51 per cent and 49 per cent equity respectively, intends to participate in upstream (exploration and production), midstream (pipeline infrastructure) and also downstream (trading) activities covering the full chain of natural gas business.
Within 45 days of its inception, APGIC participated in the NELP-VIII bidding conducted by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons for the Krishna-Godavari G blocks. It joined hands with global majors such as British Gas, ONGC, OIL, NTPC and participated in the bidding.
APGIC won one deep water block and three shallow water blocks with other consortium partners. It has 10 per cent equity in all the four blocks while other partners got the remaining 90 per cent. British Gas is the operating partner for the deep water block whereas ONGC is the operating partner for the three shallow water blocks. It is estimated that, as 10 per cent equity holder in the four blocks, APGIC has to spend about $40.5 million in total. The financial commitment as consortium partner for the financial year 2010-11 is Rs 13.57 crore for E&P in these four blocks.
APGIC is also planning to participate in the natural gas trading activity particularly LNG/RLNG so as to cater to the needs of all segments and for this purpose it intends to start a separate private company — Andhra Pradesh Gas Trading Corporation. The partners and their equity composition and other issues will be finalised soon. HPCL and GAIL (India) Limited have shown interest to partner with ASPGIC, the release added.