New Delhi, Aug 17: National Thermal Power Corporation today said commercial and technical bids for procuring liquified natural gas (LNG) would be opened on September 2 and claimed that suppliers would have assured returns on their investment. According to NTPC officials, provisions have been made to link escalation in price of LNG to inflation, thereby eliminating risks of crude price fluctuations.
About 10 companies including various multinationals like Shell, British Gas, Ras Gas, Petronas, British Petroleum as also India's Reliance Industries are the prospective bidders for the 17-year contract to supply three million tonnes of LNG annually to NTPC. Asked about the reasons for delay in opening technical and commercial bids from August 12 to September 2, officials said this was done on request from three bidders.
NTPC, which had earlier fixed the bid security at 20 million dollars, has reduced it to just 4 million dollars after receiving requests from the bidders. The officials said bid security money was essential and part of any bidding process in order to keep out non-serious players.
The officials also ruled out either pre or post-bid negotiations with any bidder.
The corporation has also decided to set up the gas-based projects only at Kawas and Gandhar of 1300 MW each while putting two locations of Anta and Auriya on hold. Bureau Report