The near-doubling of gas prices to $8 per million British thermal units that will kick in from next month will accrue to all producers in the country.
The Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas in its report tabled in Parliament today asked the ministry to strictly monitor implementation of directions issued to RIL for reversing the trend of falling gas output from the Bay of Bengal field.
Oil Ministry officials insisted that Defence Ministry cannot withdraw the clearance after 12 years of exploration.
BP Plc, Europe's second biggest oil company, and Reliance Industries will invest $5 billion in developing untapped gas reserves in the KG-D6 block, aimed at reversing the fall in gas production, RIL statement said on Tuesday.
Disagreements over scope of audit cropped up on the very first day the Comptroller and Auditor General of India began to the second round of audit of spendings on eastern offshore KG-D6 fields with RIL alleging that the auditor was not confirming if the accounts scrutiny would be as per the provisions enshrined in the Production Sharing Contact.
Amidst controversy over fall in output from RIL's KG-D6 gas fields, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) on Wednesday appeared to favour scrapping the present system of contracts and instead asking firms to bid for the share of oil and gas they can offer to the government.
While the Management Committee of KG-D6 block in August agreed to approval of capital spending plans pending for past three years, the resolution has so far not been signed.
The company had initially objected to audit by CAG for time barred years as per Production Sharing Contract and had not accepted the 'exceptional circumstances' advanced by the ministry
The 'failure' to drill the committed 50 wells on the KG-D6 fields led to natural gas output dramatically falling over the past three years.
The company seeks appointment of independent international experts to verify its claims.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India had called an Entry Conference with RIL and the Oil Ministry on Wednesday to begin its second round of audit that is to cover RIL's spending on KG-D6 gas fields during 2008-09 to 2011-12.
According to RIL's announcement for the first quarter ended June 30, the KG-D6 field produced 33.1% less gas in the quarter.
Ratnagiri Gas and Power, firm that now runs the Dabhol plant, was allocated 7.6 mmscmd of KG-D6 gas.
RIL and its partners BP plc of UK and Canada's Niko Resources plan to produce about 13 million standard cubic metres per day of gas for 13 years from D-34 discovery, known as R-Cluster, in the KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block by 2017-18.
Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily approved continuation of the existing rate of $4.2 per million British thermal units until the new government, which will be in place in May, decides on implementation of the new price formula.
RIL had in 2006 proposed to invest $2.234 billion in developing the Dhirubhai-26 or MA discovery, the only oil find in the KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) block in Krishna Godavari basin off the east coast.
Reliance Industries is facing penalty for falling gas output from its KG-D6 fields.
RIL on June 15 wrote to Oil Ministry proposing to price natural gas it produces from the Krishna Godavari basin block in Bay of Bengal at a rate equivalent to price India pays for importing liquefied natural gas, official sources said.
Gas price hike seems to be a distant dream for Reliance Industries and its partners--Niko Resources and BP.
The government had disallowed as much as $1.005 billion of its investment as KG-D6 output lagged targets.
RIL has so far drilled six wells on the MA oilfield, the only oil discovery among the 19 oil and gas finds the company had made in the eastern offshore KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block.
Reliance Industries was to relinquish 25 per cent of the gas-bearing KG-D6 block in 2004 and a similar area in 2006 but the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, which was at that time headed by V K Sibal, concluded that hydrocarbon prospectivity "extends over entire block and hence no block area needed to be relinquished."
RIL and ONGC on March 28 agreed to appoint neutral international expert to decide if four wells drilled on boundary of KG-D6 block were drawing gas from neighbouring gas discoveries of the state-owned firm.
RIL had drawn 58.67 bcm of gas from four wells.
The CAG, in its much-awaited report tabled in Parliament on Thursday, did not say if the capital expenditure for KG-D6 being raised from $2.4 billion proposed in 2004 to $8.8 billion in 2006 was unjustified or inflated.
RIL executive director P M S Prasad on November 25 wrote to Oil Secretary G C Chaturvedi highlighting five critical issues, including approval of pre-development activities for satellite and R-series fields in the KG-D6 block, which have been awaiting the nod from the Oil Ministry and its technical advisor, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.
The newer gas finds will help turn the tide for ONGC, which has seen oil and gas output stagnating in recent times.
Despite a massive underperformance at the bourses since the last six months, analysts are turning optimistic on Reliance Industries (RIL). Those at Jefferies, for instance, say that the company is a proxy play for India's consumption growth story. The key catalysts for the stock, according to a Jeffries note, include faster-than-expected market share gain in retail, oil-to-chemicals (O2C) stake sale, recovery in gross refining margins (GRM), potential public listing of Jio and even a possible banking licence going ahead. That apart, analysts feel any tariff hike in Reliance Jio (RJio) - its telecom venture - will also aid performance. With balance sheet adequately de-levered, proceeds from a strategic stake sale in the O2C business will create a sizeable war chest for the company, analysts say.
Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 gas fields are likely to see output drop to all-time low of 20 million standard cubic meters per day in 2014-15, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Tuesday.
Reliance had in December, 2009, submitted to the regulator an optimised development plan for four satellite gas fields around the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields in the KG-DWN-98/3, or KG-D6, block.
Reliance had in 2006 won government nod to invest $8.836 billion in Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields in KG-D6 block after promising an output of 61.88 million cubic meters a day from 22 wells by April 2011 and 80 mmscmd from 31 wells by 2012.
The company will invest $747 mn to increase production from D1, D3 and MA fields.
The projected output will come from satellite fields in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block as well as North East Coast block NEC-25, off the West Bengal coast.
The government on Thursday decided to join the arbitration initiated by Reliance Industries and its partners over delay in revision of natural gas prices, and named former Supreme Court judge G S Singhvi as its arbitrator.
Govt notification on $8.4 a unit price likely by month-end
In a draft audit report on the KG-DWN-98/3, or KG-D6, block, the Comptroller and Auditor General said the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons allowed Reliance to hike capital expenditure for developing Dhirubhai-1 and 3, the largest of 18 gas finds in the block, by 117 per cent.
The output comprised 32.94 mmscmd from the D1 and D3 gas fields and 6.86 mmscmd from the MA oilfield.
CNG and piped cooking gas prices in cities such as Delhi and Mumbai may be hiked by 10-11 per cent next month as the government-dictated gas price is set to rise by about 76 per cent, ICICI Securities said in a report. The government, using rates prevalent in gas-surplus nations, fixes the price of natural gas produced by firms such as state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) from fields given to them on nomination basis, every six months. The next review is due on October 1.
Australia's Oilex on Monday said it has made huge natural gas discovery in Gujarat that may hold over 1.5 Trillion cubic feet of recoverable reserves. Industry estimates put the total resource base or inplace reserves in the Cambay basin discoveries near the town of Khambat, 160-km south of Ahmedabad, at between 20-30 Trillion cubic feet, almost equivalent to inplace reserves of Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 fields.
RIL-BP, who are currently producing about 11.8 million standard cubic metres per day of gas from the flagging eastern offshore KG-D6 block, is targeting newer fields in KG-D6 block and gas discoveries in neighbouring north-east coast and Cauvery basin to raise output.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances