The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the petroleum ministry and others on its directive to RIL to cut gas supplies from its KG-D6 fields to steel companies.
The oil ministry had, in May this year, asked RIL to reduce natural gas supplies to non-core users such as steel plants and direct the entire 50 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmd) of gas produced from the K-G basin to priority sectors such as power, fertilisers and CNG.
The directive was issued after a sharp drop in output at RIL’s KG-D6 fields. Production fell from 61.5 mscmd in March last year to under 50 mscmd now.
A bench headed by Justice Dalveer Bhandari also sought response from RIL, Cayman Islands-based Niko (Neco), NTPC, GMR Energy, Lanco Kondapalli Power, Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt Ltd and others on a petition jointly filed by major sponge iron producers Mumbai-based Welspun Maxsteel and JSW Ispat Steel .
Welspun was being supplied 0.40 mscmd, while Ispat was getting 0.59 mscmd. The other user was Essar Steel, which had signed up for 3.2 mscmd. Essar Steel?s plea is pending before the Delhi High Court.