At a time when developers are increasingly scrapping their special economic zone (SEZ) projects, Reliance Industries’ SEZ at Jamnagar, which houses a Rs 25,000-crore refinery, emerged as the country’s largest SEZ in the current financial year, with exports crossing Rs 62,000 crore till January.

By March 2010, SEZ exports from Jamnagar refinery are expected to touch Rs 75,000 crore. This will contribute about 35-40 per cent of the country’s overall SEZ exports,” Development Commissioner (Jamnagar SEZ) Upendra Vasishth said. Reliance set up its refinery, over 700 hectares of the 1,700 hectares earmarked for the SEZ project.
“This year, Reliance’s Jamnagar SEZ has been the highest exporter, followed by Surat SEZ and Nokia SEZ,” the official added said.

Surat SEZ’s exports crossed Rs 20,000 crore till January this year. Nokia ranked third with Rs 10,000 crore of exports till December 2009. According to official figures, Surat SEZ’s exports were worth Rs 14,500 crore till December 2009, while that of the Jamnagar SEZ were over Rs 50,000 crore in the same period.
‘Operated at 115%’

Reliance Industries Group President Parimal Nathwani said: “Our SEZ refinery operated close to 100 per cent capacity and at 115 per cent in the third quarter. Exports from the SEZ were primarily aimed at US and European markets, besides several other locations, including Asia and Africa.”

With a capacity of 29 million tonnes per annum, the Jamnagar Export Refinery Project (JERP), located in an SEZ, added nearly 20 per cent to the country’s refinery capacity. Value-added products like acrylates for US markets have formed a bulk of RIL’s exports from SEZ.

“RIL’s exports of refinery products accounted for 23.6 million tonnes during 2009-10 (till the end of the third quarter), against 16.2 million tonnes during the same period in previous year. This was solely due to incremental export volumes from the SEZ refinery. Naphtha, gasoline, aviation turbine fuel, etc are some of the products that fetch us good export earnings,” said Nathwani.

Source:http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ril/s-jamnagar-unit-beatsheatsezs/386774/

Almost 75 per cent of Lanka IOC Plc’s petrol and diesel demand for the first six months of the current fiscal has been met by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
“For the first six months, of the 300,000 tonnes of products imported almost 225,000 tonnes have come from RIL,” Mr K.R. Suresh Kumar, Managing Director, Lanka IOC, told Business Line.
“In 2008-09 we had imported 550,000 tonnes of products of which 30-40 per cent came from RIL. Sri Lanka has just one refinery (owned by Ceylon Petroleum) with a capacity of 2 million tonnes, and the demand is close to 4 million tonnes for all petroleum products. Thus, to meet the balance demand we had to import.”

Reliance operates two refineries in Jamnagar — one with capacity of 33 million tonnes and the other of 27 million tonnes.
Declining to share the numbers at which Lanka IOC sources these products from RIL, he said, “Lanka IOC procures through a tendering process and RIL has bagged orders against tenders. It is at a very competitive price.”

Lanka IOC sells auto fuels through its 151 retail outlets with plans to add 20 during the current calendar year. On how much is the company’s performance impacted by the volatility in international crude prices, he said, “The performance is affected. As there is not much of storage capacity in the country, we have to import more frequently resulting in high costs.”
Besides, the company also incurs revenue loss on sale of petrol and diesel as the price is fixed by the Sri Lankan Government. “Though there is constant interaction between the Government and the companies the prices are not completely in sync with international prices,” he said.

Currently, petrol is sold at Sri Lankan Rs 115 a litre (Indian Rs 50 a litre) and diesel is sold for Sri Lankan Rs 73 a litre (Rs 30 a litre). The revenue loss on petrol is Sri Lankan Rs 8 a litre and on diesel is Sri Lankan Re 1 a litre.
The company has no plans to enter the cooking fuel (domestic LPG) retailing business, he said. “For Lanka IOC the main revenue generator has been the retailing business. But now there is a conscious effort to change it by diversifying into bunker fuels and bitumen.”
On if the company has any plans to set up a refinery in Sri Lanka, he said, “It will not be economically viable.”

The company recently got Govt concessions for exports and is looking at exporting lubes to West Asia, Singapore, and Maldives.

Reliance Industries-operated D6 gas field in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin has produced more than 10 bn cubic meters of natural gas worth over $1.5 bn in the first 10 months, a senior official in the oil ministry said. RIL commenced gas production from its KG-D6 on April 2, 2009.

Oil minister Murli Deora confirmed that the ministry has reviewed gas production from KG-D6. “It is a major achievement in country’s energy security. The (gas) production has helped industries particularly power and fertiliser sectors,” he told ET.

As per an oil ministry’s note, about 22 million standard cubic meter per day (MMSCMD) gas from KG-D6 is supplied to power units. “This has helped in generating an additional 5,000 MW power. It not only reduced the cost of producing power but also revived four stranded power plants in Andhra Pradesh,” the official said requesting anonymity.

“Now most of these power plants (getting KG-D6 gas) are running on a 90% plant load factor (PLF),” he added. PLF is measurement of average capacity utilisation of a power plant. Earlier, PLF of these power units was around 60%.

Due to the KG-D6 gas, government has been able to save subsidies on urea production to the tune of about Rs 4,000 crore, he said.

RIL is currently producing about 60 MMSCMD gas from KG-D6. “It is an achievement that the company has ramped up gas production in such a short time. It is only 20 MMSCMD less than achieving peak production level of 80 MMSCMS,” he said. At present production is taking place in 16 wells. But all 18 wells of KG-D6 are ready to commence production.

Reliance has already signed gas sale purchase agreements (GSPAs) with 48 customers for supplying over 61 MMSCMD. Consumers are specified by an empowered group of ministers (EGoM), and they are from fertilisers, power, city gas distribution, steel, LPG, refinery and petrochemical sectors.

In December 2009, RIL successfully tested the design capacity of its KG-D6 deepwater gas production facilities which gave a flow rate of 80 MMSCMD. RIL has been able to produce first gas from its KG-D6 block in a record time of six and a half year. Normally, deepwater production of such scale takes 9–10 years time. The KG-D6 gas field is one of the top five largest deepwater gas projects globally.
Shri Mukesh Ambani – Words of Inspiration

Nita Ambani dons many hats as the Chairperson of DAIS, co-owner of Mumbai Indians, first lady of Corporate India and many more. This time the educationist and social worker in her have joined hands in reaching education to underprivileged and disadvantaged kids.

Although the third season of the popular Twenty20 tournament is only 17 days away, Nita’s busy supporting the underprivileged kids of five NGOs through an initiative called ‘Education For All’. Some members of her team, the Mumbai Indians, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan & Co. are actively participating in this initiative. Commercials were launched across national television channels on Sunday featuring Sachin, Bhajji and Zaheer, who appeared in 15-second commercials for the cause, but the real stars of this Mumbai Indians promo are the children who make an endearing appearance with Nita Ambani at the end.

Nita Ambani intends taking her cause to the masses just like American cycling legend Lance Armstrong did for cancer victims in 2004, the Mumbai Indians is selling blue silicone wristbands signed by Tendulkar and other greats from the team that say ‘Education For All’. Every band sold will mean some amount of money goes towards the NGOs Pratham, Ummeed, Akanksha, Teach For India and Nanhi Kali that do exemplary work in educating underprivileged children. The sale proceeds will be matched by a contribution from the Mumbai Indians’ kitty.

Nita Ambani is counting on the huge fan base her team has across the country to boost the sales, but since it is for a charitable cause, all benevolent Indians supporting other IPL teams are expected to pitch in and buy the bands as well. The educationist in Nita Ambani who believes that education is the key that unlocks the potential of every child says, “It’s a small and humble effort”. She, as an erstwhile school teacher and current Chairperson of the Dhirubhai Ambani International School, has thrown open her institute, which in the evenings becomes an education centre for Akanksha’s underprivileged kids. Besides which, through the Reliance rural schools in Maharashtra and Gujarat, Nita also looks after the education of 15,000 other children.

“One of India’s big needs is for every underprivileged kid, especially the girl child, to know how to read and write,” continued Nita Ambani. “This is a cause that’s very dear to me, and Sachin, Harbhajan and Zaheer were happy to endorse it in the promo.” The sale of these ‘Education For All’ bands that are available at all Reliance and Sahakari Bhandar stores in Maharashtra is just the basic fund raiser. Nita, who sits cheering in the dug-outs whenever her team is playing, will take 120 of these kids to see every home match. She later plans to hold a special benefit match for them with her players.

American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) has honored the Reliance Industries Ltd’s (RIL) Nagothane petrochemical manufacturing unit ‘Excellence in Practice’ to achieve world-class safety in plant operation. Board of Directors of ASTD, which is the world’s largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals, will honor the team of Nagothane Manufacturing Division during its international conference and exposition on May 10, 2010.

RIL’s Nagothane petrochemical manufacturing division had initiated the practice of ‘Empowering Employees with Knowledge under the leadership of CMD Shri.Mukesh Ambani, to attain the safety in plant operation. The practice initiated by the RIL’s Nagothane Manufacturing Division clearly attracted the ASTD, which has members from more than 100 countries who work in thousands of organizations of all sizes. The practice has been selected for the ASTD honour on account of clear demonstration and measurable results of achieving organizational goals, strong evaluation plan and appropriate design values.

The ASTD award is a testimony of demonstration of sincere efforts of RIL’s Nagothane manufacturing unit employees, in line with RIL’s mission of achieving excellence in workplace and its operations. Indirectly, the ASTD has recognised RIL’s practice of relating learning to workplace safety performance through enterprise-wide awareness.

Reliance Industries Ltd controlled by Shri.Mukesh Ambani has raised its bid for bankrupt chemicals maker Lyondell Basell to an offer which values the company at $14.5 billion, a source familiar with the deal told Reuters on Monday.

Reliance made its offer this weekend, the source said. Reliance is still seeking majority control of LyondellBasell, the source said.

Reliance, India’s largest-listed company, had previously offered a deal that valued LyondellBasell at $13.5 billion, a source told Reuters last month.

Lyondell spokesman David Harpole declined to comment on “any of the rumor or speculation that has been reported.”

Harpole said that “the next step in this process is to file the amended plan of reorganization and the amended disclosure statement.”

The company still plans to file those documents with the bankruptcy court on March 1, with a hearing on the disclosure statement on March 8, said Harpole.
Earlier in February, LyondellBasell said it had reached a settlement with creditors over a lawsuit stemming from its 2007 leveraged buyout, paving the way for bankruptcy emergence.

Lyondell, which was forced into bankruptcy just over a year ago amid a cash crisis, has been sparring with creditors for months over a $22 billion lawsuit the creditors brought against the banks, advisers and executives who put together Lyondell’s leveraged buyout by Basell in 2007.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/RIL-sweetens-bid-for-Lyondell/articleshow/5604912.cms

Oil Minister Murli Deora today said Reliance Industries need not club marketing margin with the gas sale price for purpose of calculating royalty — a statement that overturns a suggestion by oil regulator DGH.

DGH had wanted the $0.135 per million British thermal unit margin, which RIL charges towards marketing cost and risks, to be added to the sale price of $4.20 per mmBtu for calculating royalty and profit share to the government.

“The Production Sharing Contract (under which firms like RIL produces oil and gas from areas given by the Government) does not envisage sharing of revenue earned by the contractor (RIL) on the marketing margin between the government and the Contractor,” Deora told Rajya Sabha.

“The marketing margin is beyond the delivery point and arises as a result of Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement signed between the seller and the buyer,” Deora said in a written reply to a question by member Amar Singh.

“The PSC provides for sharing of revenue between the government and the contractor (RIL) of the sale of gas at the said price at the delivery point,” he said, adding that marketing margin was settled between buyer and seller and Government has neither decided nor approved the same.

Deora said marketing margin arises as a result of Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) signed between the seller and the buyer and was mutually settled between them.

“The rate of marketing margin neither in the case of KG D6 gas nor in any other case has been decided or approved by the government,” he said.

RIL charges marketing margin costs, incurred in customer identification, execution and sales of a Gas Sales Agreement, customer registration and activation, gas sales planning, daily gas sales operations, gas accounting, invoicing and collection and establishment of regional offices, and risks like penalties and liquidated damages, volume risks, credit risks and claims and settlement of disputes.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/oil-gas/RIL-need-not-pay-royalty-on-marketing-margin-Deora/articleshow/5607383.cms

State-owned power utility NTPC has signed agreement to buy 1.2 million metric standard cubic meter a day (mmscmd) of more gas from Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries’ (RIL) eastern offshore KG-D6 fields at the government-approved price of $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mBtu).

NTPC signed Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) to buy more gas on February 16, taking its total supplies from KG-D6 to 1.81 mmscmd, sources in the know said.

The government had in October 2009 allocated NTPC 3.85 mmscmd, beyond the 0.61 mmscmd it had earlier signed for.

But NTPC did not want to use the KG-D6 gas at its Kawas and Gandhar power plants in Gujarat, which are connected with pipelines ferrying KG-D6 gas from the Andhra coast. So, a swap arrangement was worked out wherein state-owned gas utility GAIL India was to divert gas from other sources to NTPC and supply Reliance gas to its existing customers.

However, limitations in GAIL’s pipeline capacity restricted the swap to just 1.2 mmscmd, sources said, adding that additional gas supplies to NTPC would begin by next week.

NTPC’s Anta plant in the national capital region currently gets 0.61 mmscmd of KG-D6 gas.

Source:http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ntpc-triples-kg-d6-gas-offtakeril/86281/on

Marks & Spencer which entered India through a joint venture with Reliance Industries, is all set to open more company-owned stores, and reposition itself as a mid-market aspirational brand. The iconic British retailer is also betting big on overseas markets especially India and China for a turnaround. On a visit to India Sir Stuart Rose, non-executive chairman of M&S stated that their brand positioning here would be the same as in the UK. He said the company is working hard to win the Indian consumer.

M&S which holds 51 per cent stake in the JV with Reliance is planning to open 50 stores by 2014. According to its, chief executive in India, Mark Ashman, the company plans to open six to eight outlets in the next fiscal. For the new stores, M&S is looking at an area of over 25,000 sq. ft. The focus will be on big stores so that they can put their entire catalogue. The JV was set up to sell items such as apparels and household equipment.

Sir Stuart Rose flew to Mumbai for a meeting with the chairman of the Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, an M&S partner.“Mark Bolland, our new chief executive, is very keen to grow the overseas market, and India is just top of the list,” said Sir Stuart, who although has decided to step down, remains the chairman of M&S, during the visit. “In fact, I have been discussing with Mr. Ambani about the need to get aggressive and both of us are looking to have several more stores.”

In 2008, the UK-based supermarket chain launched in a joint venture with Reliance Industries. “There’s a real difference when you put people on the ground who really understand the brand and what the customer is looking for, and there is a different mindset when you invest your own money”, says Mark Ashman, the chief executive of the Reliance joint venture. India is not a panacea or an easy win. It takes time, and you have to understand that.”

M&S is UK’s leading retailer that sells high quality, great value clothing and home products, as well as outstanding quality food. Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), a subsidiary of India’s biggest corporate house Reliance Industries Limited, was set up to lead Reliance Group’s foray into organized retail with a vision to generate inclusive growth and prosperity for farmers, vendor partners, small shopkeepers and consumers. Keeping in line with its commitment of providing customers with best quality products, RRL has forged strategic partnerships with world-class companies such as Marks & Spencer (apparel and accessories), Office Depot (office stationery), Pearle Europe (optical products) and Hamleys (toys).

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has stated that Reliance Industries is providing full access to records and making available copies of documents it has sought for audit of expenses incurred on the nation’s largest gas field.

CAG, which started audit of the Krishna Godavari basin D6 field on December 21, after completing the first round of scrutiny sought a completely new set of documents and access to RIL’s entire corporate SAP (computer-based accounts).

However, since the documents and the photocopies of records sought ran into thousands of pages, there was a delay, prompting CAG to shoot off a complaint to the Oil Ministry.

Within weeks of the January 27 complaint, CAG has again written to the Petroleum Ministry saying it has made progress in receipt of requisitioned documents as well as their copies.

“There has been progress both in receipt of requisitioned documents as well as in making photocopies,” CAG Principal Director of Audit K R Sriram wrote on February 12.

Since, the entire RIL is not being audited by CAG, segregating records pertaining to on the KG-D6 fields was taking time.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/oil-gas/RIL-fully-cooperating-with-audit-CAG/articleshow/5599763.cms