GAIL opposes $6.75 per mBtu rate for Ravva Satellite gas

State-run gas utility GAIL India has opposed the $6.75 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) price sought by the Cairn India-led joint venture for the gas produced from the Ravva Satellite fields in the K-G basin.

“We have told them in no uncertain terms that $6.75 per mBtu price is not acceptable to us,” a GAIL official said.

The Cairn-ONGC-Videocon consortium had last month written to the petroleum ministry seeking a 57 per cent hike in the Ravva Satellite field gas price citing provision in the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for the field.

GAIL, at present, buys 0.9 million standard cubic meters per day of gas produced from the Ravva Satellite fields at $4.30 per mBtu and has a right to match the rate the Cairn-led consortium discovers from the market. “We don’t agree with the price discovered by Cairn. We feel $4.30 per mBtu is a just price,” he said. “The government will now have to decide between continuing gas sales to GAIL or giving the consortium marketing freedom.”

The new price sought by the Ravva consortium is 60 per cent more than the maximum price of $4.20 per mBtu approved for Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 fields till 2014.

Gas from Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields, operated by a joint venture led by UK’s BG Group, is sold at $5.51 per mBtu and from the Lakshmi fields at $4.75 per mBtu. The official said the petroleum ministry has asked GAIL if it is willing to buy gas at the new price and in case the state-run firm refuses, the Ravva joint venture would have the freedom to market the gas produced from the satellite field.