K-G basin gas reserves at 20 TCF

Hyderabad, May 12: Andhra Pradesh Energy and Coal minister Mohd Shabbir Ali today said the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin, 150 km off the coast near Kakinada, has large reserves of Methane rich natural gas estimated at 20 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) valued at 50 billion dollars.

Inaugurating a conference on 'Natural Gas, unravelling the potential of K-G basin', organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, he said the K-G basin gas reserves can be used for the production of fertilizers, power generation, ferrous and non-ferrous metals by pumping out 40 to 50 million Cubic meters of gas every day.

Stating that the companies were intensifying exploration of gas, both onshore and offshore in the K-G basin, Mr Shabbir said the state government was keen to ensure that maximum quantity of gas was utilized to overcome energy shortage in the state.

He said the government has proposed to set up 3715 MW power project in next three years based on the demand to add 439 Mw power in the Tenth Plan and 5787 MW during 11th plan. 2100 MW gas based power projects near Karimnagar, 500 MW thermal power station at Bhupalapally, 4000 MW Ultra Mega power project at Krishnapatnam were also in the pipeline.

UNI