Steamed up over D6

The issue of a huge 154-mscmd shortfall in natural gas production in the four years to 2013-14 from KG-D6 by Reliance Industries (RIL) may be a hot favourite for journalists covering the oil and gas beat but bureaucrats in the ministry are emphatically less than happy dealing with this tricky and complicated topic. Currently, the government is working on a Cabinet note that may deny RIL a new, higher price, if it is able to prove that the company had "hoarded" gas in anticipation of a price rise. Recently, meanwhile, RIL wrote the ministry a letter blaming the directorate general of hydrocarbons for creating roadblocks. No wonder an exasperated senior bureaucrat commented, "RIL creates more steam than gas these days."