Mukesh Ambani, chairman of the ever so dynamic Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has decided to sign a two year pact with Hazira LNG Pvt Ltd, to import a spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) from April onwards.
Recently, BP- world’s largest energy enterprise- announced its joint venture with Reliance Industries whereby it would acquire a 30% stake in 23 of Reliance’s oil and gas exploration blocks in India and as part of this deal, the two firms have decided to form an equal joint venture for sourcing and marketing of gas. Although, it is not clear whether the LNG cargoes from Hazira LNG will be imported as a part this joint venture or by Reliance Industries alone; but an indispensable requirement of the same is incontrovertible.
As the present state of things goes, Reliance is in need for LNG cargo for its processes and units located in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This refining complex can process 1.24 million barrels per day – making it the world’s biggest petrochemical and energy producing plant. In order to continue the functions at the estimated rate, Reliance needs additional cargo of gas, as its D6 production block gas is allocated to other companies. Thereby, Reliance is set to import regassified LNG equivalent to a spot cargo at an estimated 3.6 million tonne a year from the Hazira terminal on the west coast starting April this year.
Shell Gas, via its Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary, owns a 74% stake in Hazira LNG, while Total Gaz Electricite France, a unit of France’s Total, holds the remainder.
The RIL-BP joint venture, set to commence its functioning within next six months, will seek to meet the growing demand for fuel in the world’s second-fastest growing economy. According to BP’s Energy Outlook 2030, India’s daily gas consumption in 2010, estimated at 6.1 billion cubic feet (bcf) is expected to surpass15 bcf mark by 2030.
There is a mounting anticipation to produce energy products at a faster pace, and Reliance’s dealings with BP and now the Hazira LNG Pvt Ltd will prove to be a marginal effort in accounting for the same.

Reliance Retail’s consumer durables and electronics arm, Reliance Digital, is revamping its image to become customer convenient. Reliance Digital, by conceiving a new brand slogan-’We bring technology to life for you’ is drawing this revamping exercise to provide customers with a well differentiated value and experience.

The brand has revamped its website, www.reliancedigital.in, to make it more interactive and informative. Customers who visit the site and fill in their details get special discounts on products when they shop at the store. Reliance Digital in the first phase of the revamping its brand, will focus on top metros and satellite towns, and cover around 150 cities in the second phase.

Reliance Digital which currently has 27 stores across Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Jalandhar, Bengaluru, Mangalore, Hubli, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Vizag, Secundrabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Nashik and Nagpur plan to focus on the country’s top metros and satellite cities in its Phase I expansion, and 150 cities in Phase II. The first Reliance Digital outlet to have undergone a revamp is the Vashi store in Mumbai which now claims to be more customers focused, convenient, informative and service oriented. It also has an Experience Zone to help customers feel, enjoy, test and try the products.

Reliance provides consumers with a wide range of high quality products at competitive prices. Reliance Digital has geared itself to be completely customer centric in its offerings and services. They offer wide range of state-of-the-art CDIT products to our customers and make it easy for them to understand and use its products.

Reliance Digital has set themselves high targets and standards so that their customers get the best at our store through products, solutions, service and a life-long relationship. Since its inception in 2006, Reliance Retail has grown into an organization that caters to millions of customers, thousands of farmers and vendors.

Industrialist Mukesh Ambani led Reliance India Limited (RIL) has ranked second in the Fortune India 500 list compiled by business magazine ‘Fortune’ in its December 2010 edition released on Thursday.
In the first-ever Fortune list of Indian companies, RIL contended one of the top spots second only to Indian Oil Corporation that managed the top slot as compared to State Bank of India and Bharat Petroleum Corporation who acquired third and fourth places, respectively. The list includes listed companies and privately-held firms and their rankings are based on the total revenues incurred by the organizations. Other evaluation check marks include year-on-year change in revenues, net operating income, profit, assets, net worth, dividend and total salaries.
Reliance Industries entry on the second spot is an encouraging feat for the corporation, which stands tall with its numerous outings and a successful business structure credited to its strong arm leader.
An average revenue of a company on the Fortune India 500 list standing at Rs.7,632.50 crore is an indicator of the massively growing Indian corporation structure that have managed to strategically mature along the lines of global corporate heads. “The total revenue of the Fortune India 500 companies stands at Rs.38,16,239.40 crore (nearly $850 billion). This is nearly 60% of India’s GDP”, quoted the magazine.
The list goes on to include Hindustan Petroleum, Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Hindalco Industries and ICICI Bank as its remaining slot bearers in the top ten list.
This list is a transparent gauge to indicate how much Indian companies have evolved and successfully grown into profit making corporations in the last decade. Joining now in the league of elite 500 corporations of the world, Indian companies, like RIL, have carved a successful share in the global market as the futuristic industrial moguls with an ambitious standing among the confederation of global giants.

Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is enhancing its gasoline and diesel exports after restarting units which were shut for maintenance. Reliance Industries, owner of the world’s largest oil-refining complex, shipped about 195,000 metric tons of gasoline in the first week of November from its operations in Jamnagar, western India. That compares with about 250,000 tons in all of September. RIL also exported about 443,000 tons of diesels as of 8th November, compared with about 1.7 million tons in October and 1.2 million tons in September.

Reliance Industries restarted a crude-distillation unit and coker at one of its two Jamnagar refineries on 17th November after shutting them in the last week of October. A 100,000 barrel-a-day vacuum gasoil unit, which produces fuels such as gasoline and diesel, was offline for about three months from early May to September. Reliance exported 1.05 million tons of gasoline in July and August combined, while 2.01 million tons of diesels were shipped overseas in the same period. The two plants at Jamnagar are capable of processing 1.2 million barrels a day of crude, making enough fuel to meet about 75 percent of the U.K.’s consumption.

Reliance’s Jamnagar facility in India’s western state of Gujarat is centered on two refineries, a 580,000 barrel-a-day plant completed in December 2008 and an older 660,000 barrel-a- day unit. The plants can process a combined 1.24 million barrels of oil a day, or about 1.6 percent of global refining capacity. Reliance Industries imports of crude are also headed for an increase, with the company importing about 1.7 million tons in the first week of November, compared with nearly 3.7 million tons for all of October.

Reliance Industrie, CMD, Mukesh Ambani is in the process of finalizing partnerships with many US universities for establishing a world-class varsity in India.

Mukesh Ambani’s group, which has Reliance Industries (RIL) as its flagship company, Mukesh Ambani said after receiving the Dwight D Eisenhower Global Award for leadership from the Business Council for International Understanding(BCIU), “My wife Nita is building a university of a world scale and world size and we are finalizing broad partnerships with many of the American universities. We look forward to really equipping tomorrow’s youth with the skills and the knowledge and the competencies that they would need in India in the coming decades.”

Mukesh Ambani’s wife Nita Ambani is leading the efforts for setting up a varsity which would be set up by RIL’s philanthropy arm Reliance Foundation. Nita Ambani in a lecture delivered at the London School of Economics (LSE) last month had said that Reliance Foundation had taken up the challenge of setting up a world class university in India. LSE had also said that it would collaborate with Reliance Foundation for establishing world class universities in India. Nita Ambani said, “The (proposed) university will break new grounds in the use of technology and it will be a university that looks global with Indian soul,”

Reliance Industries is leading the efforts for setting up a varsity which would be set up by RIL’s philanthropy arm Reliance Foundation. As the company looks forward for equipping tomorrow’s youth with the skills and the knowledge and the competencies that they would need in India in the coming decades.

Reliance Industries has recently received the Dwight D Eisenhower Global Award for leadership from the Business Council for International Understanding. The award recipient’s represents as the finest in entrepreneurship, innovation and leadership on the world’s stage and embody the pioneering view of commercial diplomacy established by BCIU founder President Eisenhower.

Reliance Trends, the fashion apparels and accessories specialty concept of Reliance Retail marks its comeback in Uttar Pradesh. India’s most populated state Uttar Pradesh welcomes back Reliance Retail as the Reliance Retail’s retail format opened its 33rd store in the state capital Lucknow. According to Arun Sirdeshmukh, the chief executive of Reliance Trends, with this store opening in Lucknow, the company is keen to make its presence felt in other cities of the state. This includes Kanpur, Agra, Meerut and Bareilly. They are also planning a second store in Lucknow in another six months. In the next six months six stores will be opened in UP. This is part of an overall aggressive expansion strategy, under which they will open 100 stores by 2011-12.

Close on the heels of Reliance Trends returning to UP, the company’s other standalone niche specialty stores including, Reliance Digital, Reliance Footprints and Reliance Music are following suit. While Reliance Footprints and Reliance Digital are expected to be launched in Lucknow early next year, talks for setting up Reliance Music stores are in the final stages. This is our third year of operations and already they are the largest chain of apparel stores in the country. The plan is to take this forward by launching 100 stores by 2011-12 and 155 stores by 2012-13. All the locations have been identified and work is going on at these sites at various stages, Sirdeshmukh informs.
Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries didn’t have smooth sailing in UP for a while. Three years ago, it was forced to close shop in the state as Reliance Industries had made a failed attempt to foray into the organized retail sector in India’s most populous state through Reliance Fresh.
Reliance Trends houses some of the best brands from various parts of the world including their collections. The store’s core principle is – ‘Fashion at great value’. It offers a mix of private brands across men’s, women’s and children’s categories. The collection offers high fashion, latest trends, cuts and styles and top-quality material backed by technology and innovation.
Reliance Trends seems unbeatable as they offer fashionable and trendy clothes at prices unmatched in the market. Reliance Trends is leaving no stone unturned in tapping the homogeneous mix of world famous brands and private brands and is all set to expand to 56 stores by the end of current financial year.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) today announced that its subsidiary, Reliance Marcellus II, LLC, has signed definitive transaction agreements to enter into a Marcellus Shale joint venture with United States based Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRZO).

Under the proposed transaction, Reliance will acquire a 60% interest in Marcellus Shale acreage in Central and Northeast Pennsylvania that is currently held in a 50‐50 joint venture between Carrizo and ACP II Marcellus LLC, an affiliate of Avista Capital Partners. Pursuant to the transaction, Reliance will acquire 100% of Avista’s interest and 20% of Carrizo’s interests in the joint venture. Upon completion of the transaction, Reliance and Carrizo will own 60% and 40% interests, respectively, in a newly formed joint venture between the companies.

Reliance will pay a total consideration of $392 million, comprising of $340 million of cash and $52 million of drilling carry obligations. The drilling carry obligations will provide for 75% of Carrizo’s share of development costs over an anticipated two year development program. The joint venture will have approximately 104,400 net acres of undeveloped leasehold in the core area of the Marcellus Shale in Central and Northeast Pennsylvania, of which Reliance’s 60% interest will represent approximately 62,600 net acres. This acreage is expected to support the drilling of approximately 1,000 wells over the next 10 years, with a net resource potential of about 3.4 Tcfe (2.0 Tcfe net to Reliance). The transaction allows for additional growth in the development acreage, at pre‐agreed terms.

Carrizo will serve as the development operator for the joint venture and Reliance has the option to act as a development operator in certain regions in the coming years as part of the joint venture. The transaction is anticipated to close by mid‐September 2010. Commenting on the joint venture, Mr. Walter Van de Vijver, President, International E&P Business, Reliance Industries said, “Reliance is excited about the opportunity to further expand presence in the Marcellus Shale in the United States. We are pleased to establish a long‐term partnership with Carrizo, which has demonstrated operating expertise in the shale plays. The proposed joint venture will supplement strengths achieved through our recent joint ventures and further expands our footprint in North American shale gas operations.”
Jefferies & Company, Inc. acted as lead financial advisor and Vinson & Elkins LLP acted as legal counsel to Reliance. BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank provided strategic advise to RIL in respect of this investment.

Reliance Industries owned RIL-Infotel, which is the pan-India winner of broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, has started trials of WiMax service as per industry sources.

Mukesh Ambani’s RIL-Infotel has installed, as per the source, five WiMax base station in which three are from Alvarion and two are from Samsung. The company is checking interoperability among various BTSs and devices along with factors that hold key to a business.

Infotel won BWA spectrum in all 22 telecom circles across the country for a whopping Rs 12,847.77 crore. On the same day RIL had announced to acquire 95 per cent stake in the company.

The entry of Mukesh Ambani into telecom will create death knell for several players. The mobile industry is yet to recover from shocks following the implementation of the per second billing concept. Mukesh Ambani, when launched Reliance Infocomm, was the first to take on Vodafone and Bharti Airtel with cost effective schemes. Mahendra Nahata created history when HFCL won several mobile circles when the telecom industry was opened up for private players in mid 1990s. But Nahatas could not complete their mission. Mukesh Ambani, who settled his issues with brother Anil Ambani, can now enter telecom space and is looking for buying out operators.

The success of WiMax trials being run by Reliance-Infotel will be a big blow to Qualcomm, the evangelist of TD LTE technology, which is expected to make foray into global market by late 2012 or early 2013.

According to WiMax Forum, there are more than 300 WiMax devices of all types like datacards, Indoor CPE, WiMax Hand Sets etc, already certified by it for use in more than 540 mobile WiMax networks in 140 countries. There are more addition expected by WiMax Forum to this existing range of devices.

Source:http://news-views.in/mukesh-ambani-back-with-a-bang/

Reliance Industries remain on top of the list when it comes to being socially responsible or active. This time again they have hit it right with the United Nations naming Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani to a key advocacy group on Millennium Development Goals. As per the reports, this is an achievement for the corporate as it will increase its stature on the global front. According to the sources, Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian to be part of the MDG advocacy group along with other eminent personalities on board including Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus and philanthropist Ted Turner. The mandate of this Millennium Development Goals advocacy group includes finding various ways to fight socio-economic evils such as poverty which is a blazing issue these days. As per the sources, Mukesh Ambani will be in charge of global partnership for development which will include formulation of an open, rule bases, non discriminatory and predictable financial and trading system.

According to the United Nations representative, Mukesh Ambani, the top Indian industrialist will also look at the special needs of the least developed countries of the world as well as other landlocked developing countries along with other small islands and developing states. As per the sources, the Millennium Development Goals are eight international goals which at least 23 global organizations and 192 United Nations member states have agreed to achieve by the tear 2015. All these goals are developmental goals and will work for the benefit of the underprivileged sections of the society worldwide.

This golden opportunity will also strengthen the presence of Reliance Industries globally. Reliance Chief Mukesh Ambani feels proud to be associated with this noble cause which includes reducing poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics like AIDS and developing a global partnership for development. According to the world body, this MDG advocacy group will support the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in mobilizing global action and building political will. To set this initiative rolling, the first task of the advocacy group is the preparation for the MDG Summit which will be held in September this year and this Summit can be seen as a turning point in the collective effort to achieve the set goals by 2015.

The elder of the two Ambani siblings, Mukesh is also the member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade and Industry and the Board of Governors of the National Council of Applied Economic Research. Not just on the national front, Mukesh Ambani is also active in the international scene. He also holds the position of the Vice Chairman of The World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Source:http://news-views.in/un-names-mukesh-ambani-in-mdg-advocacy-group/

Top Industrialist Mukesh Ambani would release ‘Wildscapes’, a coffee table book on environment and wildlife protection, here on July 29.

The book is a collection of wildlife photographs by Aurangabad-based lensman Baiju Patil and is presented by Rajya Sabha member Vijay Darda, who is also Chairman of the Lokmat group of newspapers.

The images in the book are from national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. “The idea is to generate awareness about this subject among children and youth and motivate them towards wildlife conservation,” Darda’s son and Lokmat Executive Director Devendra Darda told PTI.

Governor K Sankaranarayanan would preside over the book release function, to be held at Raj Bhavan.

Vijay Darda has taken several initiatives to promote conservation of nature and wildlife. One such project, Lokmat Green Initiative, involved planting one lakh saplings in a day.

“The idea behind the book is to make readers aware about what can be lost forever if we do not act immediately to protect wildlife and environment,” Devendra said.

Mukesh Ambani is an Indian business magnate, philanthropist and the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, the largest private sector enterprise in India and a Fortune 500 company.
Mukesh Ambani directed and led the creation of the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, with a current capacity of 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port and related infrastructure. Today, he leads the largest private sector conglomerate in India.