OilMin pledges support for NTPC in legal fight with RIL

NEW DELHI: The Petroleum Ministry is believed to have told the Power Ministry that it would support NTPC Ltd in the state power firm's legal fight to get natural gas from Reliance Industries at prices the Mukesh Ambani-led firm had quoted in the 2004 tender.

This was communicated to Power Secretary H S Brahma, when he met Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey here today.

NTPC is seeking gas for its Kawas and Gandhar expansion projects in Gujarat at the USD 2.34 per million British thermal unit, rates which are 44 per cent lower than the Government approved price for RIL's KG-D6 fields.

"There is no question of compromising on NTPC's interest. Never had we ever dumped the Navratna PSU and never had we tried to impose the USD 4.2 per mmBtu approved price on the two projects," a Petroleum Ministry official said.

The Ministry, he said, was only fighting to protect the Government's right to approve price of gas and fix usage of the fuel as per national priorities.