MPs want Reliance punished
The panel expressed unhappiness at the whole series of events in the KG-D6 block.
New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas has asked the Union oil ministry to consider the failure of Reliance Industries Ltd (to stick to the approved field development plan for KG-D6 block as “default” and take action on this premises.
The panel has found fault with the Rangarajan committee formula under which natural gas prices are set to nearly double from April 1, 2014. It recommended that the Rangarajan committee formula for natural gas price be “reviewed and reconsidered.”
The panel expressed unhappiness at the whole series of events in the KG-D6 block. It said that the KG-D6 is one of the successful discoveries in the NELP regime, which had given hope to the country in its quest for exploration of hydrocarbon resources. However, it noted that the production from it started declining to 26.18 mmscmd in 2012-13 from 55 mmscmd in 2010-11.
“One of the reason stated by the (oil) ministry for the declining production was due to non-drilling of required number of gas producer wells by the contractor (RIL) in line with addendum to initial development plan,” the committee said in a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
The report said that the RIL had been advised certain corrective measures to increase natural gas production in KG-D6 block, but it had failed to adhere to these.