New Delhi, Aug 31 - Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to form a ministerial panel to find new buyers for additional gas produced by Reliance Industries from the Krishna-Godavari hydrocarbon basin.

'It's true that I have written to the prime minister seeking the setting up of a new empowered group of ministers on the issue,' Deora told reporters here Monday.

An empowered group of ministers, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, has already formed an allocation policy for the Krishna-Godavari-D6 block, with special priority to the fertiliser and power plants, up to 40 million units per day.

Reliance has crossed 40 million units in sales, but cannot ramp up production further as the government has not allocated the additional gas to be produced.

Production started in April and was scheduled to reach 80 million units by December.

Petroleum Secretary R.S. Pandey said the new group will determine the distribution of the remaining 40 million units.

-- Indo-Asian News Service

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