Reliance partner Niko falls 48%

Shares of Canada-based Niko Resources, a partner of Reliance Industries (RIL) in the D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin and NEC-25 gas block in the Bay of Bengal, dropped 47.95 per cent to C$0.38 apiece (at the time of going to press on Monday) in the wake of the Centre's move to increase natural gas prices by 46 per cent from $4.2 per million British thermal (mBtu) units to $6.17 per mBtu from November 1. Reliance Industries' (RIL) scrip dropped 0.39 per cent at Rs 934.5 a share on the BSE on Monday.

RIL holds 60 per cent interest in D6 block and NEC-25 blocks, while BP India holds the remaining 30 per cent interest. Niko is also the operator of and holds a 33.33 per cent interest in the Hazira Field in Gujarat.

Niko said in a press statement: "The company will be evaluating the impact of the new domestic gas pricing policy on its assets in India." According to the move, rates for the gas produced by upstream companies in the country will be revised every six months with the next review happening on April 1.

RIL and its partners will, however, not get the new gas price for its Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields in eastern offshore KG-D6 till it makes up for the shortfall in production in the past four years. RIL will get the higher price if it is able to prove legally that the output fall was not deliberate and was due to geological reasons as it claims.

Its D1&D3 fields are producing about eight million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) against a committed 80 mscmd.

As on March 31, all of Niko's reserves were located in the D6 Block and NEC-25 in India; Block 9 in Bangladesh and Block 5(c) in Trinidad and Tobago; and all of Niko's current production is from the D6 Block in India and Block 9 in Bangladesh, the company said in its annual report for 2014.

In the report, Niko added there is a shift in strategic focus, especially the planned limitation of exploration outside of India and Bangladesh, and the planned decrease in commitments and capital obligations with respect to exploration and evaluation assets.

"Suspension of exploration activities outside of India - Exploration efforts ceased in Indonesia, Trinidad, Madagascar, and Brazil, with drilling and technical staffing reduced significantly. Activities in these countries are now focused on farm-outs and/or sales of working interests along with extensions of drilling obligations or modifications of terms. In addition, the company initiated discussions with its vendors in Indonesia and Trinidad towards settlement of the payables accrued from its drilling programmes," it said.