RIL senior vice president (commercial) B Ganguly wrote to NTPC on Friday expressing his company's willingness to sign Gas Sales and Purchase Agreements for the state-run firm's Anta, Dadri and Faridabad plants.
CPM leader Tapen Sen has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a probe into what he called 'artifical inflation' in Reliance Industries' KG-D6 spend and the Mukesh Ambani-run firm's 'manipulation' of gas price.
RIL declined to comment on this or related allegations, saying the entire issue was in court.
With the price of gas from its fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin expected to be higher than rivals, Reliance Industries is targeting automobiles and domestic users because power and fertiliser plants may not be able to afford it.
Lok Sabha MP Harsh Vardhan on July 23 wrote to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora asking why the government had kept quiet for all this while on the Ambani family MoU that provides for dividing Krishna-Godavari basin gas between companies run by brothers Mukesh and Anil.
The Ambani brothers are locked in a bitter battle over the supply and price of the gas from KG basin.
Stoutly defending the hike in gas prices, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said the move would benefit the government in terms of revenue as many gas discoveries have been made by public sector companies rather than private sector.
The gas price revision will add to the bottomline of the two public sector companies -- Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd -- and will also yield additional revenue for the central and state governments.
'To sustain our growth trajectory, we must continue to explore and capitalise on growth opportunities.'
Development plan for K-G basin runs for 12 years, so can't supply to RNRL for 17 years, says RIL.
$5.2bn will be spent on gas production, while a larger chunk of $7bn on building gas pipes.
Reliance Industries Ltd's $7.2 billion asset sale to BP PLC has given it the firepower to expand more aggressively overseas, potentially pitching it into competition with Asian rivals for big oil and gas deals.
India's Reliance has submitted the best offer into Sri Lanka's tender to buy gas oil and gasoline for June 16-17 delivery, a company source said on Thursday.
PNGRB, the oil regulator, which as per its enacting legislation has powers to levy fee, has levied a minimum tax of Rs 2 crore per annum on turnover that companies like GAIL and Reliance Industries earn from selling CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to households and industries.
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While the Cabinet has approved doubling of gas price from April 1 next year, Oil Ministry is proposing that old rates of $4.2 per million British thermal unit apply to gas from D1/D3 and MA fields in eastern offshore KG-D6 block till it proved that RIL had proved less than targets only because of geological factors.
The 12th Five Year (2012-17) Plan adopted by National Development Council said on Thursday, "Natural gas prices charged to producers must be determined by market forces".
NTPC is fighting a case in the Bombay high court to get gas from RIL at a committed price of $2.34 per mmBtu.
The ministry of petroleum and natural gas would be issuing instructions for fresh gas allocation from D6 this week.
Reliance Industries found huge natural gas reserves in the very first well it drilled, which subsequently proved to be the world's second largest deepwater discovery in the last decade.
Reliance Industries has sought tripling of its KG-D6 gas price from April 1, 2014 after the current below market rate of USD 4.205 per mmBtu expires.
Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 gas fields are likely to see output drop to all-time low of 20 million standard cubic meters per day in 2014-15, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Tuesday.
The government has asked Reliance Industries to supply natural gas from the company's eastern offshore D6 fields to the beleaguered Dabhol power plant, a segment that gets top preference for gas allocation along with fertiliser units.
A division bench of Justices J N Patel and K K Tated said that the new agreement should be as per the memorandum of understanding between the Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil. The MoU stipulates that RIL would supply 28 mmscmd of gas to RNRL for 17 years at the rate of $2.43 per million British Thermal Units.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp on Tuesday disputed claims made by gas utility GAIL (India) Ltd of an agreement with the operators of Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields to continue selling gas beyond March 31.
Reliance Industries (RIL), India's largest company by market capitalisation, will begin producing gas from its Krishna- Godavari (KG) field, which is off the country's east coast, "by December" this year, a senior executive said.
RIL is charging $0.135 per million British thermal unit marketing margin on sale of gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields, a levy which was opposed by state-run NTPC.
The government on Tuesday increased the windfall profit tax on crude oil produced in the country and reduced the levy on exports of diesel. The tax, levied in the form of Special Additional Excise Duty or SAED, on domestically produced crude oil was increased to Rs 9,800 per tonne from Rs 9,050 a tonne, according to an official notification. SAED on the export of diesel was reduced to Rs 2 per litre from Rs 4 a litre and on jet fuel or ATF to nil from Rs 1, the notification said.
The committee said whatever benefit RIL received in terms of the migrated gas is liable to be returned to the government.
On July 27, power ministry had written to the oil ministry saying 'the marketing margin being charged by RIL is not in line with the decisions of an empowered group of ministers on pricing formula (for KG-D6 gas)'. While Anil Ambani Group firm RNRL on Sunday alleged that RIL was charging 'unauthorised' marketing margin, 35 firms buying KG-D6 gas are paying the $0.135 per mmBtu to RIL without protest.
Reliance Industries, which has discovered gas reserves of nearly 14 trillion cubic feet in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, is building a gas-receiving jetty in Kakinada.
It executive director, PMS Prasad said that the company is only seeking clarity from government on rates for further investments decisions.
Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries on Saturday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay high court judgement that asked it to supply gas to Anil Ambani Group's firm RNRL at a price of $2.34 per mmbtu.
GAIL India chairman and managing director B C Tripathi said the availability and possibility of gas has changed with the change in government policy.
RIL has more than half a dozen undeveloped discoveries.
RIL had said at that time the allegations were baseless and devoid of any merit.
The government will end Gas Authority of India's monopoly over laying natural gas pipelines by allowing private sector firms in gas transportation business, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Thursday.
Fall in oil and gas output has pulled down the overall profitability.
Reliance had in 2006 won government nod to invest $8.836 billion in Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields in KG-D6 block after promising an output of 61.88 million cubic meters a day from 22 wells by April 2011 and 80 mmscmd from 31 wells by 2012.
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