In what could be seen as a setback for private hydrocarbon explorers especially Reliance Industries, the government Saturday said natural gas prices were being revised to $5.61 per unit as opposed to the industry demand for at least doubling it to a little over $8 per unit.
In a decision taken by the cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, natural gas price has been raised to $5.61 per unit from $4.2 per unit.
Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: "The original natural gas price was $4.2 per unit; Rangarajan Committee has followed a particular criteria and announced a price of $8.4 per unit, which was to be implemented from April 1, 2014, which implementation was halted by the Election Commission so that the new government can take a view on the matter."
"We had constituted a committee of secretaries which looked at Rangarajan Committee's recommendations. The committee's report had taken into consideration various facts and reworked the pricing formula."
"We reviewed the entire criteria. We looked at the various hubs which has been considered. We also looked at the various hubs which has been ignored. The cabinet approved the report of Secretaries Committee. The price now fixed is $5.61 per unit," he added.
Jaitley said that there was a considerable incentive for drilling and exploration at the present price level and that the cost of gas should not over burden the consumers.
In a cabinet decision in January, taken by the then Manmohan Singh regime, it had been decided to double the gas price from $4.2 per unit. However, the decision could not be notified.
The new price was to take effect from April 1 but as the government was due to notify the decision, the poll panel asked the government to keep it in abeyance till the general elections were over.
