NTPC to sign gas sale and purchase agreement with RIL

State-run power company NTPC said today that it will sign the gas purchase agreement with Reliance Industries (RIL) for its gas-based power plants other than the projects for expanding the Kawas and Gandhar units, on which litigation is going on with RIL. "We are willing to sign the GSPA (Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement) but not for the Kawas and Gandhar expansion projects," NTPC CMD R S Sharma clarified to reporters in the national capital. The company has been allocated 2.67 million standard cubic metres of gas per day (mmscmd) from Reliance Industries prolific KG-D6 basin for its gas-based power projects, which have a capacity of nearly 4,000 Mw. The state-run firm was initially reluctant to take the allocation and said it will not compromise its court case against RIL, which allegedly did not comply with a 2004 tender. NTPC had earlier said that it would seek legal opinion before signing the agreement so that its legal case with RIL is not jeopardised.