The latest Ambani-sibling fight has now become a political battle.
Official sources indicated on Monday that the government may allocate natural gas to Anil Ambani Group's proposed power plants like the Dadri project in Uttar Pradesh only six months prior to commissioning, as reservation of gas is not allowed under the present policy.
Increasing cooperation in critical minerals will top Prime Minister Modi's agenda during his discussions with leaders of Ghana, Argentinia, Brazil and Namibia.
An RIL spokesperson said that the company has filed its reply to the government's petition on the gas dispute.
Now that the Bombay High Court has rejected the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas' (MoPNG) attempts to help Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) wriggle out of its 2005 contract to supply 28 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL), the pressure on it has increased several times over.
Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Natural Resources Ltd and Reliance Communication Ventures Ltd on Friday said they have got shareholders'
During hearing of the dispute over supply of gas by RIL to RNRL at $2.34 per mmBtu, the bench headed by chief justice K G Balakrishnan said the two parties could arrive at a 'suitable arrangement' through arbitration, as the Bombay high court that approved the Reliance empire's demerger cannot spell what is the ideal arrangement.
The government on Saturday filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking a direction to declare as 'null and void' the private family agreement of the Ambanis that provides for gas supply by Reliance Industries Limited to Reliance Natural Resources Limited. The government petition has named as respondents RIL led by Mukesh Ambani and RNRL headed by Anil Ambani, which have separately filed cross-petitions against the Bombay High Court's June 15 judgment.
The Ambani brothers are locked in a bitter battle over the supply and price of the gas from KG basin.
The revised GSMA was signed pursuant to the Supreme Court's May 7 judgement, turning down RNRL's demand for cheap gas from RIL based on a family agreement.
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.
A friend of Mukesh Ambani should not be petroleum minister
We propose an expert group be set up to form a national strategy on digital fraud. This group would bring together skills in financial regulation, security economics, cyber defence, and public communications, and an understanding of the Indian financial and security systems. It should lay the foundations of a coordinated approach by the Indian State in fighting digital fraud, suggest Ajay Shah and Nandkumar Saravade.
The apex court also heard a plea for bringing back black money stashed in tax havens abroad.
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.
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.
The main issue in the case is terms of Gas Supply Master Agreement whereby Mukesh Ambani-led RIL is to supply natural gas from its Krishna Godavari reserves to Anil Ambani's RNRL. Both parties have filed appeals before division bench, not satisfied with single judge's verdict last year.
"There would be no impact on the government at all and it would suffer no loss whatsoever. RIL would also make a profit of Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) at this rate," RNRL said in an affidavit before a bench headed by chief justice K G Balakrishnan.
However, no formal confirmation of the meeting and the issues discussed could be obtained from either group.
At $4.64 per mBtu, KG gas is alleged to be over-priced.
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.
Justice Anoop V Mohta, delivering the final verdict in the gas supply row between RIL and Reliance Natural Resources Limited, asked the two companies to decide on a new gas price, as the rate of $2.34 per mBtu agreed in the family de-merger agreement had already been rejected by the government.
Anil dared the oil ministry to cancel the production sharing contract with RIL if it was really aggrieved and not challenge third party agreements.
'Keeping a bench increases cost. If you keep a bench, the skills may not remain relevant.' 'In the future, bench strength will literally be zero.'
Reliance Industries Ltd has exited the last of its shale gas assets in the US after it agreed to sell its holding in Eagleford shale gas assets for an undisclosed sum of money.
'We've moved from thousands killed yearly in Jammu and Kashmir to 127 last year.' 'Cross-border terrorism in Kashmir is being solved. We are winning it.'
Reliance Jio has sent a second legal opinion to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the subject of the potential allocation of satellite spectrum. The letter is written by retired Supreme Court Justice L Nageshwara Rao and argues in favour of auctions, stating that any other method for allocating spectrum apart from auctions could be constitutionally unsound. Business Standard has reviewed the letter.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd has sold its stake in the shale gas asset in the US to Northern Oil and Gas Inc for USD 250 million, the firm said on Thursday.
The Communist Party of India Marxists said that Reliance gas pricing was 'artificially inflated.'
RIL declined to comment on this or related allegations, saying the entire issue was in court.
Blaming RIL for delay in starting its Dadri power project, RNRL said it was RIL's wrongful conduct that delayed its gas-based power plant by four years. However, it had sought a direction to RIL to supply the gas immediatley to it. On July 7, the Supreme Court issued notice to RIL, RNRL and the Centre (as intervener) on cross-appeals by both the companies on their gas supply dispute.
Petroleum ministry has rejected Reliance Industries Limited's plan to sell natural gas to Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd at less than half the market price.
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.
Resuming arguments over its dispute with Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, senior counsel Harish Salve said it was RNRL which had in 2007 argued that marketing freedom cannot be allowed to the Mukesh Ambani-run firm and asked the government to frame Gas Utilisation Policy.
Development plan for K-G basin runs for 12 years, so can't supply to RNRL for 17 years, says RIL.
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.
Last week, RIL moved the apex court challenging the Bombay high court order that asked it to supply 28 mmscmd of gas to RNRL at $2.34 per mmbtu.
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.
RIL filed an appeal on Monday before a division bench headed by Chief Justice Swantra Kumar seeking a stay on an interim order by a single bench restraining it from selling gas to companies other than RNRL and NTPC.
'If the government starts playing favourites, if the government acts in a manner which is not transparent, then natural resources which belong to not just you and me, but future generations, they fritter away. The anger against corruption, the anger against India's natural resources being looted is a consequence of the fact that within society there is a huge amount of turmoil and discontentment. Why should an Empowered Group Of Ministers or the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decide the administered price of gas?' asks Paranjoy Guha Thakurta in this exclusive interview with Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
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