This would help GSPC create India's largest city gas distribution company

Five months after it acquired 65% stake in Gujarat Gas Company Ltd (GGCL), GSPC or Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation is planning to merge its city gas distribution entity, GSPC Gas Company Ltd with Gujarat Gas Corporation Limited (GGCL). Persons close to the development said this would not only help GSPC create India's largest city gas distribution company but also allow it to transfer the loans it took to acquire GGCL on its books as the company is listed.

State-run Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) announced it has booked 2.25 million tonne per annum (MTPA) natural gas re-gasification capacity offerd by Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) at its Dahej terminal in Gujarat.

GSPC has contracted the capacity on firm and long-term basis for 20 years. “GSPC will now be able to tie-up Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) on a long-term basis in the international markets and serve its customers with an assured supply of gas for a longer tenure,” GSPC Managing Director (MD) Tapan Ray said.

However, experts from the oil and gas industry feel that the move by company would not bring much relief in the present high price situation

City gas distribution major Gujarat Gas Company Ltd (GGCL) has decided to focus on domestic suppliers for procurement of LNG after its supply contract with BG gorup subsidiary, BG India Energy Solutions Private Limited (BGIES) expired last month. GGCL used to source re-gasified LNG (RLNG) from BGIES. After British Gas Group sold its stake in GGCL in October, 2012, the company has decided to give preference to domestic suppliers. GGCL has PNG customer base of over 350,000 in three cities of Surat, Ankleshwar and Bharuch. It also has close to 200,000 CNG consumers.

Petronet LNG, at present, has long-term agreements with foreign companies for supply of LNG for the existing Dahej and Kochi LNG terminals.

Petronet LNG Limited is looking for a strategic foreign partner for implementing its Rs 4,500-crore Gangavaram LNG project in Andhra Pradesh. “We are looking for more supplies to meet the country’s demand. Hence, we are planning to give some equity stake in the upcoming Gangavaram LNG project to a foreign partner who can bring more LNG supplies for Petronet,” A K Balyan, managing director and chief executive officer, told reporters here on Tuesday. The company, at present, has long-term agreements with foreign companies for supply of LNG for the existing Dahej and Kochi LNG terminals.

State-run caustic soda major Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL) has joined hands with National Aluminium Company (Nalco) for setting up 200,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) caustic soda project at Dahej in Gujarat.

"The feasibility report for the proposed project is currently on and is likely to be completed by October-November this year. GACL will have majority stake in the project, which will come up at Dahej in Gujarat," said MS Dagur, managing director, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd, which is the largest caustic soda manufacturer in India.

M.P. government agrees to demands of Omkareshwar Dam oustees

Oustees of the Omkareshwar Dam project called off their jal satyagraha on Monday after the Madhya Pradesh government accepted all their demands and constituted a ministerial committee to look into their grievances. On the 17th day of the protest, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced that the government had agreed to the key demands of the agitators — reducing the water level of the dam to 189 metres and providing land for land compensation to all those who had lost their land.

As many as 250 people affected by the Omkareshwar dam project have been standing in waist-deep water since Saturday night, even as the water level continues to rise.

The oustees announced their jal satyagraha protest last month at Ghogalgaon village in the East Nimar region against the Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to raise the water level in the dam from 189 to 193 metres. The 520-MW Omkareshwar project is one of the several big dams on the Narmada. The current water level is 189 metres and the protesters fear that if filled beyond that level, the dam would submerge their lands spread across several villages.

Gandhinagar: In a systematic blow to high accolades Gujarat received from the Centre over the “net increase in the mangrove cover”, reports from Jambusar in Bharuch in south Gujarat suggest that things may now be moving in the opposite direction. The reports point to the coastal areas in Gulf of Khambhat where the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC) and NGOs jointly developed dense mangroves plantations.

The government has received a complaint from a civil society activist, who happens to be a member of the state-sponsored Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, that heavy mangroves plantation is in the danger of being wiped out.

Around 27 villages of Gujarat’s Narmada and Bharuch districts have been put on alert after water from the overflowing Narmada dam resulted in the perennial river breaching the danger mark at Golden

Alstom India Ltd has said that its thermal services business has obtained a contract worth nearly Rs 344.5 crore (€53 million) for the renovation of NTPC’s gas turbines at its 657-MW Jhanor Gandhar