Livemint: We Will Use Imported LNG as Fuel for Railways: Dharmendra Pradhan
Last week, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, 46, scripted a new hydrocarbon pricing and licensing regime, seeking to revive global investor interest in India’s energy sector. In an interview, Pradhan discusses the new licensing regime, engagements with Iran in the post-sanctions era and the outlook for the oil economy. Pradhan also says that the government will get to the bottom of Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd’s (ONGC’s) claim that Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) benefited from gas flow between their adjacent fields in the Krishna Godavari basin between 2009 and 2013, by taking an independent view of who is at fault, including those responsible in the previous government.
The terms of reference of the A.P. Shah committee on the issue of gas migration from ONGC’s fields to RIL’s in the Krishna Godavari basin empowers it to look into all acts of omission and commission by stakeholders. This is potentially explosive, considering the controversial history of the country’s first deep water block.
Justice A.P. Shah is a highly credible person. We have to be sure of the facts about this dispute and hear all stakeholders before taking any administrative decision towards resolving it. ONGC went to Delhi high court (in May 2014) alleging that RIL drew its gas; the court suggested appointing an expert committee. DeGolyer & MacNaughton (a US-based consulting firm), jointly hired by ONGC and RIL, gave a technical report on the issue to the government on 30 November 2015.
Four parties are involved in the matter, ONGC, RIL, the then government (United Progressive Alliance) and the then Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). ONGC, despite being a government company, went to court against the other three, including the government.
The first respondent is the Indian government in the case. So, when the current government has to resolve the issue, why not we independently look into all aspects before arriving at a conclusion? We have to ascertain if there is any merit in ONGC’s claims against the then government and the then DGH (that neither protected ONGC’s interests). DGH is the technical arm of the ministry. We need an independent objective view of the matter before deciding on ONGC’s allegations. MORE