Reliance Industries has drilled two new wells in its KG-D6 gas block, but both have turned out to be almost dry, with very little hydrocarbon presence, vindicating the company's stand that indiscriminate drilling will not help solve the problem of falling gas output.
India's biggest petrochemicals maker Reliance Industries, whose shares hit a 15-month high earlier on Friday on a newspaper report it had struck gas at a new site, said it would make an announcement later.\n\n\n\n
The proposed expansion of the Dabhol power project under Ratnagiri Gas & Power Pvt Ltd (RGPPL) by 2,100 Mw from the present capacity of 1,940 Mw has been stalled for want of assured gas supply from the KG-D6 gas field, operated by Reliance Industries Ltd, and adequate number of power procuring states.
Reliance Industries Ltd plans to invest over Rs 5,000 crore in setting up City Gas Distribution projects in eight cities in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh for supply of natural gas to households, industries and automobiles.
Reliance Industries on Wednesday assailed reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General and expert P Gopalakrishnan, which have alleged the company got undue benefits pertaining to Krishna-Godavari basin gas and its pricing.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has struck a large gas field in the Krishna-Godavari basin in Bay of Bengal, home for the gigantic gas find of Reliance Industries Ltd.
The government is likely to drop GAIL as the monopoly builder of trunk gas pipelines in the country and as part of opening up the sector, might allow Reliance Industries to lay a line from Andhra Pradesh to Gujarat.
ONGC and Reliance on Tuesday signed licence agreements for oil and gas blocks awarded to them by the government under the third round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy.
The Petroleum Ministry has proposed a 33 per cent hike in the price of natural gas produced by ONGC and Oil India and gradually increase it to $4.20 per mmBtu set for gas from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields.
The government has chosen state-run GAIL (India) Ltd over Reliance Industries in setting up a Rs 2,500 crore gas cracker project in Assam.
Post-cessation, activities related to the safe shutdown of the field are underway.
Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL, has signed contract for Block 41. The block lies adjacent to Block 18 in Gulf of Oman, which the Government of Sultanate of Oman awarded to RIL in 2005. Block 18 is situated in the offshore Gulf of Oman between Block 41 and the border with the Fujuriah offshore block. The two blocks comprises approximately 21,000 sq km of area each.
Oil ministry had previously proposed a 30 per cent hike in price of gas produced by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd to $2.3 per mmBtu but finance ministry wants these rates to be brought on par with RIL, sources in the know of the development said.
UBS Investment Research in its latest report estimated that ONGC and GSPC may get at least $5.5 per million British thermal unit for natural gas they will pump out from their respective Krishna-Godavari basin blocks. RIL is to get a fixed price of $4.2 per mmBtu for gas it would produce from Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields in KG-D6 block from December-January, for the next five years.
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.
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.
RIL declined to comment on this or related allegations, saying the entire issue was in court.
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.
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.
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.
From the Sensex pack, NTPC, Tata Motors, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Titan, Power Grid and State Bank of India were the major gainers. ITC, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and JSW Steel were among the laggards.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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