Non-core sponge iron plants, petrochemicals units and oil refineries have cornered as much as 13.13 million cubic metres per day out of the 60.76 mmscmd of KG-D6 gas allocated.
Reliance is seeking help from Shell to rectify glitches in D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin.
The govt auditor also indicts DGH and management committee of D1 and D3 fields
BP, which bought a 30 per cent stake in RIL's 21 oil and gas blocks, including KG-D6, for $7.026 billion in 2011, is working with RIL to arrest the output decline in the fields.
RIL on April 2 shut the well A1 on the main producing fields of Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) in Krishna Godavari basin block KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 for "reservoir build-up study," according to a status report of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.
An Oil Ministry-controlled oversight panel that overseas operations at KG-D6 fields, today decided to approve annual operating and capital expenditure for fields that has been pending for past three years, sources said.
The newly formed Cabinet Committee on Investment will soon consider clearing 47 oil & gas blocks, including Reliance Industries' producing KG-D6 gas fields, where defence clearance has either been withdrawn or withheld.
RIL may go to arbitration which may lead to further delay in production and extra cost associated with the arbitration.
RIL had challenged the government notice to disallow cost through a Notice of Arbitration on November 23, 2011 saying the signed contract does not provide for output targets and there was no provision for disallowing any part of cost because of production not being in line with output guidance.
The company had scaled down capex in D1 and D3 fields to $5.93 billion from the $8.84 billion spending it had proposed in 2006.
RIL had sought 11.80 million standard cubic meters per day of KG D-6 gas to meet feedstock requirement at its twin refineries but it got only 2.34 mmscmd.
Reliance Industries, which has proposed to invest $1.5 billion more in developing satellite gas finds in the prolific KG-D6 block, will drill six wells this year.
The EGoM is to consider fixing users for about 50 million cubic meters per day of KG-D6 gas, official sources said. This is in addition to the initial 40 mmscmd output that was previously distributed primarily to urea and power plants.
It calculated that the government should have got an additional profit share of $ 115.263 million.
Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 natural gas field will have a peak output of 80 million cubic metres per day for six years beginning 2011-12, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said.
In a surprise move, the Ministry had on October 10 moved a note to the Empowered Group of Ministers opposing a hike in price of RIL's KG-D6 gas before April 2014 even though the company itself was not seeking a revision before that date.
In a written reply to a question, he said commercial production of oil from Reliance KG-DWN-98/3 block or KG-D6 commenced in September at the rate of 10,000 barrels of oil per day. Reliance and its Canadian partner Niko Resources has established 570 million tons of oil and oil equivalent gas reserves in the block.
From the time he first rose to prominence during the movement against the then UPA government, Arvind Kejriwal has regularly grabbed headlines for his surprise moves and decisions. Here are 10 such instances.
RIL this week wrote to the ministry offering to give away 4,266 sq km of the Krishna Godavari basin block, sources privy to the development said.
Citing the May, 2010, Supreme Court ruling that upheld the government's right to frame gas utilisation policy, the ministry last week wrote to Reliance directing it to first supply natural gas from its KG-D6 fields to priority sectors like fertiliser and power, official sources said.
Former Australian judge Michael McHugh, who was appointed by Supreme Court to adjudicate on Reliance Industries' KG-D6 dispute, had slammed the government interpretation of his statements before quitting the tribunal.
The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had recommended to the ministry that RIL be asked to give up 86% of its KG-D6 gas block area
RIL had in February last year submitted a revised field development plan for the MA oilfield, which has been producing crude oil since September 2008.
Reliance Industries is ostensibly seeking a 25 per cent increase in the price of natural gas it produces from the eastern offshore Krishna-Godavari Basin after it wrote to the Oil Ministry saying it has customers willing to pay more than the government-approved price.
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The 25-year production sharing contract, however, ends in 2029.
Natural gas output from KG-D6 in the week ended June 24 dropped to 30.82 mscmd from 31.57 mmcmd in the beginning of the month, according to a status report filed by the company with the Oil Ministry.
RIL is currently producing 36 mmscmd gas from KG-D6, half of which goes to power plants. The firm has the capacity to produce 60 mmscmd but is constrained to produce less as the government is yet to identify customers for buying gas beyond the initial 40 mmscmd, allocated primarily to fertiliser and power producers in accordance with the Gas Utilisation Policy.
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, on Friday reported a 5 per cent drop in its June quarter net profit as lower fuel cracks and petrochemical margins outdid gains in telecom and retail businesses. The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate's consolidated net profit was at Rs 15,138 crore, or Rs 22.37 per share, in April-June -- the first quarter of the current 2023-24 fiscal year -- compared to Rs 16,011 crore, or Rs 23.66 a share, earnings a year back, according to a company's statement.
The PSC provides for a financial audit -- checking of the contractor's accounts in order to verify the charges and credits, but not a performance audit that scrutinises efficacies of processes or technology used in the complex deep sea operations.
Softening its stand on CAG audit, Reliance Industries has agreed to a scrutiny of its expenses in the flagging KG-D6 gas block by the official auditor even after expiry of the contractual period.
Reliance Industries is awaiting government approval for two gas discoveries it has made in the Krishna Godavari basin deep sea block, the company's junior partner Hardy Oil & Gas said.
Reliance Industries looks set to get higher price for its KG-D6 gas from April 2014 after the Prime Minister's Office has ordered that the firm be allowed to discover the market price as stipulated in the contract.
The Petroleum Ministry has allocated additional natural gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore gas fields to three power plants to meet electricity deficit in northern states reeling under drought.
India's fiscal deficit is projected to more than double to 6 per cent of GDP this fiscal against the budgetary target of 2.5 per cent. For the next fiscal, the deficit is estimated to be 5.5 per cent of GDP.
Reliance Industries has asked the government to immediately name new customers of its natural gas, saying it is being forced to produce less than capacity in the absence of mandated buyers.
The government had in May last year disallowed $1.005 billion expense of RIL on the flagging KG-D6 gas fields for not implementing the approved field development plan.
Reliance Industries on Friday said it will drill three more wells in the Krishna Godavari basin bloack where the first exploratory well was abandoned owing to poor gas find.
RIL and partner BP plc are carrying out remedial action to stop water ingress from choking wells even as the first production well on the block in more than four years ramped up output by over 15 per cent to 13.7 million standard cubic meters per day.
RIL in a letter to the ministry said if such an "untenable" policy was allowed it would encourage KG-D6 allottees to sell the cheap gas at higher rates during times like plant shutdowns when they don't need the fuel.
In the 38-page report, across 10 chapters, RIL explained how it entered the exploration and production business; the history of the New Exploration and Licensing Policy and the introduction of production-sharing contracts.
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