The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on gas headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday decided that gas allocation from RIL's D-6 block will be made to power projects subject to availability and without prejudice to court decisions, according to a government release.
Reliance Industries Ltd, whose gas pricing formula has been questioned by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, has said that the company has not breached a Bombay high court order.
Reliance Industries on Monday said it has no plans to spin off its Krishna Godavari gas field into a separate company and rope in a strategic partner.
India's natural gas production is projected to jump by 52 per cent to 122 million standard cubic metres per day by 2024 as state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Reliance Industries Ltd-BP combine raise output from the KG basin fields. Natural gas production in 2019-20 was 85 mmscmd, which is estimated to have fallen to 80 mmscmd in the following year, HDFC Securities said in a report. The output is projected to rise in the current fiscal that started on April 1 to 93 mmscmd, 107 mmscmd in the following year and 122 mmscmd in 2023-24, the brokerage estimated.
India's fiscal deficit is projected to more than double to 6 per cent of GDP this fiscal against the budgetary target of 2.5 per cent. For the next fiscal, the deficit is estimated to be 5.5 per cent of GDP.
An uncontrolled flow of gas started from the Well G-1-9 in Bay of Bengal around August 30.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation said on Wednesday it will begin production from its ultra deep sea gas discovery in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the east coast by 2012-13.
Upstream regulator DGH has suggested that the $1.235-billion investment of Reliance Industries should be disallowed over the Mukesh Ambani-run firm's failure to adhere to prestated drilling and gas production targets, but the oil ministry is yet to agree on the numbers.
In an attempt to hold on to its exploration blocks in the Krishna-Godavari basin, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is in talks with British Gas (BG) and British Petroleum (BP) for joint exploration in four offshore blocks in the region.
Reliance Industries has stumbled upon significant gas reserves in the sixth well it has drilled in the Krishna-Godavari basin block where it had earlier discovered seven trillion cubic feet of gas reserves.
The government told the court that price of gas, determined by an empowered group of ministers, is applicable to all the buyers, whether they are government companies or private. The government will file an affidavit to this effect on Tuesday.
Prices of natural gas, which is used to generate electricity, make fertiliser and is converted into CNG to run automobiles, were on Friday hiked by a steep 40 per cent to record levels, in step with global firming up of energy rates. The rate paid for gas produced from old fields, which make up for about two-thirds of all gas produced in the country, was hiked to $8.57 per million British thermal units from the current $6.1, according to an order from the oil ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC). Simultaneously, the price of gas from difficult and newer fields like the ones in Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner bp plc operated deepsea D6 block in KG basin, was hiked to $12.6 per mmBtu from $9.92, the order said.
The Delhi high court has rejected a government challenge to an arbitration panel award that had ruled in favour of Reliance Industries Ltd in a dispute over gas migration from fields operated by state-owned ONGC in the KG basin. The government had slapped a provisional penalty of $1.55 billion on Reliance for "unjust enrichment" from gas migrating from the ONGC-operated KG-D5 block to the private firm's adjoining KG-D6 area. It had sought $175 million in additional profit petroleum from Reliance and its UK partner BP Plc.
Reliance Industries has signed agreements with nine fertiliser and power companies for gas sales from its field in the Krishna-Godavari basin over the past three months. India's largest private sector company has signed memorandums of understanding with Nagarjuna Fertilisers, GVK Industries, Konaseema Power (all in Andhra Pradesh), Kribhco, Chambal Fertilisers, Iffco, Torrent Power (all in Gujarat), Tata Power and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers in Maharashtra.
Prices of natural gas, which is used to generate electricity, make fertiliser and is converted into CNG to run automobiles, is likely to rise to record levels at the rate review scheduled this week, sources said. The government-dictated price for natural gas produced in the country is to be revised on October 1. After factoring in the spike in energy prices witnessed in recent months, the rate paid for gas produced from old fields such as of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is likely to rise to $9 per million British thermal units from current $6.1.
An open letter to the prime minister on the Rangarajan formula doubling the price of KG basin gas
ONGC confirmed on discovering natural gas in KG basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast and Mahanadi basin off Orissa coast, but said the find in KG basin posts 'technological challenges' and it was on looking for a strategic partner.
Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 gas field has seen output drop to 29 million units a day, against a planned 80 million units, causing acute shortage in power generation, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Tuesday.
Saurabh Patel, energy minister, Gujarat, who has handled the energy portfolio since 2002, speaks to Archis Mohan on GPSC's investment in the KG basin and says the criticism is politically motivated.
CPCL, in which Indian Oil holds 51 per cent stake, runs a 9.5-million tonnes per annum refinery at Manali in Chennai.
The petroleum ministry has told ONGC to give away 60%stake plus operating control in India's largest oil and gas producing fields of Mumbai High and Bassein to foreign companies, according to an October 28 letter to the state-owned company. Amar Nath, additional secretary (exploration) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, wrote a 3-page letter to ONGC chairman and managing director Subhash Kumar, saying productivity of the Mumbai High and Bassein & Satellite (B&S) offshore assets under state-owned firm was low and international partners should be invited and given 60 per cent participating interest (PI) and operatorship. This is the second time since April that Nath, who is part of the ONGC management as the longest-serving government nominee director on its board and often considered a potential candidate to replace Kumar next year, has written an official letter, painting a poor picture of the company's performance.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday put state-owned ONGC and OIL on notice saying oil and gas reserves they hold need to be monetised through joint ventures with domain experts or the government will take them away and auction them. Speaking at BNEF Summit, he said state-owned firms cannot indefinitely sit on resources when the nation is a net importer of oil and gas. Despite India bidding out acreages to private and other companies since the 1990s, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) hold a "sizeable number of acreage for years," he said.
The Bombay high court has modified the interim order on the sale of KG basin gas by Reliance Industries.
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.
1,400 km pipeline will transport gas from KG basin to west coast.
The 62 per cent increase in natural gas prices by the Indian government will boost the profitability of upstream companies in the country and support their investment spending, Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday. The price for gas from fields that were assigned by the state to oil companies, mainly Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), increased to $2.90 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) for October 2021-March 2022, from $1.79 per mmBtu in the previous six months. "Higher gas prices will increase the input cost for key end-consumer sectors, to the extent the price hike is passed on," Fitch said.
Congress MP Shantaram Naik has also given a privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in the Rajya Sabha in the AgustaWestland issue.
Around 15 years ago, when Reliance Industries (RIL) struck natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin off the east coast, the government made plans to supply that fuel cheaply to scores of generators that sprang up in India triggered by the discovery. Most of the plants, which account for 6 per cent of India's total generation capacity, operate sparsely after the KG-D6 area first failed to meet production targets, and then finally shut shop. Affordable domestic gas was why those thermal plants came up and the rate of the fuel today is why those generators hardly operate. Record liquefied natural gas (LNG) rates may yet again unravel India's ambitions to expand use of gas in industries, households and vehicles. Rates, while volatile, may stay strong this decade as developed nations with higher purchasing power embrace gas as the transition fuel.
CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta on Tuesday welcomed Arvind Kejriwal government's move to file criminal cases against Reliance Industries and Union minister Veerappa Moily, among others, on gas pricing issue.
UB group chairman Vijay Mallya on Tuesday said that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was pursuing "unconventional methods" to attain his objectives while asserting that there should be no "witch-hunt" against industrialists.
It added this wasn't aimed at benefiting Reliance Industries Ltd alone.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has written to the Oil Ministry seeking appointment of an international expert to assess if Reliance Industries Ltd was drawing out any of its gas in KG basin.
RIL counsel said the government had lured RIL to explore, develop and produce gas in the KG basin, before saying the gas produced was a natural resource of the nation, and imposing unviable price control.
The FIR by the ACB was registered a day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the agency has been told to probe their alleged collusion over hike in prices of natural gas from KG basin.
Energy supermajor Exxon Mobil Corp is in talks to buy a stake in producing oil and gas fields in India, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday showcasing efforts to raise domestic output to cut imports. Exxon Mobil had in October last year signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to offer its expertise and technology for developing resources in offshore blocks.
India Against Corruption on Wednesday brought Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani in its line of fire alleging that the United Progressive Alliance and the previous National Democratic Alliance governments had favoured his company by giving contract on gas exploration in KG Basin and concessions at a huge cost to the exchequer.
Bankruptcy court NCLT on Tuesday allowed billionaire Anil Agarwal's Twin Star Technologies to take over Videocon Industries Ltd for about Rs 3,000 crore. Twin Star, a part of Vedanta Group, will pay around Rs 500 crore within 90 days as upfront payment and the rest as non-convertible debentures over a period of time. A two-member Mumbai bench of the NCLT comprising members - H P Chaturvedi and Ravikumar Duraisamy - approved the resolution plan by Twin-Star Technologies.
The price would increase from $4.2/mbtu to $10/mbtu if Rangarajan formula is accepted.
The total capacity of gas-based stations in India is 18,830 MW of which 15,529 MW is fed with gas from RIL.
The company has chalked out a detailed plan for development of its existing KG basin assets after integration with GSPC facilities.
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