ONGC demands gas price hike

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp has demanded a 12.5 per cent hike in price of natural gas it produces from fields given to it on nomination basis as it was incurring losses at the present permal units.

ONGC chairman and managing director R S Sharma has stated that the company's realisation was only Rs 2.97 per cubic meters after paying for royalties and taxes. Against this, the cost of production was Rs 3.272

per cubic meter.

The ONGC demand comes at a time when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has referred the issue of gas pricing to a group of ministers after power and fertiliser sectors in general and Anil Ambani Group in particular wanted the government to renege on its promise of giving market price to companies investing in gas exploration.