Natural Gas production from KG-D6 block has dropped to below 20 million standard cubic metres a day this week, from over 63 mmscmd peak output achieved in August 2010.
The available gas is first supplied to fertiliser plants and LPG units and whatever little fuel is left is supplied to 25 power plants on pro-rata basis.
From the current production only 1 mmscmd of gas is being supplied to power plants, forcing many units to work at sub-optimal levels.
To overcome this, the Oil Ministry has proposed to roster gas supplies, official sources said. Under this scheme, gas will be supplied to power plants on rotation basis.
Plants will get fuel supplies needed for operating the unit at optimal capacity for a fixed period turn-by-turn.
"Due to shortage in availability of domestic gas many power plants are operating at low plant-load factor eading to inefficient usage of natural gas and lower production of electricity,"
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