In a huge setback for producers like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL), the price of domestically-produced natural gas was kept unchanged for the April to September period of the financial year 2021-22.
However, gas produced from difficult fields was seen down by 11 percent for the period, as compared to October to March period. According to a notification by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), the price of domestic natural gas for the period of April 1 to September 30 in 2021 was kept at $1.79 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) on a gross calorific value basis.
For natural gas produced from deepwater, ultra-deepwater and high-pressure high-temperature areas, the price was set at $3.62 per mmBtu. This was 10.8 per cent lower than $4.06 per mmBtu set during the October to March period of the financial year 2020-21.
Natural gas prices are decided in India once in every six months based on a formula depending on the weighted average of global benchmarks like Henry Hub, Alberta gas, NBP and Russian gas. The ministry of petroleum and natural gas had plans to set a floor price for natural gas and to take a call on this, a committee with representatives ONGC, OIL, GAIL and PPAC had submitted a report in late 2020.
