Natural gas may get mixed pricing

New Delhi: The government may allow a part of the natural gas produced by firms like ONGC and Reliance Industries from new discoveries to be sold at market price as it looks to boost domestic exploration and production. The government, while approving a new gas pricing formula based on international hub rates in October last year, had decided that new gas discoveries in deep-water, ultra-deep sea or HTHP fields will be given a premium over and above the approved price.

The premium will be in form of allowing a fixed percentage of natural gas produced from difficult fields to be sold at market price and the remaining as per the approved price, an oil ministry source said. While the current domestic gas price is $4.66 per mmBtu, the market price as measured by the rate at which the fuel is imported is $7-8 mmBtu. “The percentage of total volumes that can be sold at market price will be different for ultra-deep sea discoveries, deepsea finds and HTHP fields,” the source said.