State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Adani-Total Gas Ltd and Shell were among the 29 companies that bid and bought natural gas to be produced from the deepest field in the KG-D6 block of Reliance Industries Ltd and bp, sources said.
IOC walked away with almost half of the 6 million standard cubic meters per day of gas sold in an e-auction on Wednesday while state-owned gas utility GAIL bought 0.7 mmscmd, Adani-Total Gas Ltd 0.4 mmscmd, Shell 0.5 mmscmd, GSPC 0.25 mmscmd and IGS another 0.5 mmscmd, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.
Reliance-bp on Wednesday held an e-auction for sale of gas from the MJ field in their eastern offshore KG-D6 block after incorporating the government's new marketing rules to give CNG-selling city gas companies first priority over supplies.
The bidding saw participation from 41 companies from various sectors including city gas, fertiliser, oil refinery, glass, ceramics and traders, sources said adding unlike previous auction Reliance did not buy any of KG-D6 gas.
The price was indexed to the global LNG market, JKM but will be subject to the government-notified ceiling price. Bidders were asked to quote variable 'V' in the gas price formula 'JKM + V'.
The final bid price came at USD 0.75 per million British thermal unit premium over the JKM price (JKM + USD 0.75 per mmBtu), they said. JKM price for May is around USD 12.6 per mmBtu and the implied price for MJ gas comes to USD 13.35.
But the bidders will only have to pay the ceiling or the cap price that the government fixes bi-annually for gas produced from difficult areas such as deep sea and high-temperature, high-pressure (HTHP). The ceiling price for April to September is USD 12.12 per mmBtu, they said adding 29 bidders secured gas supplies for 5 years. -- PTI