CBI may ask for expert view in Reliance KG-D6 fields case

New Delhi: The CBI may ask Oil Ministry to appoint an expert to  understand if all the expenses proposed by Reliance for its  crown jewel KG-D6 fields — where the company has shown a phenomenal increase in cost of producing gas — and approved by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) were justified. The CBI wants to understand the arguments offered by Mukesh Ambani''s firm when it raised the cost of developing Dhirubhai 1 and 3 gas fields in the KG-D6 block from $2.39 billion proposed in 2004 to $5.196 billion in Phase-1 and another $3.3 billion in Phase-II.[caption id="attachment_36290" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Reliance  has shown a phenomenal increase in cost of production for its KG-D6 fieldsgas. Reuters"][/caption]Sources in the agency said that the CBI had approached an expert for making a detailed analysis who sought a fee of over Rs 20 lakh following which it decided to write to the Petroleum Ministry."We will be writing to the Petroleum Ministry for hiring the same expert for us as the agency cannot make such a huge payment," a senior CBI official said.A preliminary enquiry into the case was registered in November 2009 on request of Petroleum Ministry following several objections raised by the anti-corruption watch dog— CVC — on the KG-D6 fields deal.The Central Vigilance Commission had forwarded a complaint in which it was alleged that there was a phenomenal increase in capital expenditure from $2.4 billion to about $8.8 billion in the project.PTI