Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Thursday hit at NTPC for ‘misleading’ the government by saying that it was not aware of the condition that the price of gas to be supplied to it was subject to Centre’s approval.
“...NTPC’s letter to the government at this stage is clearly an afterthought intended to mislead the government,” Director on RIL board and head of Petroleum Business PMS Prasad told Petroleum Secretary R. S. Pandey in a communication amid an ongoing battle with the power PSU over gas supply on a price bid in 2004.
The letter comes days after the government made it clear that the Empowered Group of Ministers approved a price of $4.2 per mBtu for RIL’s KG basin gas was without prejudice to the ongoing legal battle, where NTPC is seeking the fuel at a committed price of $2.34 per mBtu.
Mr. Prasad said “the fact is that NTPC was not only aware of the requirement of gas price approval under the production sharing contract but had in fact insisted upon and agreed to its inclusion as a condition precedent to the gas supply agreement”. — PTI
RNRL surprised
Our Delhi correspondent writes:
Continuing with its tirade against the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry, Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL) on Thursday expressed surprise over the haste shown by the Petroleum Ministry in defending the inflated costs incurred by Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) in developing gas fields.
“We were surprised to learn from the media that RIL justified the massive escalation in development costs. We were also surprised that the Petroleum Ministry, within the short time of less than a day that was available for verification, defended RIL’s apparently inflated capital expenditure,” RNRL President, A. N. Sethuraman, wrote to Petroleum Secretary, R. S. Pandey. Mr. Sethuraman requested the Ministry to compel RIL to end the artificial scarcity by quickly ramping up production.
