BP, RIL chiefs meet Moily over gas price, fine

BP Plc Chief Executive Bob Dudley and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Friday met Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily to voice concerns over being penalised twice for gas output from their KG-D6 fields not matching targets.

Moily said issues surrounding KG-D6 were discussed while Dudley emphasised that his company was committed to staying invested in the country despite regulatory uncertainties.

The BP Plc chief's third visit to India this year comes at a time when the Oil Ministry, at the insistence of Finance Ministry, is seeking to deny his company and its partner RIL a new gas price for producing less natural gas than projected.

This punishment is on top of $1.8 billion penalty that is already being imposed on them. Also, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) is seeking to strip them off 8 gas discoveries holding 1.15 trillion cubic feet of reserves worth $14 billion from their eastern offshore KG-D6 block.

Dudley, whose company last year made the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the oil sector, also met Finance Minister P Chidambaram after his meeting with Moily. Ambani was not present at this meeting.