Shifting NTPC plant not practical, need to run it on LNG: CM
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that it was not practical to shift NTPC’s sick naphtha-run power plant to Brahmapuram and speedy steps should be taken to convert it to LNG to make it viable. The chief minister was replying to a submission by Opposition Leader, Ramesh Chennithala, on the need to breathe new life into NTPC’s 360 mw plant at Kayamkulam. Chennithala said the plant was non-operational for long, causing a huge loss. “There is a need to protect the plant and it should not be allowed a slow death.” Vijayan said non-availability of LNG was the main problem with regard to the plant and steps are needed to be taken to lay the pipeline from Kochi to Kayamkulam as soon as possible. “We should take steps to bring LNG from Kochi (terminal) to Kayamkulam. The relocation of the plant is not practical,” Vijayan said. State’s Power Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the government was not aware if any decision had been taken by NTPC to shift the plant to Brahmapuram in Ernakulam district. Though there was no production from the plant, KSEB was forced to pay a fixed charge of Rs 18 crore every month, as per the power purchase agreement, he said. “We requested the Centre to provide LNG at a lower rate. We also requested for time to meet Union Power Minister to express the state’s demands,” he said. Chennithala said though the plant was initially envisaged to run on coal, it was later shifted to naphtha. However, using naphtha was expensive and to make it viable, it should be converted to LNG, he said, adding there should be coordinated efforts to preserve the plant. The Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Plant (also known as Rajiv Gandhi CCPP Kayamkulam) was fuelled by imported and indigenous naphtha. Kerala is the major beneficiary of the plant, which has been facing problem due to higher power cost. Kareem Martin Womens Jersey
Spot prices up on forecasts for hot weather, less wind
European spot power prices rose on Monday on forecasts for lower German wind power supplies and a brief heatwave that could boost electricity demand for air conditioning. Wind power supplies in Germany will halve to 2.4 gigawatts (GW) on Tuesday from Monday, and not exceed 3.6 GW in the period up to July 29, according to Thomson Reuters data. “There’s been a mismatch of wind forecasts and reality while solar supply has also been overestimated,” one trader said. “This outweighs more thermal availability and some demand drops due to the holidays starting in some regions,” he added. German baseload power for Tuesday delivery was 3.75 euros above the price paid for Monday at 34 euros ($37.56) a megawatt hour (MWh). The equivalent French contract was 5 euros up at 41 euros. Demand is expected to rise strongly on Tuesday – by 1.3 GW in Germany and by 2.6 GW in France – as temperatures are forecast to exceed 22 degrees Celsius per day on a 24-hour basis in Germany. In France they are forecast to rise to 25.8 degrees. But they will not increase beyond Thursday and will fall next week, if current predictions materialise. Forward power prices were up, tracking firmer carbon and gas curve levels, while coal and oil lost some earlier strength to turn negative. UK gas reacted strongly to lower than expected supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG), higher exports to continental Europe, and the extension of an outage at the Rough gas storage site to next year. German baseload power for next year, Cal ’17, was 1 euro up at 28.2 euros/MWh. The French year-ahead power contract was 1.4 euros up at 33.6. Crude oil was lower after choppy trade in Asia following gains last week. Traders shrugged off the impact of Friday’s attempted coup in Turkey and upbeat economic data from the United States lent some support. European coal prices for 2017 were 0.3 percent down, but held above $60 a tonne. Front-year EU carbon allowances were 0.2 percent up at 4.94 euros a tonne. In eastern European power, the Czech year-ahead position was not traded but was bid 1 euro higher at 29.15 euros, and the next day position gained 1.2 euros to 33.8 euros. Ricky Jean Francois Womens Jersey
Electricity consumption drops in Gurgaon
Apart from a sudden drop in the temperature, the recurrent rainfall has also had a corresponding effect on the electricity consumption in the city. Officials of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) have said that there has been a 15% decline in electricity consumption this week. According to the data procured through DHBVN, the total power supplied in the past week was nearly 1,400 mW on an average daily. Following incessant rains, this week the demand was less than 1,200 mW on an average. “The weather and the cold breeze has reduced load on the power transmission system. There have been no reports of transformers overloading because of the low demand,” said Sanjeev Chopra, DHBVN general manager. A senior DHBVN official explained that the decrease on the load implies that residents are consuming less units of electricity. Officials said that over-dependence of consumers on air conditioners during summer leads to overloading and higher power consumption. The dip in temperature means less use of ACs. In addition, high humidity levels leads to AC compressors using less electricity that also contributes to lower power consumption. Last month, during peak summer season, the city’s daily demand was pushing to 1,500 mW. Despite a higher electricity supply, the city was falling short of 300 mW owing to transmission loss through electricity theft and poor infrastructure. This was leading to more than four hours of power outages at several places throughout the city. The India Meteorological Department (MET) department has predicted a high possibility of rains and thunderstorms in the coming weeks that may further bring down the temperature and Gurgaon’s dependence on electricity. Ted Williams Womens Jersey
ONGC Boosts Operations Off India Via New, Expanded Deals Worth $60 Million
Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) expanded the scope of its operational activities offshore India through new and expanded contracts, amounting to approximately $60 million, with two services providers. Subsea services provider Seamec Ltd., a subsidiary of India’s HAL Offshore, said Friday in a company announcement on the Bombay Stock Exchange that the scope of its activities has been expanded to meet ONGC’s tender requirements and it will now deploy additional fleet assets for the contract. The firm will deploy vessel SEAMEC II and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) together with personnel for the three-year long ONGC assignment, which is worth around $33.44 million. Separately, Fugro Survey (India) Pvt Ltd. has bagged a $26 million offshore geotechnical site investigation contract for the KG-DWN-98/2 project offshore the east coast of India, the company said Friday in a press release. Fugro’s workscope comprises the gathering of site specific geotechnical and geohazard data to aid in the design and later installation of wellheads, manifolds, platforms, FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) anchors, umbilicals, pipelines and flow lines within the field. The firm will deploy its deepwater geotechnical vessel, Fugro Voyager, to undertake work in water depths ranging from 164 feet (50 meters) to 4,921 feet (1,500 meters), commencing before the end of third quarter 2016. Upon completion of the fieldwork, Fugro will carry extensive laboratory testing, data analysis, interpretation and integration with previous Fugro-acquired AUV Geophysical and Metocean data to provide site characterization reports. In other development, ONGC is looking for buyers for gas produced from a new deepwater field — the Vashishta & S1 — in the Krishna-Godvari (KG) Basin located offshore India’s east coast. The field is the first to supply gas under a new government policy that permit companies to charge a higher rate for output from fields that are complex and challenging to develop, local media The Economic Times reported Friday. According to ONGC Director (Offshore) Tapas Sengupta, a well at Vashishta & S1 field has been in operations for about a month, producing around 17.66 million standard cubic feet per day (0.5 million standard cubic meters a day) of gas, which is now sold at the government-set domestic natural gas price of $3.06 per unit. While ONGC wants to fetch higher natural gas prices, current global prices may weigh on such hopes. “This is a test case for ONGC. It is a challenge for ONGC to derive a strategy for getting the right price for all future production from deepwater fields,” Sengupta said, as quoted in The Economic Times. Ricardo Allen Womens Jersey
Natural gas share in Indian fuel basket stands only at 6.5%: Petroleum Minister
The share of natural gas in India’s fuel basket is 6.5 per cent as compared to the world average of 23.8 per cent. This is according to the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan who referred to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2015 in a written reply a question in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Pradhan’s reply also stated that in order to increase the share of gas in the fuel basket, several steps have been taken by the government including approval of Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy as well as approval of a policy to auction 67 discovered small fields belonging earlier to ONGC and Oil India. “Marketing and pricing freedom for new gas production from Deepwater, Ultra Deepwater and High Pressure-High Temperature areas subject to certain condition has been allowed,” the reply stated. Pradhan’s reply also stated that Indraprastha Gas Ltd in collaboration with Ituk Manufacturing India Pvt Ltd has launched a pilot programme to run two wheelers on CNG, which will also help promote the use of natural gas a fuel. In a separate reply, Pradhan said that the policy to auction 67 discovered small fields has been notified in October last year. Pradhan also said that in spite of a natural decline from existing ageing mature fields, oil & gas companies have been able to maintain the level of production. Charles Mann Womens Jersey