The government is not considering taking over marketing of natural gas produced by Reliance Industries from its eastern offshore Krishna Godavari basin D6 fields.
Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada replied in the negative when suspended Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh in the Rajya Sabha asked if the "government proposes to take over the distribution and marketing of gas...RIL."
RIL, which currently produces around 62 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from KG-D6, sells the fuel to customers identified by the government and at rates approved by the government.
Prasada said the Production Sharing Contract like the one Mukesh Ambani firm signed with the government for exploring and producing hydrocarbons from Block KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6, gives marketing freedom to the contractor (RIL in this case), subject to the Gas Utilisation Policy framed by the government.
"The gas produced from KG-D6 is being sold in accordance with government's priorities and decisions made by the Government in this regard," he said.
An Empowered Group of Minister, constituted to decide issues pertaining to commercial utilisation of gas under New Exploration Licensing Policy, has decided that the contractor would sell gas to consumers in accordance with the marketing priorities determined by the government, he added.
Image: Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, holds a jar containing the first crude oil produced from their company's KG-D6 block in the country's east coast. | Photographs: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters
