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To check the drop in the natural gas output from D6 field, the Petroleum Ministry has called the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and D6 gas fields, contractor, Reliance Industries Ltd next week.
Output from D6 block, one of the biggest gas fields in the country, has fallen short by 28 per cent against the target set under the field development plan (FDP). RIL's current output from the field should have been 69.8 mscmd. However, the production is 50 mscmd.
Speaking to media persons, Petroleum Secretary, Mr S. Sundareshan, said “We understand that production of D6 is not as per the field development plan…the matter is under examination by the DGH. We have had some meetings, a formal meeting in which the Ministry, DGH, and the contractor will be present, will take place next week. At this meeting we will review the situation and take appropriate measures.”
Asked whether the Government is considering penalty for RIL for not meeting its commitments, he said, “... Don't come to abrupt judgement because of the uncertain drops. Point is that it is difficult at this juncture to comment on why production has fallen…it is too premature to talk of action.”
On reports of RIL not following Government decision on re-allocation of D6 gas, the Secretary said that the reports were not correct.
“Contractor has been told about the re-allocation last week…there is no question of any contractor not following the Gas Utilisation Policy,” he said.
RIL has been asked to give preference to priority sectors such as fertiliser and power and divert gas from non-priority sectors like refinery. The non-priority sectors may be given fuel only on fall-back basis.
Iran payment
India is considering to route payment for crude purchases from Iran through Turkey. A definite payment mechanism is yet to be finalised. A senior Petroleum Ministry official said that crude supplies from Iran are still continuing. The supplies were under threat as the two countries are still to work out a new payment mechanism.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) disallowed payments for Iranian crude using a long-standing clearing house system, run by the central banks of nine countries – including India and Iran – dubbed as the Asian Clearing Union.
TAPI
Gas pricing is the key issue in the ongoing Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project meeting, according to a Petroleum Ministry official.
India is expected to get 38 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) of gas from Turkmenistan. The four-day talks began on Monday.
The technical working group (TWG) of the project met on the first three days, while the steering committee of project – Ministerial level – will meet on April 28.
The supplier, Turkmenistan, has proposed that the landed cost of the gas for the buyers should be in sync with the prevailing delivered price in that country. India is said to favour a uniform gas price.
According to reports, Pakistan has proposed that there should be a common price of gas for all buyers.
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