The government has slapped a $2.81 billion (about Rs 24,500 crore) demand notice on Reliance Industries and its partners, including BP Plc for gains made from producing and selling natural gas that may have migrated from neighbouring block of state-owned ONGC. This follows the Delhi high court's decision on February 14, overturning an international arbitration tribunal ruling that held the duo not responsible for paying any compensation for the gas they produced and sold which had allegedly migrated from adjoining fields.
Due to poor hydrocarbon prospects, BP surrendered nine out of the 21 oil and gas blocks where it had bought 30 per cent stake from Reliance Industries for $7.2 billion
They also voiced concerns over a double penalty being sought to be imposed on them for KG-D6 fields output not matching targets.
RIL-BP, who are currently producing about 11.8 million standard cubic metres per day of gas from the flagging eastern offshore KG-D6 block, is targeting newer fields in KG-D6 block and gas discoveries in neighbouring north-east coast and Cauvery basin to raise output.
RIL had in February last year submitted a revised field development plan for the MA oilfield, which has been producing crude oil since September 2008.
Energy conglomerate Reliance Industries and its partner BP plc on Friday said they have made a second deep-water gas condensate discovery in the Cauvery basin, off the east coast.
Reliance Industries and its partner BP Plc on Thursday won approval to invest $3.18 billion in R-Series gas field in the flagging KG-D6 block.
India Gas Solutions Pvt Ltd -- the equal joint venture between the Mukesh Ambani-led firm and Europe's second largest oil firm - is among the three companies shortlisted by Gujarat government for giving out 25 per cent stake in the Mundra terminal.
BP, which bought a 30 per cent stake in RIL's 21 oil and gas blocks, including KG-D6, for $7.026 billion in 2011, is working with RIL to arrest the output decline in the fields.
After nearly five months wait, the government on Friday cleared UK's BP Plc buying 30 per cent stake in most of Reliance Industries' oil and gas blocks, including the showpiece KG-D6 gas fields, for $7.2 billion.
Though all the regulatory and ministerial approvals are yet to come in, two working groups with specific mandates have been set up.
BP has valued Reliance Industries' (RIL) new exploration and production (E&P) business at around $25 billion (Rs 1,12,500 crore), according to Goldman Sachs.
Dudley, on a stop-over visit on way to Shanghai, along with Ambani drove to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia's residence for a breakfast meeting this morning and had sought a meeting with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.
India Gas Solutions the equal joint venture between the two companies, is looking to sell LNG to five power producers in Andhra Pradesh - GMR, GVK, Lanco Infratech, Sravanthi Energy and Konaseema Gas.
Reliance Industries Ltd, along with its partner British Petroleum, plans to invest about Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) to carry out exploratory drilling in an offshore block in the Bay of Bengal, off the Tamil Nadu coast.
The block was offered to the consortium under New Exploration and Licensing Policy (Nelp VII). RIL has 70 per cent participating interest and BP, which is the operator of the block, holds the remaining 30 per cent.
Despite a massive underperformance at the bourses since the last six months, analysts are turning optimistic on Reliance Industries (RIL). Those at Jefferies, for instance, say that the company is a proxy play for India's consumption growth story. The key catalysts for the stock, according to a Jeffries note, include faster-than-expected market share gain in retail, oil-to-chemicals (O2C) stake sale, recovery in gross refining margins (GRM), potential public listing of Jio and even a possible banking licence going ahead. That apart, analysts feel any tariff hike in Reliance Jio (RJio) - its telecom venture - will also aid performance. With balance sheet adequately de-levered, proceeds from a strategic stake sale in the O2C business will create a sizeable war chest for the company, analysts say.
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.
RIL had in 2006 proposed to invest $2.234 billion in developing the Dhirubhai-26 or MA discovery, the only oil find in the KG-DWN-98/3 (KG-D6) block in Krishna Godavari basin off the east coast.
BP and Reliance Industries Ltd are leading the race to pick up a 25 per cent stake in Gujarat State Petronet Corporation and the Adani group's five million tonnes per annum liquefied natural gas terminal at Mundra.
RIL-BP currently produce gas from Dhirubhai-1 and 3 field and oil and gas from MA field, three of the over one-and-half dozen discoveries made in KG-D6 block
RIL and its British partner BP Plc had proposed undertaking concept validation and Front End Engineering Design for all the 16 gas discoveries surrounding the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields in the 7,645 sq km KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block.
Dudley and Ambani, assisted by BP India head Sashi Mukundan and RIL Executive Director P M S Prasad, primarily discussed RIL-BP's oil and gas investments at the meeting that lasted nearly one-and-half hour.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is reported to have held talks with Saudi Aramco on a cash and share deal for sale of a 20 per cent stake in its oil refining and petrochemical arm. Ambani had in August 2019 announced talks for the sale of a 20 per cent stake in the oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business, which comprises its twin oil refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat and petrochemical assets, to the world's largest oil exporter. The deal was to conclude by March 2020 but has been delayed for reasons not disclosed by either company.
A fall in crude oil price and Aramco's $75 billion annual dividend commitment may have delayed Saudi company picking a stake in Reliance Industries Ltd's oil-to-chemical unit (O2C), research firm Jefferies said. Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani had in August 2019 announced talks for the sale of a 20 per cent stake in the O2C business, which comprises its twin oil refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat and petrochemical assets, to the world's largest oil exporter. The deal was to conclude by March 2020 but has been delayed for reasons not disclosed by either company.
The government on Thursday decided to join the arbitration initiated by Reliance Industries and its partners over delay in revision of natural gas prices, and named former Supreme Court judge G S Singhvi as its arbitrator.
bp had last year bought 49 per cent stake in the 1,400-odd petrol pumps and 31 aviation turbine fuel stations owned by RIL for $1 billion.
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The Management Committee headed by Director General of Hydrocarbons R N Choubey refused to take a view on appointment of renowned reservoir consultants Ryder Scott, DeGolyer and MacNaughton, Gaffney, Cline & Associates or Netherland, Sewell & Associates to ascertain if RIL's claims of fall in reserves are actually true or the firm was hoarding gas by producing less, official sources said.
The withdrawal of the arbitration will now entitle the two companies to marketing and pricing freedom on the natural gas they produce from newer fields in the deep sea at an investment of Rs 40,000 crore by 2022.
RIL and partner BP plc are carrying out remedial action to stop water ingress from choking wells even as the first production well on the block in more than four years ramped up output by over 15 per cent to 13.7 million standard cubic meters per day.
The arbitration clause is present in almost 95 per cent of corporate agreements, according to tax and audit firm Ernst & Young.
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The five discoveries -- D4, D7, D8, D16 and D23 - hold 0.805 trillion cubic feet of reserves, or about one-fourth of the restated reserves in the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) fields in KG-D6 block, and are worth $10 billion.
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