Reliance's KG-D6 fields: CBI to study international norms in oil exploration

New Delhi:The CBI has approached the oil ministry seeking information about international normsfollowed in exploration and production of oil and gas and

related contracts as it probes transactions related toReliance Industries' KG-D6 fields.

Sources in the agency said the matter being "complex andtechnical", they need to study international norms which can befacilitated by the ministry.The agency has sought the assistance of the ministry tounderstand the arguments offered by Mukesh Ambani's firm whenit raised the cost of developing Dhirubhai 1 and 3 gas fieldsin the KG-D6 block from $2.39 billion proposed in 2004 to$5.196 billion in Phase-1 and another $3.3 billion inPhase-II, they said.

[caption id="attachment_127603" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="The agency has sought the assistance of the ministry tounderstand the arguments offered by Mukesh Ambani's firm.Reuters"][/caption]

Exploration and production of oil and gas from deepsea being complex issues, the agency wants to use theexpertise of a domain expert to understand if all the expensesproposed by Reliance and approved by the Directorate General

of Hydrocarbons (DGH) were justified.

Besides, the CBI also sought to know why DGH allowedReliance to retain the entire KG-D6 block in contravention ofthe policy that stipulates relinquishing 25 percent of thearea every year.

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Earlier, the CBI had approached an expert for making adetailed analysis who sought a fee of over Rs 20 lakh,following which it decided to write to the petroleum ministry,sources in the agency said.

A Preliminary Enquiry into the case was registered inNovember 2009 on the request of the ministry following several objections raised by the anti-corruption watch dog - CVC -on the KG-D6 fields deal.

PTI