The government on Wednesday more than doubled the price of natural gas produced by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd to $4.20 per mmBtu, at par with the rate at which Reliance sells its gas.
A price of $4.20 per million British thermal units is not viable for smaller gas discoveries, say industry experts.
In a major relief to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd, the Bombay High Court Friday allowed the sale of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin at $4.20 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) and reserved final judgment on a case brought by Anil Ambani-run Reliance Natural Resources Ltd.
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.
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.
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
Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries fears that gas supplied to Reliance Natural Resources, belonging to younger brother Anil Ambani, would be traded to a third party as RNRL does not have a power plant, said Harish Salve, the legal counsel of RIL.
"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.
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.
Mittal said his steel plants were getting gas at no less than $6 per million British thermal unit (mBtu), much lower than the $4.33 per mBtu price proposed by RIL.
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.
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.
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 Empowered Group of Ministers on Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd on Wednesday decided to pool the price of gas for Dabhol
ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma on July 30 wrote to Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan seeking immediate hike in price of gas it sells under regulated regime as it was incurring Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) loss on the business.
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.
After Moily took over as oil minister, the central government agreed to link prices with global indices.
ONGC has been making an annual loss of about Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) on sale of gas at administered prices and hoped the government will soon decide on hiking the fuel price. the present price of Rs 3.2 per cubic meters that ONGC gets for gas produced from fields given to it on nomination basis, was not sustainable. Price of about 80% of gas produced by ONGC is regulated by the Govt. PetroMin had recommended 16% increase in price of gas produced by ONGC and Oil India.
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.
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.
As the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, India is running out of options as the relentless surge in international oil prices make it imperative to pass them on to consumers, officials said on Monday. India imports 85 per cent of its crude oil needs and about half of its natural gas requirement. While the imported crude oil is turned into fuels such as petrol and diesel, gas is used as CNG in automobiles and fuel in factories.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Besides other issues, lack of pact between India and Pakistan on the price of the gas led to the delay in the project.
Iranian gas, through a pipeline via Pakistan, will cost $2.40-2.49 per million British thermal unit at the Indian border, according to estimates by international consultants working on the 2775-km Iran-India pipeline project.
Iran has changed its pricing formulae for liquefied natural gas sale to India and is demanding 28 cents more per million British thermal unit (mBtu).
India is likely to seal a LNG-for-oilfield deal with Iran this week wherein New Delhi will buy five million tonnes of liquefied natural gas from Iran in exchange of Tehran offering it a stake in an oil field.
Gail India Ltd will import spot LNG cargo from Algeria at $9.28 er million British thermal unit.
The joint operators of the Panna/Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields, British energy firm BG Group, Reliance Industries Ltd and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, have hiked the price of natural gas produced from the Tapti field.
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