Powered by a rally in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, equity benchmark Sensex broke its four-session losing run to close above the 55,000-mark on Thursday despite a weak trend overseas. Investors made a cautious return to IT, pharma and bank stocks after their recent sell-off. However, a depreciating rupee and persistent foreign fund outflows capped the gains, traders said. Overcoming a lacklustre start, the 30-share BSE Sensex surged 427.79 points or 0.78 per cent to close at 55,320.28.
The stage for negotiations to settle the Krishna-Godavari basin dispute is long over, says a government official
Last week, RIL and urea companies failed to settle the key terms of gas supply from April 1 upon expiry of the five-year contracts that priced gas from the eastern offshore KG-D6 fields at $4.205 per million British thermal units.
The government had in October 2007 set a sale price of $4.20 per million British thermal unit based on the price discovered by RIL from key customers.
RIL has slapped an arbitration notice challenging oil ministry's decision to take away 814 square kilometer of its eastern offshore KG-D6 area that contained five gas discoveries.
The new rates, which are likely to be at $8-8.4 against the current price of $4.2 per million British thermal unit, are based on the recommendations of a committee that was appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the request of Moily's predecessor, S Jaipal Reddy.
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.
A Committee of Secretaries will meet on July 6 to discuss pricing of natural gas to be produced from Reliance Industries' block off the east coast and whether the Centre should take its share in cash or kind.
RIL estimates output from KG-D6 could reach up to 60 mscmd in the next five years, when all satellite fields are brought into production.
At the heart of one of the biggest transformations in India's corporate history lies a plan to offer super-fast broadband services.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RIL) might be denied a higher gas price from its D1 and D3 fields until the arbitration process with the government is over and a third-party expert report on the fall in output at the KG-D6 block is out.
The move is likely to force the government to take a faster decision.
Mukesh Ambani has resigned from the board of his group's telecom arm, Reliance Jio and handed over the reins of the company to elder son Akash, a step seen as succession planning by the 65-year old billionaire. In a stock exchange filing, Reliance Jio Infocomm said the company's board at a meeting on June 27, "approved the appointment of Akash M Ambani, non-executive director, as chairman of the board of directors of the company." This comes after his father resigned with effect from close of working hours on June 27, it said.
Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily approved continuation of the existing rate of $4.2 per million British thermal units until the new government, which will be in place in May, decides on implementation of the new price formula.
Business conglomerate Adani Group's chairman Gautam Adani is now the world's second-richest person after overtaking Louis Vuitton's Bernard Arnault, according to Forbes' Real-Time Billionaires List. At the time of writing this report, Gautam Adani's net worth was $153.9 billion, compared to Arnault's net worth of $153.7 billion. Adani is now just behind business magnate Elon Musk, according to Forbes' data.
The OilMin is likely to announce the price for next six months soon.
OVL had bid for two of the 10 shallow-water blocks that Myanmar had auctioned in December but drew a blank when the fields were awarded on March 26.
While a new formula for pricing of all domestically produced natural gas was notified on January 10 and published in Gazettee on January 17, the Election Commission last month asked the government to defer its implementation till general elections are completed.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that the Delhi government's decision to probe the Centre's policy on gas pricing was a "peculiar" and "absurd" situation.
As per the 15-day billing cycle, gas producers are to raise the first invoice at the revised price of $5.61 per million British thermal unit this weekend.
The fuel from the KG basin will prune Rs 114,000 crore (Rs 1,140 billion) from the country's import bill. The price of $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) approved by the government for selling gas implies potential savings of about Rs 85,000 crore (Rs 850 billion) for consumers, said Ambani. Ambani's statement on gas pricing comes even as the government is considering a revision of the floor price of $4.2 mBtu that was approved in September 2007.
Stock market investors became poorer by Rs 8.30 lakh crore as equities continued their slide for the sixth consecutive day on Friday. The BSE Sensex has tumbled 1,855.58 points or 3 per cent since February 16. During this period, the combined market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms has tanked Rs 8,30,322.61 crore to reach Rs 2,60,00,662.99 crore. "The domestic market is broadly demonstrating a lack of confidence, registering its sixth consecutive day of losses despite global markets turning green.
The near-doubling of gas prices to $8 per million British thermal units that will kick in from next month will accrue to all producers in the country.
Justice Roshan Dalvi sought to recuse herself from the case involving Reliance Industries Ltd and state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation over the supply of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin on Wednesday.
India does not have the facilities needed for developing advanced aerospace products. There is only one wind tunnel in the country, the almost six decade old one in the National Aeronautics Laboratory.
The Anil Ambani group, fighting a legal battle for securing 28 mmscmd gas for Reliance Natural Resources from RIL at a price of $2.34 per mmBtu under a family settlement, had last week questioned the marketing margin and had informed RIL that it would not pay the same.
Reliance Industries, the country's largest LPG producer, will be spared from footing the Rs 7,200 crore (Rs 72 billion) bill for the one year freeze in LPG and kerosene prices, despite rising cost.
RIL has proposed to charge the government- fixed rate for natural gas on a gross calorific value (GCV) basis, instead of net calorific value (NCV).
The Oil Ministry has proposed raising natural gas prices by at least 60 per cent, a move that will result in rise in urea as well as power costs.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported a 13.6 per cent fall in October-December net profit, the first drop in the Mukesh Ambani-led company's quarterly profit in more than two years, as refining margins fell sharply and reservoir complexity pulled down gas output.
Launching a fresh broadside at Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily, CPI leader and MP Gurudas Dasgupta on Tuesday said no action has been taken against Reliance Industries for deliberately keeping natural gas output low and is instead being rewarded by a steep hike in prices.
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.
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.
RIL has been using gas from GAIL during the past three months to test-fire the 1,440-km east-west pipeline, India's longest, from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Bharuch in Gujarat. Only 100 km of the pipeline remains to be test-fired. It will transport gas from the world's largest gas discovery at the Krishna-Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal to Jamnagar in Gujarat, where it has set up the world's largest petroleum refinery.
The Q1FY24 earnings season has started on a dismal note for corporate India. The early-bird companies' revenue growth has been at a 10-quarter low, while the combined earnings of non-BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) companies seem to have hit the ceiling. The numbers suggest corporate India is entirely dependent on BFSI companies and the IT services sector to drive growth in revenue and profit while other sectors are showing signs of stagnation.
Though the developments are positive, analysts say the benefits will accrue only in the long run
The field pumped about 5,000 barrels of crude oil on the restart as the company tested equipments and systems. Output may rise to 10,000-12,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the month-end, when the field would be shut again for 45 days to hook up more oil wells.
They also voiced concerns over a double penalty being sought to be imposed on them for KG-D6 fields output not matching targets.
Anil Ambani group counsel Mukul Rohtagi said he had no objection.
RIL, its partner BP plc of UK will invest about Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) by 2016 to help sustain and improve recovery from the two main gas fields.
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