Pooling of gas prices-III: PNGB sounds a note of dissent

R.P. Watal, secretary in the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board was the only member in the Inter-Ministerial Committee on pooling of prices to sound a note of dissent. 

• He said he had problems with the terms of reference of the committee, claiming that pooling of prices seemed to be a pre-determined fact. 
• Watal was of the view that the PNGRB Act 2006 mandated the Board to protect the interests of consumers by fostering fair practices and competition among entities and any attempt at regulating the price of gas would come into conflict with this provision.
• He also had an issue with the fact that only two suppliers -- GAIL and Petronet LNG -- were members of the committee whereas private entities were not. All suppliers were were subject to regulations of the Board. 
• The PNGRB secretary said that the terms of reference, including the fact that the Inter-Ministerial Committee had been mandated to examine the zonal transportation tariff  mechanism  and suggest how gas pipeline transportation tariff could be rationalized or brought at a uniform level, should be amended to take into consideration that some of the issues fell under the jurisdiction of the Board.
• Watal's views were counteracted by S.C.Sharma, OSD in the Planning Commission who said that the terms of reference included a look at pipeline tariffs as currently such tariffs were highly distorted and vary in the range of US $ 0.30 per MMBTU to US $ 3.0 per MMBTU. Such pipeline tariff would affect the equal development and utilization of gas in the country due to high price variation.