Shares of companies engaged in oil exploration and production business have hit 52-week lows after the government lowered the domestic gas price by over 10% to $5.02 mmBtu (metric million British thermal units).

Reliance Industries, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India and Cairn India have touched their respective 52-week lows on the BSE during the intra-day trade.

New Delhi, March 19: The CBI today told a Delhi court that Reliance Industries vice-president (finance) K.V. Mohanan and the managing partner of Mumbai-based law firm Chitale and Associates, Rajendra Chitale, were "suspects" in the corporate espionage case the agency is probing.

Agency officials began questioning Mohanan and Chitale at the CBI headquarters this afternoon. Mohanan had been questioned for nine hours yesterday too.

Domestic natural gas prices are likely to be slashed by over 10% to $5.02 per unit from April 1, hitting revenues of companies like ONGC and Reliance Industries.

The prices of natural gas are due to be revised from April 1, based on average rates at key international hubs. The new rate will be around $5.02 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) as compared to the current price of $5.61, sources privy to the development said.

Mumbai, March 13 (PTI): After mentoring 11 start-ups, the venture investment arm of Reliance Industries is now looking forward to investing in new companies which will be crucial to its growth, a top official said today.

Eleven start-ups completed a mentoring programme, launched by RIL's arm Gennext Ventures and Microsoft Ventures recently. Both the partners today announced that they had started inviting applications for the second batch, where around a dozen start-ups will be mentored.

Reliance Industries Ltd , which operates the world's biggest refining complex, will shut half of its 660,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in India for a four-week planned maintenance from Sunday, a source familiar with the matter said.

Reliance, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has two advanced refineries at Jamanagar in western Gujarat state which can jointly process 1.2 million bpd of oil, or about 28 percent of India's overall capacity.

Reliance Industries has restored the supply of gas in Sadasivapet, Telangana after the damage of a trunk pipeline and subsequent fire.

The company is now in the process of assessing the damage.

The shares of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) shot up by 4.39 per cent on Tuesday following a global brokerage firm CLSA’s prediction that the company’s refining margins might rise to six-year high in the current quarter. The report, however, has warned about the rising expenditure in the telecom, which is pulling down the company’s valuation.

Driven by improvement in naphtha crackers, petcoke spreads, higher light-heavy crude differentials and shrinkage in internal loss due to the lower Brent price, RIL’s March quarter’s refining margin could rise $3 a barrel on a quarter-to-quarter basis to a six-year high of $10.3 a barrel.

The shares of Reliance Industries shot up by 4.31% on Tuesday following a global brokerage firm CLSA’s prediction that the company’s refining margins may rise to six year high. The report, however, has warned about the rising expenditure in telecom which is pulling down the company's valuation.

Driven by improvement in naphtha crackers, petcoke spreads, higher light-heavy crude differentials and shrinkage in internal loss due to the lower Brent price, RIL's March quarter’s refining margin could rise $3 per barrel on quarter to quarter basis to a six-year high of $10.3 a barrel.

Stocks of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group companies, Essar Oil and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd witnessed huge selling pressure today as investors booked profit amid concerns relating to the “corporate espionage” scandal.

Shares of Essar Oil fell by 3.79 per cent to Rs 107.90 on the BSE, while those of Cairn India fell by 1.60 per cent to Rs 249.10.

The Union government on Thursday cracked down on illegal information leaks from the petroleum and natural gas ministry. Delhi Police detained two employees of the ministry and three other persons for allegedly leaking confidential information. One of them is an employee of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the country's largest private sector oil company.

A clerical staff and a peon in the ministry were apprehended by the police. "We have been looking into this case for a long time. One of the persons is a driver and the other is a former multi-tasking staff. They were leaking official documents to certain unofficial persons for money," Delhi Police chief B S Bassi told journalists.

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