By IANS,
New Delhi : Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar Thursday said the government’s intervention on the Ambani brothers gas dispute has had an adverse fallout on India’s energy security.
“To resolve a quarrel between two brothers, the government has intervened to remind them that natural gas constitutes a sovereign national resource,” Aiyar, a former petroleum minister, said, delivering the annual Lovraj Kumar memorial lecture.
He said that following the legal dispute, “prices are to be determined prospectively or retrospectively, and where the gas must be sold will be determined by the government”.
“In consequence, while the internecine fraternal quarrel is over, foreign and even domestic private sector interest in exploration has plummeted,” said Aiyar.
He said while the number of blocks for exploration have increased, the number of awards has decreased and private bidders are keeping away, due to the government’s gas policy and production sharing contract.
“This is essentially because we are perceived with some justice as a country where production sharing contracts are ambiguously drafted and terms redefined to the disadvantage of investor who signed the documents in good faith,” he said.
He added that India is also perceived as a country “where producers can neither determine their prices nor choose their own customer.”
Elaborating, he gave the example of the Cairn-Vedanta proposed buyout.
“Cairn, the most successful oil entrant in the Indian hydrocarbon sector are packing their bags and handing over finds to a Non-resident Indian (Anil Agarwal) who has no previous experience of oil and gas. They are only waiting for the Indian government to give the signal so that they can leave forever for the green pastures of Greenland. What an indictment,” he said.
He pointed out that India imports more than 75 percent of its crude, along with one-fifth of its gas needs.
“Instead, alas, we are doing practically everything we can to discourage international and even domestic players from entering our uncertain, deeply ambiguous hydrocarbons sector, thus massively promoting energy insecurity,” he said.
“We need an explorer-friendly exploration policy if domestic natural gas output is to surge,” he added.