Cairn mulls city gas distribution

NEW DELHI, April 4 (UPI) -- Cairn India Ltd. is weighing entry into city gas distribution in collaboration with state-run Gas Authority of India Ltd.

The company sounded out India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board on the issues, a senior official of the company who declined to be identified said Friday.

"We have received proposals from a number of parties for joint venture opportunities in city gas distribution," U.D. Choubey, chairman and managing director of GAIL, told the Business Line newspaper.

He refused to confirm or deny Cairn's involvement.

According to a Cairn official, the company is interested in using part of the production potential from the Ambe field for the supply of compressed natural gas and piped natural gas in select markets of Gujarat state. The newly discovered Ambe field is a part of the Cairn-operated Cambay joint venture in CB/OS-2 block in offshore Gujarat and is expected to produce a little over 1 mmscmd natural gas by 2010.

Cairn and GAIL may also use a portion of the production from a satellite field of Ravva offshore Andhra Pradesh for supply of CNG and PNG in the select markets of the southern state.