Although the Oil Ministry has the authority to decide on Reliance selling 30 per cent interest to BP in 23 exploration blocks, including the prize eastern offshore KG-D6 gas fields, the ministry on Tuesday decided to refer the deal to the CCEA, sources privy to the development said.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the operator of the KG-D6 gas block, has told the government it cannot comply with its latest directive on prioritising gas supply.
Cairn India, which had made four discoveries in the KG-DWN-98/2 block before selling 90 per cent out of its 100 per cent stake in the block to ONGC in 2005, has written to the oil regulator DGH saying the state-owned firm is grossly overstating the reserves in block, sources said.
The company is in talks with BG India and Italian E&P major, ENI.
Clearing the last hurdle, the Union home ministry has given unconditional approval for United Kingdom's BP to buy a 30 per cent stake in Reliance Industries' oil and gas blocks, including the showcase KG-D6 gas fields, for $7.2 billion.
RIL is insisting on a more relaxed contract for committing more gas to NTPC.
The company had assets in countries like Yemen, Peru, Oman, Myanmar, Columbia, East Timor, Kurdistan and Australia, but it exited almost all these blocks later as part of its portfolio rationalisation
If India top or finish fourth in the 10-team table, then they will play in the first semi-final at Old Trafford on July 9. In the scenario of India finishing second or third in the points table, they will feature in the second semi-final at Edgbaston on July 11.
Reliance has seen natural gas output fall to 50-52 mmscmd during recent times from over 60 mmscmd achieved in mid-2010 due to reservoir complexities.
The government nod to Reliance Industries selling 30 per cent stake in its oil and gas blocks such as eastern offshore KG-D6 to London-based BP Plc for $7.2 billion hinges on no-objection certificate (NOC) from Canada's Niko Resources and UK's Hardy Oil and Gas.
In one of the country's biggest energy deals, Reliance Industries on Monday announced sale of 30 per cent stake in its 23 blocks including the giant KG-D6 gas fields to the United Kingdom's BP Plc for $7.2 billion.
After grappling with the issue for two years, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had on November 21 ordered that the margin to be charged, over and above the gas sale price, should be fixed between the seller and buyers in all sectors other than urea and LPG.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA or Petrobras, Brazil's state-controlled oil firm, has offered ONGC its 15 per cent interest in the Krishna Godavari basin block that sits next to Reliance Industries prolific KG-D6 fields without any cost.
The supplies to Anil Ambani Group's power plants including the one proposed at Dadri near Delhi, will be subject to government approving the allocation of the fuel, Mukesh Ambani said.
Oil regulator PNGRB on Monday approved the tariff that Mukesh Ambani-owned East-West pipeline will charge for transporting gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 fields to users.
The Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin may prove to be a much bigger play for Reliance Industries Ltd. This follows the announcement that its D4 block could hold twice the reserves of the in-production D6 block to the north.
Reliance Industries has seen crude oil production falling by more than 31 per cent from its MA oil field in the predominantly gas-rich KG-D6 block off the east coast.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries Limited began gas production from the Krishna-Godavari basin in April, 2009, and its 60 million standard cubic metres per day output led to a 75 per cent jump in natural gas availability in the country to 140 mmscmd.
Reliance had last month struck gas in the fourth successive well on the block KG-DWN-2003/1 that lies close to its prolific D6 area in the Krishna-Godavari Basin in the Bay of Bengal.
A day after Reliance Industries Ltd announced sale of 30 per cent interest in its 23 oil and gas blocks, Canada-based Niko Resources, RIL's partner in three fields - D6, NEC 25 and D4 - on Tuesday said it has the option to increase its stake in the fields by up to 30 per cent from current working percentages.
RIL has sent a draft GSPA to Essar Oil and the contract may be inked within the next few days.
Reliance Industries Chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani, in an address to RIL's shareholders, said RIL would continue to follow its successful strategy and focus on improving its portfolio, increasing efficiency, product innovation and expanding its businesses in order to get closer to key markets.
The commission asks for notification to be deferred; RIL's KG-D6 pricing issue may return to Cabinet
RIL, with interests in petrochemicals, oil and gas exploration, textiles and retail, will continue to see a slow decline in margins.
Reliance Industries has refused to give natural gas to new customers by cutting supplies to power and fertiliser plants.
The government has slapped an additional penalty of $792 million on Reliance Industries for producing less than targeted natural gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 block.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) plans to invest $4.05 billion in producing natural gas from its ultra deepsea UD-1 discovery in a block that sits next to Reliance Industries' prolific KG-D6 fields.
In the January, 2013 Cabinet note on revision of prices of all domestically produced natural gas, the ministry had proposed immediate implementation of the formula suggested by a panel, headed by Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan, for all producers except in cases where the current rate is valid for a certain period.
Reliance Industries has made drastic changes in gas supply contracts that will jack up its KG-D6 gas price by 10 per cent over and above the new rate of $8.3 coming into effect from next month.
RIL's gas production from its D6 fields in the Krishna Godavari basin on Sunday touched 50.15 mmscmd. This for the first time surpasses ONGC's 49.6 mmscmd output.
MA fields were producing around 32,000-33,000 barrels of oil per day and 8 million standard cubic meters per day of gas.
After successfully dabbling in organised retail in 2006, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of India's largest private sector company, Reliance Industries (RIL), has now set his eyes on no-frills, low-cost housing."RIL has deep pockets and excellent execution skills. It has executed two large projects like the Jamnagar refinery and the KG-D6 basin in a record time. Another such large project is only obvious for the company to get into," said a source close to the development.
RNRL had sought 28 mscmd of gas for 17 years at $2.34 per million British thermal units (mBtu) from Mukesh Ambani's RIL.
In what could seal the fortunes of the gas and power businesses of the two Ambani brothers, the Supreme Court is to deliver a judgment tomorrow on the bitterly fought dispute over gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin's D6 block.
It is also understood that scope of this audit will far exceed the normal course of audit by CAG and the prime objective may be to detect fraud, if any, by RIL allegedly in collusion with oil regulator DGH and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
The government plans to more than double the price of natural gas produced by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to $4.20 per mmBtu, in a move that will help the state-run firm break even in gas business.
Currently, gas imported in its liquefied form costs $5.7 per million British thermal units as against $1.82 per mmBtu for fuel produced from state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's fields and $4.2 per mmBtu for gas from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 field.
The government may subsidise costly imported gas by making users of cheaper domestic gas pay more under its unique plan to rationalise gas prices, a source in knowledge of the development said.
NTPC was to open letter of credit in favour of RIL for an amount equivalent to a month's supplies.
The old guard is still involved in broad corporate decision-making, but quite a few new business heads have started making their mark at the group
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