Ministry denies Kerala's gas allocation plea

The Ministry of Petroleum rejected Kerala's plea for gas allocation from Reliance's KG-D6 basin for upcoming power plants in the state.

The ministry has asserted that, keeping in mind shortfalls in the supply of gas, the Empowered Group of Ministers  constituted to decide the critical issues related to allocation and commercial utilization of gas under the New Exploration Licensing Policy, has decided that gas from the KG-D6 field will first be allocated to existing plants, and there will be no reservation of gas. 
 
Further, it has been decided that for power projects in the pipeline, allocations will be made, as and when they are ready for commencement of generation, subject to availability of gas.
 
As regards Kerala's request for implementation of pooled price regime, the ministry has informed that there are several complex inter-ministerial issues, which need to be resolved before such a regime can come to fruition. As of now, the matter still remains under examination by various ministries.