Despite row,CCEA clears natural gas price hike,cost of power,CNG,urea set to spike

Revision in prices was bitterly opposed as move seen helping Mukesh Ambani's Reliance.

Biting the bullet,UPA government today approved the near doubling of natural gas prices to 8.4 from April 1 next year,a move which will result in the rise of power tariff,CNG,urea costs paid by consumers.

The revision in prices was bitterly opposed by user ministries of power and fertiliser as well as opposition Left parties who saw the move as directly helping Mukesh Ambani8217;s Reliance Industries.

This will be the first revision in gas prices in 3 years.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs CCEA headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved Oil Ministry8217;s proposal to price all domestically produced natural gas as per a complex formula suggested by a panel headed by Prime Minister8217;s economic advisor C Rangarajan,a top source said.

The new price will apply uniformly to all producers,be it state-owned firms like Oil and Natural Gas Corp ONGC or private sector Mukesh Ambani8217;s Reliance Industries. While it was previously said the new rates would apply to regulated or APM gas produced by firms like ONGC immediately,the pricing as per Rangarajan formula will come into effect from April 1,2014,just when RIL8217;s KGD6 formula of 4.2/mmBtu runs out.

The Rangarajan formula would be applicable for five years.

The formula uses long-term and spot liquid gas LNG import contracts as well as international trading benchmarks to arrive at a competitive price for India.

While the Rangarajan panel had recommended revising domestic gas prices every month,the Oil Ministry changed it to a quarterly revision.

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Though the average of the two currently comes to 6.775,the price of gas in April next year,when these guidelines will come into effect,would be around 8.42 and over 10 in the following year. This is because Petronet8217;s deal with Qatar8217;s RasGas India8217;s only functional long-term LNG contract has a price-cap which lifts in January,2014,linking gas prices fully with crude.

While RIL8217;s KG-D6 gas price was fixed in 2007 at USD 4.205 per mmBtu for first five years of production,APM gas rates were last revised in June,2010 when prices were raised to 4.2 from USD 1.79. RIL began production from its eastern offshore KG-D6 field in April 2009.

Administered Price Mechanism APM gas constitutes about 60 per cent of current domestic production of about 110 million standard cubic metres per day. RIL produces about 14 mmscmd.

The Oil Ministry has reasoned that the increase in gas price was needed to incentivise exploration while also resulting in higher revenues to the government.

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Every dollar increase in gas price would result in 128.5 million Rs 707 crore in additional royalty and profit.

However,Power Ministry had opposed any hike saying electricity generation at any price of over 5 was economically unviable. Also,it had questioned the need to price the fuel in US dollars as any depreciation in the Indian currency would further add to the strain on the consumers.

The variable cost of generating electricity would be around Rs 5.40 per kilowatt hour per unit at new gas price,taking the total cost of generation to Rs 6.40 per unit. This compares to current cost of Rs 2.93 a unit.

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The outgo for every 1 increase in gas price will be up to 1.138 billion Rs 6,260 crore. Outgo for fertiliser sector due to 1 increase in gas price will be 406 million Rs 2,233 crore.

Quoting a report of global consultants IHS-CERA,Macquarie Equities Research said India8217;s producible gas reserves could rise two-founds by 55-91 trillion cubic feet at gas price of USd 10-12/MMBtu.

8220;We believe India8217;s gas production could rise three-fold,alleviating the largest component of India8217;s current account deficit,which currently stands at 5.3 per cent,8221; it said.