Reliance concealed and did not reveal the data to ONGC.
Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Natural Resources has filed an affidavit in the Bombay High Court in the case involving Reliance Industries, refuting the petroleum ministry's stand that the government-approved price of $4.2/million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) is the selling price of gas.
RNRL had sought 28 mscmd of gas for 17 years at $2.34 per million British thermal units (mBtu) from Mukesh Ambani's RIL.
Strongly refuting allegations of favouring Reliance Industries, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Friday said the proposed revision in natural gas price will apply to all companies including state-owned ONGC.
Terming Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal ordering FIR against it as shocking, Reliance Industries said the complaints that were used to base the action are baseless and devoid of merit or substance.
Reliance hold 90 per cent interest and is the operator of the deep-sea block KG-DWN-2001/1 (D9).
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
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.
Reliance from 0600 hours today began complying with an oil ministry order asking it to first supply gas produced from eastern offshore KG-D6 fields to priority users -- urea making fertiliser plants, electricity generation houses, LPG extraction units and city gas distribution firms.
RIL on June 15 wrote to Oil Ministry proposing to price natural gas it produces from the Krishna Godavari basin block in Bay of Bengal at a rate equivalent to price India pays for importing liquefied natural gas, official sources said.
Morgan Stanley, the global financial services company, says India's largest private sector company (by market value) might lose 11 per cent of its earnings per share in 2014-15 earnings estimates if gas prices remain at $4.2 a unit.
In the short run, ONGC and OIL should both reap a bonanza given the government hike.
He also described Moily as Mukesh Ambani's agent.
However, no formal confirmation of the meeting and the issues discussed could be obtained from either group.
In a draft audit report on the KG-DWN-98/3, or KG-D6, block, the Comptroller and Auditor General said the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons allowed Reliance to hike capital expenditure for developing Dhirubhai-1 and 3, the largest of 18 gas finds in the block, by 117 per cent.
Adani group opened a $1.2 billion copper plant, bought a port in Odisha, raised stakes in a cement company and stitched an alliance with rival Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, all in a matter of one week in signs that the apples-to-airport conglomerate has shrugged off the Hindenburg effect and is back to rapid expansion spree. In the last one week, Adani group has through regulatory filings and press statements announced expansions and investments in its mainstay ports business, diversification into metal refining, fund infusion into a two-year-old cement foray and continuing progress in the commissioning of its mega solar project.
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.
Oil Ministry officials insisted that Defence Ministry cannot withdraw the clearance after 12 years of exploration.
Fertiliser, power plants plan expansion in anticipation
The government on Friday awarded 20 oil and gas blocks for exploration and production -- 14 of which went to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and partners.
The projected output will come from satellite fields in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block as well as North East Coast block NEC-25, off the West Bengal coast.
Ril's shale gas may be impacted due to fracking ban
Reliance Natural Resources Ltd has questioned oil ministry's right to approve the price at which a producer sells gas to customers, saying its nod was needed only for the formula or basis of pricing of gas for computing government's share.
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.
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.
RIL gets $4.2 per million British thermal unit for the gas produced from its KG-D6 fields in the Bay of Bengal.
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 apex court had sought the response after Anil Ambani-led RNRL had consented to government being made a party in the dispute. RNRL contended that it was entitled to receive the gas at $2.34 per unit from Mukesh Ambani group RIL which had entered into an arrangement for supplying gas to NTPC at that rate.
RIL said RNRL has maintained that the May 12, 2005 draft agreement between the RIL and NTPC should be the basis for fixing the price of gas from the KG Basin but it has ignored the provision for government approval.
The apex court also heard a plea for bringing back black money stashed in tax havens abroad.
An RIL spokesperson said that the company has filed its reply to the government's petition on the gas dispute.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has opposed the proposal of a new pipeline from Kakinada to Srikakulam floated by Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corporation (APGIC). RIL has argued that gas availability for the pipeline is uncertain and will not contribute to the development of a national gas grid.
Reliance Industries is likely to sign a gas sale contract with Indraprastha Gas Ltd on Thursday that would use the supplies from RIL's eastern offshore gas fields for vending CNG to automobiles and piped gas to kitchens in the national capital.
Reliance Power's plans are to set up a 7,480-Mw project, which will be the largest gas-fired power project at a single location in the world.
But RIL is yet to agree on the grounds that it is studying the implication of the judgement. On June 15, the Bombay high court gave the two companies a month's time to work out a firm gas volumes, price, timelines and other commercial details for sourcing the fuel from Krishna Godavari basin fields.
Technical bids opened today for Mallavaram-Vijaipur line, winner in three weeks.
Market cap touches Rs 5 lakh crore; earnings growth to spurt in FY19
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