State-run NTPC Ltd is likely to sign by month-end an agreement to buy natural gas allocated by the Centre from Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Ltd at government-approved rate of $4.20 per mmBtu, power secretary H S Brahma said on Wednesday.
The interlocutory application filed on Tuesday made it clear that $4.20 per mmBtu price approved by the government for RIL's KG-D6 gas was without prejudice to the state-run firm's case seeking the fuel from the Mukesh Ambani-run company at $2.34 per mmBtu price committed in 2004.
A price of $4.20 per million British thermal units is not viable for smaller gas discoveries, say industry experts.
ONGC's chairman and managing director Sudhir Vasudeva tells Business Standard that any price for natural gas that is more than $4.2 a unit is good for the company.
In the face of oil minister's comment that Reliance Industries Ltd gas to NTPC could be given at a government-approved price, the state-owned power major on Saturday said it will continue to fight legally for the fuel's contracted price and seek power ministry's help.
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries on Friday said it may sell gas from its KG-D6 fields to RNRL at $4.20 per mmBtu if the government allocates fuel to the Anil Ambani Group firm.
Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd is laying claim (through a family agreement prior to the group's split) to gas from estranged brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd at a fixed price of $2.34 per mBtu
Petroleum secretary RS Pandey declined to comment on the court verdict till the Government received a copy of the order. The Bombay high court on Monday upheld Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd's contention to buy 28 mscmd of gas from Reliance Industries Ltd at USD 2.34 per mmBtu for 17 years.
The Union government today filed a fresh affidavit in the Bombay high court, which is hearing a dispute over supply of gas from Krishna Godavari basin, stating that any sale price less than $ 4.2 per mmBtu is not compatible with decisions taken by a ministerial panel.
The move apparently has been triggered by the drastic fall in international crude oil prices which have dived from $147 a barrel in August 2008 to below $40 now. In the old formula, taking crude price at $60 per barrel, the cost of gas at Iran-Pakistan border translated into $4.93 per mBtu. But according to the new formula, gas price will shoot up to $5.9 per mBtu although crude prices have crashed below $40 a barrel.
The crux of the ongoing court case between Reliance Industries (RIL) and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) on Monday was pricing of the gas produced from the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.
Shell had last imported LNG cargo at its Hazira Terminal in Gujarat on Oct 13, 2008 from Trinidad and Tobago at $20.5 per mmbtu. On the $9.06 per mmBtu import price, a five per cent custom duty will be levied, taking the landed cost to $9.4 per mmBtu.
The Election Commission asked the government to defer announcement of the new price till completion of the polls and so RIL was asked to continue selling the gas at old rates.
Abolition of import duty on naphtha under the government's stimulus package has come as a much-awaited breather for power projects running on dual-fuel.
Irked by the response of Reliance Industries on resolving an issue coming in the way of the gas contract, power PSU NTPC on Friday said it is talking to Mukesh Ambani led company to lift fuel alloted by the government.
Reliance Industries has said that it had in December 2005 signed a contract to sell natural gas to NTPC at $2.34 per mmBtu price for 17 years, but it was the state-run firm that did not reciprocate.
Gas pricing guidelines stipulate that a new gas price will apply to all producers except RIL.
Sunil Jain explains why the government does not necessarily win if it applies a higher gas price.
The petroleum ministry has prepared a draft Cabinet note for raising prices of natural gas produced by ONGC from fields given to it on nomination basis to Rs 3,765 per thousand cubic metres (or $1.98 per million British thermal unit) from current Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic meter ($1.68 per mmBtu). For OIL, the gas price has been proposed at Rs 4,205 per thousand cubic meters, a senior ministry official said.
Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries will lose around $1 billion (Rs 4,300 crore) a year if it sells gas to the Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources at the agreed price of $2.34 per million British thermal unit
"The letter approving a price of $4.20 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) for first five years of production from KG-D6 was issued by the Petroleum Ministry on Thursday," a source familiar with the development said.
Fertilizer sector on Friday sought gas supplies from Reliance Industries's KG-D6 block at no more than 5 dollars per million British thermal unit, even as the power sector nudged the government to take its share of gas in kind.
At $4.64 per mBtu, KG gas is alleged to be over-priced.
Justice Anoop V Mohta, delivering the final verdict in the gas supply row between RIL and Reliance Natural Resources Limited, asked the two companies to decide on a new gas price, as the rate of $2.34 per mBtu agreed in the family de-merger agreement had already been rejected by the government.
With the price of gas from its fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin expected to be higher than rivals, Reliance Industries is targeting automobiles and domestic users because power and fertiliser plants may not be able to afford it.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council has approved Reliance Industries' 4.33 dollars per mBtu price of gas from KG-D6 fields, saying it was in line with industry practices.
Hike would have led to higher cost of fertiliser, electricity and even CNG.
The 30-share Sensex ended up 1 point at 27,459 and the 50-share Nifty ended down 1 point at 8,341.
Petroleum ministry has rejected Reliance Industries Limited's plan to sell natural gas to Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd at less than half the market price.
That does not change with the much-expected new US announcement, it only reiterates the imbalance.
Reliance Natural Resources Ltd chairman Anil Ambani is understood to have sought a review of the government's decision, rejecting the sale of natural gas by RIL to it.
Reliance Natural Resources Ltd has questioned oil ministry's right to approve the price at which a producer sells gas to customers, saying its nod was needed only for the formula or basis of pricing of gas for computing government's share.
Electricity from Dabhol project in Maharasthra, which is being targeted to restart from July 2006, may cost over Rs 3 a unit as LNG suppliers quote twice the price of gas than the previous estimates.
BHP Billiton, the Australian consultant which carried out pre-feasibility survey of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, has said that the 2775-km long pipeline project has sufficient safeguards to prevent any disruption in the supplies.
ONGC-Reliance-BG will get additional revenue of $70 million from realising higher price for gas produced from Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp on Tuesday disputed claims made by gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd of an agreement with the operators of Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields to continue selling gas beyond March 31.
Besides other issues, lack of pact between India and Pakistan on the price of the gas led to the delay in the project.
State-run Gas Authority of India Ltd on Monday said the government's decision to raise natural gas prices by 12 per cent would not affect its profitability.
Petronet LNG Ltd will sell India's first liquefied natural gas from January next at around $3.6 per million BTU (British Thermal Unit), almost the same price as that of the private domestic natural gas producers.
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