State-run NTPC is considering a ‘strategic’ tie-up with Qatar Petroleum and picking up stakes in two coal mines in Indonesia to secure fuel supply for its power plants.
NTPC plans to offer up to 49 per cent stake to Qatar Petroleum in its gas-based project at Kayamkulam, Kerala, R S Sharma, chairman and managing director of the country’s largest power utility, said.
The current capacity of the Kayamkulam plant is 350 mega watt (Mw), which the company plans to expand to 1,050 Mw in the next two years and to 1,800 Mw at a later stage. NTPC may form a special purpose vehicle for the last stage (1,800 Mw) expansion, in which it would offer stake to Qatar Petroleum in exchange for gas supplies. The company is keen to get Qatar on board in the Kerala project, as it would help it in securing gas supply.
The company is also studying two mines in Sumatra and East Kalimantan, which may together have as much as 1.8 billion tonnes of coal. “We are looking at buying stakes in two coal mines in Indonesia – in East Kalimantan with one billion tonnes of coal resources and other one in Sumatra with 800 million tonnes,” Sharma said. The purchase may be completed by next March, he said.
NTPC is also looking at acquiring coal blocks in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, and has identified two-three such properties, for which it is in talks with merchant bankers.
Meanwhile, the company today signed an initial pact with Bangladesh Power Development Board to establish power projects at Chittagong and Khulna in the neighbouring country. The coal-based power plants would have capacity of 1,320 Mw each and involved an estimated investment of Rs13,200 crore, the company said.
