By IANS,
New Delhi : The petroleum ministry Friday said that it will protect the interest of state power utility NTPC in its ongoing dispute over supply of gas from the Krishna-Godavari fields awarded to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.
“It has been alleged that the ministry of petroleum and natural gas is seeking to cause loss to NTPC. It is stated that the ministry of petroleum and natural gas is committed to protect the interests of NTPC by all means,” said the statement issued by the ministry.
The ministry also defended the substantial increase in the capital expenditure of the oil field from $2.45 billion to $8.83 billion, even though the production capacity was estimated to have just doubled from the earlier 40 million units of gas per day.
The statement came against the backdrop of various charges of omission and commission levelled by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) and ongoing advertising campaign launched in newspapers.
It followed a meeting of a panel of ministers Thursday headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The panel was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after criticisms that different ministries had divergent positions on the subject that is embroiled in legal disputes in the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court.
While the Mumbai court is hearing the dispute between Reliance Industries and the state-run power utility NTPC, the apex court is adjudicating on the dispute between the Mukesh Ambani firm and RNRL.
“We will try to see that the government is one on the issues,” Law Minister Veerappa Moily had told reporters late Thursday.