The Oil Ministry has been trying since July to get an Empowered Committee of Secretaries to vet the separate price proposals of RIL and Essar but the panel has so far not decided to take up the issue.
Reddy last week wrote to the Prime Minister saying the issue of pricing of natural gas, to be produced from below coal seams, called CBM, would be submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for consideration, an oil ministry official said.
But, before that, the price proposals need to be either scrutinised by a Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary or by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan, Reddy wrote to the Prime Minister.
While Essar has proposed to price CBM from its Raniganj block in West Bengal at $4.2 per million British thermal unit, RIL for its Sohagpur CBM blocks in Madhya Pradesh wants a rate equivalent to the price at which India imports gas.
The official said the ministry is proposing the CoS/PMEAC route for approving the CBM price as RIL's eastern offshore KG-D6 gas price too was first vetted by the panel headed by Cabinet Secretary and PMEAC before an Empowered Group of Ministers approved the $4.2 per mmBtu rate in 2007.
The Oil Ministry is willing to go with Essar proposal to sell gas from Ranigang block to Matix Fertilizer and Chemicals at $4.2
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