NEW DELHI: The government has reduced the price of the locally-produced natural gas by 18% to $3.82 per unit for six months beginning Thursday, following a global slide in the commodity prices.This is the second six-monthly revision since November when the government introduced a gas price formula linking it with international prices following demands from the industry that the then prices were too low to incentivize producers.Following the introduction of the formula, the prices went up by a third but fell about 8% in the first revision in April. Now, it has fallen further to $3.82 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) on gross calorific basis from $4.66 per mmBtu, applicable for the last six months. On net calorific basis, the gas price would be about $4.24 per mmBtu, marginally higher than the $4.2 per unit Reliance Industries and state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ( ONGC ) received for gas before the formula was announced.The fall in local gas prices was expected and largely factored into the stock prices of the producers as global oil and gas prices have more than halved in a year. A lower gas price will hurt profits at producers but will lower cost for key consumers including the city gas distributors, power and fertilizer plants.The 18% decline in gas prices now will lead to a revenue loss of Rs 776 crore for Reliance Industries in the next six months, assuming the average output for the period remains at the same level as in 2014-15, according to consultancy PwC. The comparable revenue loss for ONGC would be Rs 2,512 crore. Shares in Reliance Industries and ONGC closed up 2.56% and 1.3% respectively on Wednesday when the broader market ended up 1.46%. Experts say a lower gas price will not hurt Indian oil and gas sector as investors are increasingly prepared for a low-price regime.“We expect that lower domestic gas prices won’t affect investment in the sector. These are commodity cycles. Prudent investors adopt to low oil price regime and plan for long term since, as in the past, the cycle have all the possibility to turn in years to come,” said Deepak Mahurkar, who leads the oil and gas industry practice at consultancy PwC.“Had the government intervened and changed prices to incentivize the industry, it would have sent a wrong signal that administration of prices is here to stay,” he said. Falling gas prices have fuelled demand from some industry players that formula be revised as the current rate was incapable of luring the risk capital needed to push up India’s natural gas output.