A top management team of Anil Ambani group firm RNRL got stood up by Reliance Industries officials, who neither responded nor turned up for a proposed meeting to follow up the Bombay high court order on gas supply.
In a new twist in the gas row between the Ambani brothers in the Supreme Court, the Anil Ambani-led RNRL on Thursday sought cross-examination of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, accusing the Government of siding with the Mukesh Ambani's group RIL.
Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) on Monday continued to slide, falling 9.47 per cent to touch a one year-low of Rs 47.75 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, after the Supreme Court ruled against the company in a gas dispute with Reliance Industries.
Mukesh Ambani-led RIL and Anil Ambani group firm RNRL on Thursday urged Justice R V Raveendran to ignore news reports on his presence on the Bench despite having shares of the two warring companies.
The arguments in the high-voltage bitter legal battle for the first time saw Anil Ambani sitting during the court proceedings throughout the day.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power's board will on July 4 consider merging another group firm Reliance Natural Resources with itself.
RIL said the Anil Ambani group firm "does not have a single power plant since the demerger (of the Reliance empire) and the ADAG owns just one gas-based plant."
The crux of the ongoing court case between Reliance Industries (RIL) and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) on Monday was pricing of the gas produced from the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.
The ratio is based on the valuation made by consultancy firm KPMG.
In a mega Rs 50,000-crore deal, the Anil Ambani group on Sunday announced merger of RNRL with another group firm Reliance Power, which would now become a direct beneficiary of the gas deal signed with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.
Anil Ambani group firm RNRL on Friday asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the government's petition on the Ambani gas dispute, saying it had no locus standi to seek any orders and it at best could only make submissions.
Stumbling blocks for resolving the gas row between the Ambani brothers can be removed by putting together the family MoU and the demerger scheme, Anil Ambani-led RNRL told the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries on Friday said it may sell gas from its KG-D6 fields to RNRL at $4.20 per mmBtu if the government allocates fuel to the Anil Ambani Group firm.
With the Supreme Court likely to announce its judgement on the gas price tussle between Ambani brothers next week, the share price of Reliance Industries Ltd has taken a sharp knock while Reliance Natural Resources Ltd witnessed a spike.
Within 24 hours of the brothers Ambani deciding on a ceasefire, the stock market and Reliance pundits are out with their calculators to figure out the financial implication of ending the non-compete terms five years in advance and the loss that Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited would incur post the Supreme Court verdict.
Shares of Reliance Natural Resources Ltd on Friday surged over nine per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the Bombay High Court issued an interim order restraining Reliance Industries from selling natural gas from KG gas field to a third party.
A short-term (five-year) price is not relevant beyond a point when power plants have a life of 15-20 years, says J P Chalasani, CEO, Reliance Power.
On August 21, the division bench had suggested that the two warring sides should seek the help of their mother Kokilaben Ambani to resolve the issue. The billionaire brothers are fighting over supply of natural gas from RIL's eastern offshore KG gas fields.
The petroleum ministry is mulling filing a defamation suit against an Anil Ambani Group firm for persisting with 'false claims' pertaining to government revenues from Reliance Industries KG-D6 fields.
Mukesh Ambani-led RIL and Anil Ambani's RNRL are locked in a dispute over the terms of the gas supply master agreement, whereby RIL is to supply gas for RNRL's power projects. Earlier, the division bench of Justices J N Patel and K K Tated had said it would like to finish the hearing before Diwali, so that the judgment could be written during the vacation. But now, with the government's entry into the litigation, the hearing may not get over before the Diwali vacation.
The MoU says the gas supply agreement is with Reliance Energy and for the Dadri power project, senior counsel Harish Salve representing RIL said. "Nowhere does it say that the gas will go to RNRL," Salve told the division bench of Justices J N Patel and K K Tated. REL and RNRL are both Anil Ambani group companies.
The top officials of the two companies, including chairman Anil Ambani, have also been barred from investing in secondary market till December 2011.
Total income rose to Rs 115.46 crore (Rs 1.15 billion) during the same quarter, from Rs 92.92 crore (Rs 929.2 million) in the corresponding period a year ago, RNRL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Shares of RNRL closed at Rs 83.85, up 1.39 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
The tussle between Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and his brother Anil's Reliance Natural Resources over gas supply came to the fore in Bombay High Court on Thursday with RIL alleging that RNRL wanted to trade the fuel.
While the merger will see the share of the promoter group increase by two percentage points, the move has also seen a few analysts raise concerns.
RNRL had sought 28 mscmd of gas for 17 years at $2.34 per million British thermal units (mBtu) from Mukesh Ambani's RIL.
The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed its inability to commence final hearing of the gas dispute between the Ambani brothers from September 1, but said it would try to give an early date.
Additional solicitor general Mohan Parasaran talks about the logic behind withdrawing the government affidavit in the RIL-RNRL gas dispute in the Bombay high court.
Shares of Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd on Tuesday tanked in the range of 4-8 per cent on the bourses after reports surfaced that these two ADA Group firms are involved in fraudulent banking activities overseas.
RNRL is seeking 28 million cubic meter of gas a day or more than one-third of peak output from RIL's eastern offshore KG-D6 fields at a price set in a 2005 family agreement.
Jethmalani described the gas row between the Ambani brothers as a saga where the government has kept the public interest at the farthest and huge wealth has been put in private pockets.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd is taking the Bombay High Court order of June 15 on gas supply to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd to the Supreme Court."We have been advised to and are filing appropriate proceedings in the Supreme Court against the judgment delivered by the Bombay High Court," it told RNRL in a mail, in reply to an earlier letter sent in the day by the former, demanding that the HC judgement be implemented without more delay.
Mukesh Ambani-led RIL has sought to lift the sty as it claims it's ready to produce gas next month. Arguing before the court against vacation of the stay, RNRL senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi said, "There is no immediate supply of gas. Let the directorate general of hydrocarbons make a statement when the company is ready to produce the gas."
"There are eight companies (who have put in expression of interest)... RNRL is one of them," said A K Ahuja, managing director, Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd, the company that operates the nation's biggest gas-fired power plant and the adjacent LNG import facility. Others in the fray include state power utility NTPC and GMR. Ahuja said RGPPL will frame the bidding criteria and call for financial bids by next month.
Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Natural Resources on Friday posted a marginal increase in its net profit for the third quarter and said it hopes to get gas from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields once the group's Dadri power plant begins operations.
The two sides had approached Supreme Court challenging a decision by the Bombay high court on June 15, which said RIL should provide 28 million cubic metres of gas per day to RNRL at $2.34 per mmBtu and both the parties should sign a necessary agreement for the same within a month.
Mukesh Ambani-led RIL said on Friday it would not be possible to supply gas to Anil Ambani group firm RNRL without the government's nod and requested the Supreme Court not to restrain it from selling gas to others.
Petroleum secretary RS Pandey declined to comment on the court verdict till the Government received a copy of the order. The Bombay high court on Monday upheld Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd's contention to buy 28 mscmd of gas from Reliance Industries Ltd at USD 2.34 per mmBtu for 17 years.
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