The drop in crude oil and natural gas prices has led Reliance Industries' (RIL) three shale gas joint ventures (JVs) in America to pare operating and capital expenditure.

Shale gas, a business RIL expected would begin contributing significantly to its revenue by 2015, has been hit with a sharp downturn in commodity prices, especially in the case of crude oil.

Weighed down by a steep decline in global crude oil prices, which hurt the profitability of its core refining business, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Friday reported a 4.5 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 2014.

In line with market expectations, net profit for the quarter was Rs 5,256 crore, compared with Rs 5,502 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s standalone net profit stood at Rs 5,085 crore, down 7.72 per cent and the first such drop in the past nine quarters.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Mukesh Ambani's RIL six weeks' time to respond to the CAG report on gas pricing from the KG basin.

The SC also allowed petitioners, including CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, to file response on government's new guidelines on gas pricing.

The premium promised by the government for natural gas produced in geologically challenging conditions must be linked to the prevalent market prices of a basket of alternative liquid fuels, with a discount factor that would reduce progressively, allowing the price to come close to arm’s length price over a period of three to five years, major private sector explorers have argued.

Markets pared early gains in late morning trades as investors booked profit at higher levels after reports suggest that retail inflation is likely to be on the higher side. The government will detail November IIP and December CPI data later today.

At 11:40AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 22 points at 27,436 and the 50-share Nifty was trading flat at 8,285.

In a New Year gift to its shareholders, Reliance Industries (RIL) completed its long-drawn acquisition of Network18 without breaking a sweat, at a fraction of the costs originally proposed. The open offers of Network18 Media & Investments and TV18 Broadcast, expected to cost about Rs 2,200 crore, were completed at a total expenditure of Rs 17 crore as very few investors tendered their shares in the offer, according to exchange filings by the two media firms on Thursday.

Markets opened marginally higher with infrastructure stocks leading the gains after the government paved the way for easing the land acquisition Act for public-private partnership and rural infrastructure projects.

At 9:35AM, the 30-share Sensex was down 23 points at 27,372 and the 50-share Nifty was trading 6 points lower at 8,240.

Reliance Industries has signed shipping agreements with one of the world’s largest shipping companies, Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd (MOL), for transporting liquefied ethane from North America to India.

MOL will supervise the construction of six Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs), ordered by Reliance. MOL will also operate and manage the vessels after these are built and delivered.

Mumbai: Both the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex and CNX Nifty continued to rally for the second consecutive session on Friday led by gains in IT stocks after global rival Accenture Plc raised its revenue forecast, while Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) rose on bets it will roll out its telecom services in the next few months.

The 30-share Sensex closed 0.9%, or 245.27 points, higher at 27,371.84, while the National Stock Exchange’s broader barometer 50-share Nifty rose 0.81%, or 65.90 points, to end at 8,225.20 points.

The ban on fracking by New York state is a double whammy for India’s largest private firm, Reliance Industries, which has invested $7 billion in the US shale gas sector after the 45% fall in crude oil prices.

Analysts say the falling crude oil price is making shale gas sector unviable as the massive investments in shale gas need at least $60 a barrel to sustain operations.

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