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Been Awarded 4 Blocks in NELP IX in Pact with Other Companies: BC Tripathi, GAIL India

  • In an interview to ET Now, BC Tripathi, CMD, GAIL India speaks about the recent NELP auctions and the company's growth outlook. Excerpts:

  • ET Now: How many blocks have you got at the NELP IX auctions yesterday and going forward, what are the E&P plans from these blocks?

  • BC Tripathi: Yesterday, at the 9th round of blocks which were finalised, we signed the contract for 4 blocks, where we have partnered with ONGC, Oil India and host of private companies. In 2 of the blocks, we will be working as operator, online blocks, and 2 blocks are in shallow water where ONGC will be the operator. With that, we will have almost 32 blocks in our portfolio, where the various stages of activities are on at this stage of time. As a cautious decision, we have decided to take almost 10% of annual capex for the upstream E&P activities and we continue to maintain that kind of moderate level of investment in E&P.

  • ET Now: You have also recently hiked transmission as well as marketing targets for FY13 and that is something the market and analyst fraternity are extremely upbeat about. What is the growth that you are estimating?

  • BC Tripathi: We are transmitting almost 120 to 125 million standard cubic metre a day and we expect this to grow almost 10% in this FY13.

  • ET Now: You have also recently indicated that the capacity in Dabhol would be doubled to 10 million per year. What is the update on the LNG terminal there? By when can we see the project commissioning and are you open to leasing out a part of the terminal or even selling part stakes in individual terminals to companies?

  • BC Tripathi: Dabhol is almost a 10-year old asset and there have been various technical, commercial and environmental issues but now we are very close to commissioning. All the online and marine activities have been completed.

  • We are expecting the custom clearance any moment now and the commissioning cargo has already arrived. So all the preparations are on to commission the LNG terminal sometime by mid April. All the safety precautions and procedures are being followed.

  • Going forward, depending upon the growth in the domestic market, we may expand it straightway from 5 million to 10 million tonnes or we may go in a phased manner from 5 million to 7.5 million tonnes in first phase and 7.5 to 10 million tonnes in the second phase. But I expect that in the next 4 to 5 years' time, we should be reaching a capacity of at least 10 million tonnes at Dabhol.

  • Regarding tolling arrangements, as of now there is no such plan. The total terminal is available with GAIL for the next 25 years, wherein we will be utilising the capacity to meet the requirements of Dabhol LNG terminal and Dabhol power plants as well as for the merchant sale.

  • ET Now: So you would not look to lease it out at all to any private players who may be interested in taking a part of that capacity?

  • BC Tripathi: As of now, there are no such plans but going forward depending upon the market position, we may revisit this issue.

  • ET Now: We understand that you are also keen on buying Mukesh Ambani's pipeline company RGTIL. Could you confirm that for us?

  • BC Tripathi: I am also hearing this news from the media. I have no such clue at this stage and it will be too premature for me to comment on this issue. But it's true that transmission has been the core business of GAIL and going forward, as the situation emerges, we will take a suitable view.

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