The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal after which natural gas from new discoveries will be priced and sold through a new e-bidding mechanism.
An official statement said that this is a significant step to move towards a gas-based economy. The Cabinet approved ‘Natural Gas Marketing Reforms’ aim to prescribe a standard procedure to discover the market price of gas to be sold in the market through a transparent and competitive process.
“This will bring uniformity in the bidding process across the various contractual regimes and policies to avoid ambiguity and contribute towards ease of doing business,” the statement said.
Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “The existing gas pricing formula will continue to be in force for production from existing discoveries awarded under the nomination regime. The price ceiling under the present gas price formula would also continue. The new e-bidding process will govern discoveries which come on stream from February 2019 onwards.”