Union petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily informed that he would send the final proposal on the pricing of natural gas to the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) soon.

Industry players are keenly awaiting the government's decision on natural gas pricing as it would have a bearing on their financials. Natural gas producers like Reliance Industries (RIL) are seeking hike in the price of domestically produced gas as it would incentivise further production. Any price rise is likely to have an impact only from next year when the prices from Reliance's east coast block are due to be revised.

However, consumers of natural gas - fertiliser, power plants - are against the proposal to hike price as it would adversely impact their cost of production.

The committee headed by C Rangarajan suggested gas prices should be based on an average using various export and global benchmark prices rather than being fixed by the government.

The panel recommended almost doubling local gas prices and suggested that the government must abandon its system for setting natural gas prices according to the field it comes from in favor of a uniform pricing model.

After studying the panel suggestions, the oil ministry sought comments from different federal ministries on the plans of raising natural gas prices before finalizing the proposal.