New Delhi: Oil Ministry has sought comments
from concerned ministries on its proposal to hike the price of
natural gas produced by ONGC and Oil India by 30 per cent.
"Inter-ministerial consultations are on," Oil Secretary R
S Pandey told reporters here.
The Ministry has circulated a Cabinet note for raising
price of gas under administered pricing mechanism (APM) from
Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic meters (USD 1.79 per mmBtu) to Rs
4,142 per thousand cubic meters (USD 2.32 per mmBtu).
Price of APM, or the gas produced from fields given to
ONGC and OIL on nomination basis, is proposed to be raised in
stages to Rs 7,500 per thousand cubic meters or USD 4.2 per
million British thermal unit by 2013.
The proposal would be put to the Cabinet after comments
from ministries like Finance, Power and Fertiliser are
obtained, he said.
"I cannot give a timeframe ... consultations are on," he
said.
Sources said the note based on the recommendation of the
Tariff Commission, proposes that ONGC be paid Rs 3,875 per
thousand cubic meters for the gas it produces while Rs 4,315
would be paid to OIL. Consumer price would be 10 per cent
higher than this.
The differential between the producer and consumer price
would be invested by the companies in new technologies.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 19:23