Press Trust of India / New Delhi Feb 05, 2012, 11:28 IST
While the government has sent RIL's $0.135 marketing margin on the sale of KG-D6 gas to the oil regulator for approval, the Mukesh Ambani-led company has proposed to charge a $0.15 levy in lieu of marketing costs on the sale of gas produced from coal seams (CBM).
In newspaper advertisements issued on Friday calling for bids to purchase 3.5 million cubic metres a day of coal-bed methane (CBM) gas it plans to produce from its Sohagpur block in Madhya Pradesh by 2014-end, RIL said it will charge $0.15 per million British thermal units as a marketing margin over-and-above the gas sale price.
The Oil Ministry had on December 26 referred the $0.135 per mmBtu marketing margin RIL charges over-and-above the KG-D6 gas sale price of $4.205 per mmBtu to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) after the levy was questioned by users like the fertiliser industry.
"The government of India hereby entrusts the determination of the quantum of marketing margin chargeable on sale of natural gas to end-consumers by each marketing entity on the basis of its actual marketing cost to the PNGRB," the ministry stated in its December 26 letter to the regulator.
RIL had originally proposed a $0.15 per mmBtu marketing margin for KG-D6 gas to cover risks like seller liabilities in case of non-supply, customers drawing less than their quota, non-payment of dues and settlement of disputes, but later agreed to a charge of $0.135 per mmBtu.
The levy is less than the $0.20 per mmBtu marketing margin charged by state-owned GAIL on the sale of gas produced from the BG Group-operated Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields in the western offshore and LNG imported by Petronet LNG Ltd.
RIL, in Friday's advertisement, proposed to price CBM as per the formula used to pay Qatar for import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a long-term contract.
It proposed a price of 12.67% of JCC, or Japan Customs-Cleared Crude, plus $0.26, plus 'V', where 'V' is the biddable number that users have been asked to quote. 'V' can be positive or negative.
The formula is the same at which Petronet, the nation's largest liquefied natural gas importer, buys 7.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from RasGas of Qatar. RasGas charges 12.67% of JCC and Petronet a further $0.26 per mmBtu for shipping the gas in its liquid form from Qatar.
The price sought by RIL is in sharp contrast to the $4.205 per mmBtu rate fixed for natural gas produced from its Krishna-Godavari Basin D6 fields for five years ending March, 31, 2014.
Great Eastern Energy Corp (GEECL) sells CBM produced from its Raniganj block in West Bengal at $6.79 per mmBtu while Essar Oil has proposed a rate of $4.20 per mmBtu for CBM it plans to produce in the same state.
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