By IANS,
New Delhi : Power generator NTPC Tuesday said it has signed production sharing agreements with the government for four oil and gas blocks.
The company signed the agreement for one block in the Cambay basin (Gujarat), two in the Krishna-Godavari basin (off the Andhra Pradesh coast) and one in the Andamans, for which it was awarded exploration contracts in the eighth round of bidding under the new exploration licensing policy.
State-run NTPC has a 100 percent stake in the Cambay basin block, and a 10 percent holding in the others in which it has partnered with exploration major ONGC and other state-owned firms, the company said in a statement.
From a mainly coal-based thermal power generator, NTPC over the last few years has started diversifying into other areas of the energy spectrum.
It has ventured into the nuclear energy business and has tied up with the government-owned Nuclear Power Corp, and in a backward integration move to create fuel security, it has got into the coal mining business with an aim to meet about 20 percent of its coal requirement from its captive mines by 2017.
It also has a power trading firm, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd, which also handles its ash business.