Steel, petrochem plants may go gas-less

Supply of natural gas to steel plants, petrochemical units and refineries may stop if Reliance Industries implements a petroleum ministry order asking it to first supply fuel from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields to priority sectors like fertilisers and power. With output from KG-D6 fields dropping by over 20 per cent, the government has asked Reliance to first meet all the contracted demands of fertiliser units, plants extracting LPG from natural gas, power firms and city gas distributing companies selling CNG to automobiles. The company has, since July last year, imposed a pro-rata cut in supplies on all its customers including fertiliser and power firms.