Reliance Industries and its partner BP plc of the UK will this month offer for sale more natural gas from its KG-D6 block to users as it prepares to put into production a second wave of discoveries in the eastern offshore block.

Reliance-BP is likely to offer as much as 5 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of natural gas for bidding from newer discoveries in KG-D6 in the next few days, sources said. The volume to be offered is the same as the one the company bid out in November last year.

Like in the previous auction, Reliance-BP will seek bids from potential users for the 5 mmsmcd of natural gas it plans to produce from the R-Cluster Field in the KG-D6 block from mid-2020.

Bidders will have to quote a price (expressed as a percentage of the dated Brent crude oil rate), supply period and the volume of gas required. Dated Brent means the average of published Brent prices for three calendar months immediately preceding the relevant contract month in which gas supplies are made.

Sources said RIL had in November set a floor or minimum quote of 8.4 per cent of dated Brent price — which meant that bidders had to quote 8.4 per cent or a higher percentage for seeking gas supplies. The same formula is likely to be continued in the next auction.