The Union government on Thursday joined the arbitration process initiated by Reliance Industries (RIL) and its partners over delay in revision of the price of natural gas from the Andhra offshore KG-D6 block. It appointed former Supreme Court judge G S Singhvi as its arbitrator.

RIL and its partners, BP Plc of the UK and Niko Resources of Canada, had on May 9 served a pre-arbitration notice on the government, alleging failure to implement the decision on a gas price rise with effect from April 1. This stalling, it said, was preventing sanctioning of investments of around $4 billion.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said on Wednesday that the government's move to disallow it recovery of certain costs relating to the D6 gas block in the Krishna-Godavari basin (KG-D6) did not amount to a penalty and was also not in line with the contract the two had signed.

In a statement issued on the BSE exchange on the penalty, imposed by the government for falling KG-D6 output, it said, “RIL and its partners believe the purported rationale of the government, in proportionately disallowing the cost in the ratio of actual production to the estimated production from D1-D3 fields in KG-D6 is not as per the Production Sharing Contract (PSC).”

With development of three gas finds in Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block held up due to a technical dispute, the petroleum ministry is seeking Cabinet nod to relax timelines to allow the firm retain and produce from the discoveries worth $1.45 billion.

The Oil Ministry is seeking Cabinet nod to allow Reliance Industries to retain three gas discoveries worth $1.45 billion in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block even after expiry of timelines.

RIL has not been able to submit a development plan for D-29, 30 and 31 gas discoveries, which hold an estimated 345 billion cubic feet of reserves, with the prescribed timelines due to dispute with the upstream regulator DGH over tests required to confirm them.

The government imposed an additional penalty of $579 million on Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) for failing to meet the gas production target for its flagship KG-D6 block in 2013-14 as well, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday.

The fresh penalty, the first imposed by the new Narendra Modi-led government, is in addition to the existing fine of $1.80 billion slapped on the company for production shortfall in earlier years — $457 million for 2010-11, $548 million for 2011-12 and $792 million for 2012-13.

Mumbai: Peak production from Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL’s) gas reserves in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin may hit 45-50 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) in the next five years, said two executives of the company familiar with the estimates.

To be sure, this is far lower than the earlier estimated peak output of 80 mscmd, but is much above the 13 mscmd that RIL is currently producing from the block.

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries and its partners BP plc of UK and Canada's Niko Resources have slapped an arbitration notice on the government seeking implementation of a delayed gas-price rise.

The trio had on May 9 issued a "pre-arbitration notice" saying failure to implement the increase from due date of April 1 is preventing them from sanctioning investments of almost US$ 4 billion this year.

The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Monday dismissed an appeal by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) against stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in a seven-year-old case.

The company had moved the tribunal after its application to settle charges of "illegal trading gains" through the consent mechanism was rejected by Sebi.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), along with its partner British Petroleum (BP), plans to invest about Rs 800 crore to carry out exploratory drilling in an offshore block in the Bay of Bengal, off the Tamil Nadu coast. The Mukesh Ambani-led company is the operator of the offshore block CY-DWN-2001/2, also known as CY-III-D5, with 70 per cent equity, while BP holds the remaining stake. Thus, of the total Rs 800-crore investment, BP's contribution would be Rs 240 crore.

Mumbai: The top-five private companies by market capitalization added 578,804 employees in the year ended 31 March, the fewest in 3 years, as companies focused on improving productivity of its existing employees amid a slowdown in the economy.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), ITC Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and Infosys Ltd, saw their combined headcount rise 5% from the previous year, according to data collated from the annual reports of each of the companies.

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