After a long wait for government approval, Reliance Industries (RIL) is to begin work on development of four satellite fields -- D-2, D-6, D-19 and D-22 -- in India's largest gas field, block D6 in the Krishna-Godavari basin, or KG-D6.
In a free-wheeling interview with Jyoti Mukul, Sibal makes a case for his innocence and blames the media campaign by the Anil Ambani group for the current controversy.
The government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Cairn India's partner in the Barmer block in Rajasthan, is closely scrutinising the stake sale in Cairn India by Cairn Energy.
RIL this week wrote to the ministry offering to give away 4,266 sq km of the Krishna Godavari basin block, sources privy to the development said.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) plans to invest USD 2.894 billion (about Rs 15,340 crore) in developing its ultra-deepsea UD-1 gas discovery in the Krishna Godavari basin by 2016-17.
The danger of a corporate capture of government isn't imaginary, and corporations represent narrow profit-seeking interests of businessmen whose forte is not Constitutional values, says Praful Bidwai.
Reliance Industries has signed agreements with nine fertiliser and power companies for gas sales from its field in the Krishna-Godavari basin over the past three months. India's largest private sector company has signed memorandums of understanding with Nagarjuna Fertilisers, GVK Industries, Konaseema Power (all in Andhra Pradesh), Kribhco, Chambal Fertilisers, Iffco, Torrent Power (all in Gujarat), Tata Power and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers in Maharashtra.
Reliance Industries has informed oil regulator DGH that four smaller gas finds surrounding the D-1 and D-3 fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin can be commercially exploited.
India's fiscal deficit is projected to more than double to 6 per cent of GDP this fiscal against the budgetary target of 2.5 per cent. For the next fiscal, the deficit is estimated to be 5.5 per cent of GDP.
An uncontrolled flow of gas started from the Well G-1-9 in Bay of Bengal around August 30.
A deepwater well in a Krishna Godavari basin block operated by state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has been leaking gas for two months and there are now fears of environment damage due to the uncontrolled flow.
Reliance Industries is ostensibly seeking a 25 per cent increase in the price of natural gas it produces from the eastern offshore Krishna-Godavari Basin after it wrote to the Oil Ministry saying it has customers willing to pay more than the government-approved price.
RIL said production capacity from KG-D6 has far exceeded the 40 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd), for which buyers have been tied-up, and has asked the government to immediately name customers for an additional 25 mmscmd so as to avoid irreversible damage to the field reservoirs.
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.
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 latest Ambani-sibling fight has now become a political battle.
The Samajwadi Party members stormed the well dissatisfied over the government's response to their demand for gas allocation to Anil Ambani-promoted Dadri power plant in Uttar Pradesh from the Mukesh Ambani-led RIL's D-6 gas field in the Krishna-Godavari basin.
Reliance Industries' flagging KG-D6 gas block holds 80 per cent less reserves than previously estimated, the firm's junior partner Niko Resources of Canada said.
Heavy rain in coastal Andhra Pradesh in the wake of Cyclone Laila has paralysed industrial activity in the state, including closure of oil rigs in the Krishna-Godavari Basin. Cargo handling at ports also suffered due to the incessant rain.
After the controversy over pricing of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin, the Ambani brothers are locked in another court battle.
The 28 discoveries include Charada structure and Matar field in Cambay basin (Gujarat) and YSAF in KG basin (off Andhra Pradesh coast), the company said. The discoveries made in FY'09 have been notified to the directorate general of hydrocarbons.
Reliance Industries has said the natural gas output at its Krishna Godavari basin KG-D6 fields averaged 54.5 million cubic meters a day in the quarter ended December 31, 2010, down from 60 mmscmd achieved in April.
DGH director general V K Sibal objected to Hardy, which holds 10 per cent stake in RIL-operated D3 and D9 blocks, making 'an unwarranted, unethical and premature announcement that is bound to mislead' and influence share price. Sibal on May 29 wrote to Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman C B Bhave asking the market regulator to take up with its counterpart in London the unauthorised statement made by Hardy about its assessment of reserves in the two blocks.
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.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation plans to invest over $10 billion in bringing to production gas discoveries off the east coast, its director (exploration) D K Pande 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.
The output comprised 32.94 mmscmd from the D1 and D3 gas fields and 6.86 mmscmd from the MA oilfield.
This follows a letter by RIL to the ministry, justifying the increase in capex.
This is significantly higher than the government revenues of Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) that ADAG has been claiming in an advertising campaign that it launched on August 17. The exercise marks the first time the directorate general of hydrocarbon, the upstream oil regulator, has worked out such an estimate. The exercise is not carried out in the normal course for oil or gas fields.
The company has been in talks with ConocoPhillips and Shell for some time. It now says the MoD's stringent norms on exploration in 'no-go' areas is posing a big challenge in taking the deal forward.
Very little notice, however, has been taken of the fact that Reliance Gas Transportation and Infrastructure Ltd, which set up the pipeline network for transport of this gas which has had rival users clamouring for government priority, is no longer owned by RIL, but by the latter's chairman and managing director, Mukesh Ambani. The change took place three years earlier and went largely unnoticed, even though RGTIL is crucial for RIL's burgeoning gas business.
MA fields were producing around 32,000-33,000 barrels of oil per day and 8 million standard cubic meters per day of gas.
Reliance Industries will not "scale down" production from Krishna Godavari basin to accommodate RNRL's future needs, nor would it renegotiate the government-approved price of the gas, the Bombay High Court was told on Thursday.
RNRL had sought 28 mscmd of gas for 17 years at $2.34 per million British thermal units (mBtu) from Mukesh Ambani's RIL.
Read the full text of the Supreme Court ruling in the Krishna Godavari Basin gas dispute between Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd and Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd.
In what could seal the fortunes of the gas and power businesses of the two Ambani brothers, the Supreme Court is to deliver a judgment tomorrow on the bitterly fought dispute over gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin's D6 block.
RIL's predominantly gas rich KG-D6 block, off the east coast, has also helped boost availability of the environment friendly fuel in the country.
In a surprise move, oil regulator DGH has asked Reliance Industries to include the marketing margin the company charges on sale of natural gas from its field to the approved gas price for calculating the government's share from the project.
Reliance hold 90 per cent interest and is the operator of the deep-sea block KG-DWN-2001/1 (D9).
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