Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh lays the foundation stone of this ambitious project during his maiden visit to Tripura.        

Subhasis K Chanda

Green blanketed open land at Palatana, a sleepy village in North Eastern region is now hustling with activity as ONGC has commenced its operations there. Hundreds of people living below poverty line (BPL) at Palatana, hitherto mostly job-less, are looking ahead with glittering eyes to assimilate themselves into the new world of employment oriented activities and development. The backdrop of this high expectation is ONGC’s foray into power generation. This transformation of the Energy and Petroleum giant is going to be materialized in Tripura, a North-Eastern State bestowed with abundant reserves of natural gas. Plans for ONGC’s maiden gas based power project with the capacity of 750 MW at Palatana, about 60 km away from Agartala have moved well upwards to the implementation stage now. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh recently has laid the foundation stone of this ambitious project during his maiden visit to the State.                                                           

ONGC has formed a joint venture, named ONGC Tripura Power Company Ltd (OTPC) with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) and Tripura State Power Development Corporation to set up this power project. Meanwhile, the OTPC has received clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest for setting up a 380X2 MW gas based power generation unit at Palatana.

Tripura, the second smallest state of the country, is blessed with abundant natural resources particularly natural gas. In the present technology based world natural gas is fast emerging as important source and substitute to other forms of energy. Natural gas that is available in abundance in Tripura can meet the entire energy requirement of the state. There is a great opportunity for potential investor to establish gas-based industries there, it can completely change the economic scenario of the state, generate employment as well as improve living conditions of the people. It will immensely benefit the state economy by boosting the industrial development of the state and the region. The State has, to some extent, been able to make use of the natural gas available there. At present, it has gas thermal units at Baramura, Rukhia and Ramchandranagar. In addition to these existing plants and the upcoming 750-MW Palatana project, NEEPCO has a 260 MW project proposal, slated to be set up at Monarchak in Sonamura subdivision. The State is also pursuing with Government of India to take into account the possibility of establishing a gas based fertilizer project in the State.

The vast reserves of natural gas available in the State are found in non-associate form. The gas is of high quality with Methane content of up to 97 per cent. ONGC has been actively exploring reserves of hydrocarbons in the State since 1972. Since then it has developed eight sub-surface gas reservoirs for commercial production. Baramura, Agartala Dome, Konaban, Rokhia, Trishna, Gojalia and Sonamura are some of the fields associated with success. The present utilization of natural gas in the State is about 1.5 million standard cubic meters per day whereas present production potential stood at 4.5 MMSCMD. So in order to create market for its produce in Tripura the Platana proposal of power generation has come up. The installation of new plant will tap the unutilized gas completely and need more gas for its working. For this purpose, the Energy and Petroleum major has recently announced a Rs. 400-crore investment plan for stepping up natural gas production capacity in the state. Apart from drilling four new wells, the investment plan includes setting up three gas storage stations, revamping existing storage facilities and laying a pipeline connecting the production wells to the power plant. It is estimated that it will need about 3 MMSCMD of additional gas for new venture. Upgradation of Agartala Dome and Baramura fields have begun. These two projects, once completed by December 2006 will be able to add about another 1.9 MMSCMD of additional gas to the existing capacity. Rest of the gas requirement will be met by installing some new Gas Station and upgrading facilities at Sonamura, Konaban, Gojalia, Trishna fields. About 160 km of new trunk line network will be by ONGC to connect producing fields to upcoming power plant at Palatana. In order to market the power from Palatana, the IL&FS and Power Grid Corporation has power evacuation studies.

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