Top officials of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and its partner BP met petroleum ministry officials on Wednesday and explained why the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) should roll back its order asking the companies to surrender most of the KG-D6 gas block to the government.

The DGH has asked RIL-BP to relinquish around 86 per cent of their KG-D6 gas block as they have failed to meet prescribed timelines in case of various discoveries.

RIL executive director PMS Prasad and BP's India head Sashi Mukundan argued that the DGH had no right to ask for a `drill stem test' as the production sharing contract (PSC) provided RIL-BP with the option to choose what tests should be conducted.

RIL-BP officials also argued that while the promising new discoveries had been made nearly 40 months back, the DGH hadn't asked for the so-called drill stem test till recently. When, when RIL agreed for the test, the DGH said that it had run out of time to do so.

After the meeting, Petroleum Secretary Vivek Rae told reporters, "This is a complicated issue... Instead of importing (gas) at USD 14, we should bring it out as quickly as possible. But you have to do it within legal framework."

Rae added that the said that the Petroleum Ministry had two challenges, viz. monetize discoveries and adhere to the PSC, to settle the issue.