(ET)
Oil and Natural Gas Corp is seeking buyers for the first gas from its KG basin fields, which would begin production next month after years of delay. ONGC is auctioning 0.75 million metric standard cubic meters a day (MMSCDM) of gas for three years from its KG-DWN-98/2 fields, bids for which are to be submitted by November 19. ONGC is spending more than $5 billion to bring these fields to production.
It has set a reserve price of $5.61 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) and the minimum bid quantity at 0.05 MMSCMD. Bidders will have to quote the number of days they would need to offtake gas after being awarded—with preference for the bidder with fewer days in case of a price tie. Bidders will make a single bid electronically.
Other bidders will be asked to match the highest quoted price. Reliance Industries and partner BP too are set to e-auction 5 MMSCMD of gas from its KG basin fields on November 15. They plan to supply gas from April.These new domestic gas supplies will likely replace some of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports that have expanded 7.9% in the first half of 2019-20 and make up half of country’s gas consumption.
