Top Story - NTPC plans stake buy in Indonesia coal mines, signs MOU with Bangladesh, to offer 49% stake to Qatar Petroleum.

India’s top power utility NTPC Ltd is looking to buy stakes in two Indonesian coal mines and also plans to invite global bids for more overseas assets. NTPC aims to lock-in fuel supplies to feed its rising generation capacity, currently at 32.2 giga watts and expects it to rise to 75 GW by 2017. India may face a coal shortfall of 189 million tonnes a year by 2015, leading to a two-fold increase in imports, global consultancy KPMG said late last month.

The state-run firm hopes to finalise the deals for the two mines in East Kalimantan and Sumatra -- in the current financial year to March 2011. The East Kalimantan and Sumatra mines have resources of around 1 billion tonnes and 800 million tonnes, respectively. While India has the world’s fourth-largest coal reserves, its coal imports have grown rapidly as Asia’s third-largest power producer seeks to step up capacities to end blackouts. Indian power firms, including Reliance Power and Tata Power Co have acquired coal mines in Indonesia and South Africa. Recently, Adani Enterprises agreed to buy Linc Energy’s coal asset in Australia in a $2.7 billion deal.

NTPC expects to import up to 15 million tonnes of coal in the next financial year, as its annual requirement of the fuel could rise an estimated 6.5% to 165 million tonnes. It is expected to import 12 million tonnes in the current fiscal. Currently, state-trading firms import coal for NTPC. It hopes to directly buy 40-60% of its coal imports in 2011-12.

Separately, NTPC yesterday signed an initial agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to set up two coal-fired power plants of 1320 MW capacity each in the neighbouring country. NTPC and BPDB would be equal partners in the venture that would build the plants, expected to cost Rs140 billion (about $3 billion.

Further in yet another development, NTPC is likely to offer up to 49 per cent equity stake to Qatar Petroleum at its gas-based project in Kerala, to secure fuel supply for its power plant. The current capacity of the Kayamkulam plant, in kerela is 350 MW, which the company is planning to expand it to 1,050 MW in the next two years and further expand it to 1,800 MW later. The company may form a special purpose vehicle for the last stage (1,800 MW) expansion of the power project, in which it would offer stake to Qatar Petroleum.