The much-awaited decision on gas prices has finally come. However, production is unlikely to increase in the near term. The decision to raise the price from the current $4.2/mBtu to $5.61/mBtu will impact three of India's upstream companies differently. It is a positive for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL). It is sentimentally negative for Reliance Industries (RIL), as the revised pricing formula is not going to apply to the company till arbitration proceedings are on. Till this is resolved, the difference between the revised and earlier price of $4.2/mBtu will be credited to a gas pool account maintained by GAIL.

The market believes ONGC and OIL would be the biggest beneficiaries of diesel price deregulation and the gas price revision. With underrecoveries disappearing in the case of diesel, ONGC is expected to gain the most, believe oil & gas analysts. Diesel accounts for 55 per cent of total underrecoveries and about half of it is borne by public sector oil and gas producers. Within that, most of it is borne by ONGC.

Reliance Industries has said its efforts to step up gas production at the KG-D6 block haven’t met expectations thus far and a recent appraisal well drilled to assess hydrocarbon potential has turned out to be unsuccessful. RIL’s senior management told analysts who track the company at a meeting following the declaration of its September quarter results on October 13.

Mumbai, Oct. 14: Reliance Industries (RIL) has said it will make a final investment decision on producing gas from the R-Cluster discovery in the KG-D6 block only after the Union government takes a call on raising gas prices.

RIL and its partners BP plc of the UK and Canada’s Niko Resources plan to produce about 13 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas for 13 years from the D-34 discovery, known as R-Cluster, in the KG-D6 block by 2017-18.

Reliance Industries is trading higher by nearly 2% at Rs 973 on BSE in early morning deals after it reported a better-than-expected consolidated net profit at Rs 5,972 crore for the quarter ended September 2014 (Q2) on back of improved gross refining margins (GRMs) and lower input costs. The company had registered a profit of Rs 5,873 crore during the same quarter last fiscal.

However, consolidated net sales declined 4.3% to Rs 113,396 crore from Rs 118,439 crore for the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) beat analysts’ expectations during the July-September quarter, with its profit increasing 1.7 per cent over the year-ago period. Even as lower exports, a decline in crude oil prices and reduced refining and oil & gas volumes had a bearing on the company’s earnings during the quarter, higher profitability in the core refining & petrochemicals business helped. Good sales in the organised retail space also boosted the numbers for RIL.

On a consolidated basis, Reliance Industries’ turnover in the period stood at Rs 1,13,396 crore, a drop of 4.3 per cent from Rs 1,18,439 crore a year ago. At Rs 5,972 crore, however, its net profit was 1.7 per cent higher than Rs 5,873 crore in the same period last year. The value of its exports from India stood at Rs 66,065 crore, 14.7 per cent lower than Rs 77,428 crore in July-September 2013.

Falling crude oil prices will make it more difficult for Reliance Industries to get enough returns on its $7.4-billion investment in three US joint ventures, say analysts.

As already reported, RIL plans to sell 45 per cent stake in its joint venture for shale gas in the US with Pioneer Natural Resources.

India's Reliance Industries Ltd is seeking a buyer for its stake in the Eagle Ford Basin oil and natural gas joint venture with Pioneer Natural Resources, a sale that could raise up to $4.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Pioneer, which has about 230,000 acres in the Eagle Ford Basin according to its website, sold a 45% interest in the property to Reliance for $1.2 billion in 2010. The Eagle Ford Basin asset is a three-way joint venture between Mumbai, India-based Reliance; Irving, Texas-based Pioneer, and a division of Mexico's Alpha SAB de CV.

The Securities and Appellant Tribunal (SAT) on Friday admitted a plea by Reliance Industries (RIL) against a Rs 13 crore penalty imposed by capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Sebi in August had passed an order against RIL for allegedly failing to disclose of a key financial metric to investors.

The private companies of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani saw a slowdown in growth in fiscal 2014, courtesy a slowing economy and fall in gas production.

Of Ambani's three main private operating companies, Reliance Gas & Transportation, the gas pipeline company, widened its loss to a record high of Rs 3,400 crore in fiscal 2014 from Rs 900 crore loss in FY2013, as gas production from RIL's Krishna Godavari basin fell over the years.

Mumbai: The 30-share bellwether BSE Sensex was trading marginally down ahead of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) bi-monthly policy due later on Tuesday.

RBI will release its monetary policy at 11am. RBI to maintain repurchase rate at 8% to shield the rupee from potential increases in US borrowing costs and sustain a fight against inflation, all 51 analysts in a Bloomberg survey predict. The government will also announce fiscal deficit data on Tuesday.

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