The Indian government is giving top priority to supply gas required to power projects all over the country, the Upper House (Rajya Sabha) of the Parliament was informed yesterday.
“As of today power projects in the country require 581 MMSCMD (million standard cubic metres per day) of gas, but it is not available. It is a priority area for the government and we are making efforts to make it available,” Indian Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said during Question Hour in the Parliament, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).
Prasada said: “If we get this much quantity of gas, then India will be able to generate 1,21,000 mega watts of electricity and we will be able to even supply power to other nations.” He also said that providing gas to fertiliser plants was another priority for the government.
With the country being relatively close to four of the world’s top five countries in terms of proven gas reserves, i.e. Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, India’s large natural gas market is a major attraction to the LNG exporting countries. In order to encourage gas imports, the Indian government has kept import of LNG under Open General License (OGL) category and has permitted 100% FDI.
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