The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sought the Attorney General’s opinion on registering a case in the alleged artificial cost inflation by Reliance Industries (RIL) for the development of its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields.
The CBI, sources said, had completed its inquiry into the alleged conspiracy in allowing RIL to raise the cost of developing the KG-D6 field from $2.39 billion proposed in 2004 to $8.8 billion in 2006.
Controversial technocrat V K Sibal was the head of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) which gave RIL approvals for raising the cost on the plea that gas reserves as well as cost of services had gone up.
Operators like RIL are allowed to recover all their cost before sharing profits with the government. Higher capital cost directly impacts the government’s revenue.
The agency had registered a preliminary inquiry into the case in November 2009 on the request of the oil ministry, following several objections raised by the Central Vigilance Commission on the KG-D6 deal.
CBI sources said probe had been completed in connection with the case and the matter had been referred to the Attorney General seeking legal opinion.
During its probe, the agency had taken the ministry’s assistance to understand the arguments offered by Reliance when it raised the cost of developing Dhirubhai 1 and 3 gas fields in the KG-D6 block from $2.39 billion proposed in 2004 to $5.196 billion in Phase-1 and another $3.3 billion in Phase-II.
