Reliance Industries will be able to ramp up natural gas output from its Krishna-Godavari deep-sea fields to peak capacity of 80 million metric standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) in the fiscal year to March 2013, Oil Secretary S. Sundareshan said on Wednesday.
The company is currently pumping 55-60 mmscmd, Sundareshan said.Reliance Industries was initially expected to produce 80 mmscmd by the end of this year.
Mukesh Ambani has joined the race to buy the assets of the British Petroleum (BP) Company in Tanzania and three other African countries.
International industry sources said yesterday that Mr Ambani’s two firms, Reliance and Essar, had offered between $400 million (about Sh560 billion) and $500 million (Sh700 billion) for each of the BP Africa’s assets in Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia.
Should the bid succeed, it will consolidate the influence of the world’s fourth richest man in the local fuel market since Mr Ambani already does business in the country through Gulf Africa Petroleum Corp (Gapco). The acquisitions are bound to have far-reaching regional ramifications since Gapco also does business in Kenya and Uganda.
About half a dozen firms, including Libya’s National Oil Corporation, have also expressed interest in buying the BP assets in the five countries. Kenya’s Kenol Kobil had also said it was keen to acquire the assets after BP announced early this year that it was quitting some of its African operations to concentrate only on a handful of markets.
The Tanzanian Government, which holds a 50 per cent stake in BP Tanzania, had also declared that it wished to acquire the oil giant’s business in the country. There have also been reports that Tanzania was considering teaming up with Zambia and Malawi in a joint acquisition, since the business would be a strategic investment to ensure reliable stocks of fuel in the three countries.
Yesterday, Energy and Minerals minister William Ngeleja said though the government had expressed interest in acquiring the business, BP Africa had not responded. He said that as a key shareholder, the government would have to be consulted before the BP assets in Tanzania are sold.
“We are still waiting for their offer. Despite having said they want to sell their shares, they have not yet communicated with us officially,” Mr Ngeleja told The Citizen by phone from his Sengerema constituency, in Mwanza Region.
Last March, Mr Ngeleja announced that buying the BP Africa stake in BP Tanzania would be one of the government’s business ventures. He also said that even if BP found another strategic investor, the transaction would not go on without the government’s approval. “No new investor will come aboard without our approval. This is according to the partnership deal that we have sealed,” he said.
Although the BP Africa asset sale was announced before the company’s oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that has cost it billions of dollars, there were no reports of the proceeds being used to help pay damages arising from the debacle in the United States.
The assets BP is selling include retail outlets, terminals and aviation fuel stations. According to industry sources, Reliance may be looking at supplying gas oil, gasoline and jet fuel to the East African markets from its twin refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat. Currently, the company is the supplier of oil to Gapco, which also owns retail outlets in Uganda and Kenya.
Sectoral experts say the acquisition of the BP assets would give a company a ready market for auto and aviation fuel with a scope for further expansion into neighbouring high growth countries. Besides selling fuel, lubricants and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), BP is the largest aviation fuel supplier in Tanzania, with about 70 per cent market share. BP Tanzania has for a long time held a 35 per cent market share in both the retail and service stations.
The joint venture by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and IMG to develop, market and manage sports in India has turned out to be a boon for Indian football as the first part of their partnership with the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the group has decided to sponsor 16 India U-14 boys to spend nine months at the IMG Soccer Academy at Florida for nine months.
Back in March, when RIL and IMG announced their partnership, they decided to initiate a scholarship program which would identify Indian athletes with exceptional talent and thereby provided academic scholarships to their residential academy in the US.
It was in January this year that the AIFF held an U-14 festival in Jamshedpur from which the gifted ones were selected. These boys joined the U-13 team from last year and following a camp, the selected 22 boys were sent for the AFC U-14 festival in Iran in May where they managed to hold the hosts twice with the scoreline reading 1-1 and 2-2 respectively.
From these 22 players, 16 were chosen and shall be sponsored by Mukesh Ambani, the fourth richest man in the world according to Forbes, and the IMG group. The players have been summoned to attend a camp in Gurgaon from the 7th of next month until the 27th following which they shall depart for the US along with the coach. When Goal.com contacted the AIFF, they chose to remain mum on the deal.
The IMG Soccer Academy has seven soccer fields and their facilities are used by the Bradenton Academy who run the US Soccer Residency Program which has provided a steady flow of talent for the US national team with the likes of Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onyewu, Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore coming through their ranks.
This deal marks a new era for sponsorship as it’s the first of its kind in football in India and it’s heartening to see corporates coming forward to support the cause of the most beautiful game.
Interestingly, six of the 16 boys are hailing from Punjab and Chandigarh while the traditional hubs of Indian football, West Bengal and Goa, contributing a player each.
Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries, RIL
Mukesh Ambani group’s flagship company Reliance Industries (RIL) has announced its results for the quarter ended June 2010. It has reported a net profit at Rs. 4851 crore as against Rs. 3,666 crore which shows a clear growth of 33.42 per cent on year-on-year basis. A day after RIL reported its best-ever quarterly profit; it surged over 1 per cent in the early trade on Bombay stock Exchange on Wednesday. According to the data, the turnover achieved for the quarter ended 30th June was 61,007 crore, an increase of 88.1 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year. Every field, be it net profit, exports, turnover, EPS and margin saw an upward trend in the quarter 1 results of Reliance Industries Limited. According to the media reports, exports were higher by 103.5 percent at 32,849 crore as against Rs. 16,145 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.
Boosted by the healthy June quarter results, shares of the country’s most valued corporate rose 1.44 per cent to touch a high of Rs. 1068.70 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. According to statistics, during the quarter ended 30th June, 2010, the production from KG D6 was 304,349 tonnes of crude oil and 5,376 MMSCM of natural gas. As compared to the corresponding period of the previous year’s results, the production of both crude oil and natural gas grew by 207 percent and 210 percent respectively. Commenting on the quarter 1 results of Reliance Industries Limited, Chairman and Managing Director, RIL, Mukesh Ambani said, “We had yet another record quarter due to high operating rates and improving margins across all our businesses. Reliance embarked on two major initiatives to create incremental value. We entered into joint ventures in shale gas to internationalize and diversify our upstream portfolio. Reliance has also committed itself to participate in the high growth and exciting area of broadband wireless. Both these initiatives are in line with the strategy to identify and invest in new, value creating businesses.”
Reliance Industries Limited posted a 32.3 per cent rise in profit and a whopping 85 percent jump in revenues for the quarter ended 30th June. According to the industry experts, this is the highest ever quarterly result including net profit and revenues reported by RIL and its credit goes to the robust performance of its refining and petrochemical businesses. Research MD at CNI, Kishore Ostwal commented on these RIL results and said, “The company has posted impressive quarter earnings which should be good for the overall market. However, I feel the stock will remain flat in the short-term.”
Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-q1-results-see-32-3-jump/
V Srikanth, the head of markets for South Asia at Citigroup Inc, will join Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries as deputy chief financial officer as the refinery-to-retail major looks to hire executives with expertise in global financial markets to manage its expansion plans.
Mr Srikanth, 44, is leaving Citigroup after a 20-year stint with the New York-based company, a person familiar with the matter said. The former Country Treasurer of Citi group is likely to oversee global risk management, among other things, at RIL and will report to CFO Alok Agarwal. “Srikanth left Citi to take up a challenging assignment as RIL is expanding into diverse areas,” said the person. A chartered accountant, Srikanth was part of many global market transactions at Citigroup.
Pankaj Vaish, managing director and head of equities at Nomura Financial Advisory & Securities (India), will replace Mr Srikanth at Citigroup’s Indian operations, according to a press release from Citigroup.
The Reliance spokesman declined to comment.
India’s largest private sector company is investing money generated by its gas business to buy assets abroad. It has acquired two shale gas assets in the US and is said to be close to concluding its third purchase of shale gas assets.
The company has recently appointed Vivek Paranjpe as the head of HR with a mandate to formalise succession planning, groom managers and restructure performance management systems. A Reliance veteran, Mr Paranjpe has worked with multinationals such as Hewlett-Packard . Mr Paranjpe succeeds the late VV Bhatt, who brought talent to the company from public sector behemoths as the company built its petrochemical and refining assets.
Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6174587.cms
Vimal, the flagship textile brand of Reliance Industries, today announced pan-India roll out of its new range of anti-microbial suiting fabrics. The in-house innovation, called DEO2, is thought to be a first for an Indian textile firm. It can arrest growth of fungi and bacteria to keep garments odourless in hot and humid conditions, the company said.
“This breakthrough innovation in textiles will give our product a cutting edge in market. It has been found safe for human use,” Reliance Industries president (Textile Business) Anand Parekh told newspersons. The company has filed an India patent for this in-house technology developed at its facility at Naroda.
“Vimal offers fabrics in the range of Rs 150 per metre to Rs 5,000 per metre, and customers will not have to pay a penny extra for addition of this technology,” Parekh claimed.
RIL manufactures more than 12,000 design-shade combinations every year in polyester wool and woollen, polyester viscose and woollen fabrics under the Vimal brand. “The size of suiting market in India is to the order of Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,000 crore only for the manmade fibre.”
“Currently, we are number two in the organized textile sector in terms of market share. With the launch of this new range our share should grow substantially,” he said. “Our new technology follows American Association of Textiles Colours and Colourist-147 Protocol, the highest protocol for any such fabric to pass, besides certifications from Indian agencies like ATIRA and BITRA,” Parekh said.
“The company is looking to introduce this technology in the shirting range of fabrics too,” he said. Vimal, which has supplies in the defence sector in India, is looking to introduce this fabric range for uniforms for armed forces, besides other government departments.
Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-industries%E2%80%99-vimal-launches-deo2-fabric/
India recorded the highest rise in natural gas output worldwide in 2009 after Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 field came into production, Economist Christof Ruhl said.
Mukesh Ambani-run RIL began gas production from the Krishna-Godavari basin in April, 2009, and its 60 million standard cubic metres per day output led to a 75 per cent jump in natural gas availability in the country to 140 mmscmd.
“Last year, India had the highest increase in production of natural gas worldwide. And I just checked, it also had the highest corresponding increase in consumption in natural gas worldwide,” BP Plc Group Chief Economist Christof Ruhl said. The jump in natural gas production in India was possible because the government allowed private sector firms to take a lead in exploration for hydrocarbons.
“When you look at countries where gas production is heavily government-controlled, like Russia, they had the biggest decline in gas production and consumption,” he said. “When you look at countries where new technologies have been developed like unconventional shale gas in the US… it was because they have an investment environment which is very competitive,” he said. Shale gas, trapped in sedimentary rocks, is said to hold the potential of doubling gas output in US.
Ruhl said that it was very clear who was left behind, as countries where natural resources were tightly controlled were less flexible.
Source: Economic Times
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is close to finalising its third shale gas acquisition in the US. In what is being talked about as the company’s biggest shale gas deal so far, industry sources said RIL is in active talks to acquire a 50 per cent stake in a shale gas asset in North America. The acquisition is likely to be the biggest so far by IL, sources said.
In April, RIL had picked up a 40 per cent stake in Atlas Energy’s Marcellus Shale acreage for $1.7 billion, committing a capital expenditure of $3.5 billion over 10 years. For RIL, Marcellus is a strategic investment, as it is one of the most economically attractive unconventional natural gas resource plays in North America, due to low operating costs and proximity to the north-east gas markets in the US.
RIL picked up a 45 per cent stake in Pioneer Natural Resources’ Eagle Ford shale acreage for $1.3 billion in June. The deal was done through Reliance Eagle Upstream, an arm of RIL. Pioneer owns 46 per cent, while Newpeck holds nine per cent. Reliance Industries had agreed to make an upfront payment of $266 million in cash and contribute another $879 million towards Pioneer’s share of future drilling costs in the next four to six years.
Flush with revenues from its Krishna-Godavari (KG)-D6 gasfield back home, Mukesh Ambani’s RIL, sitting on cash reserves of close to Rs 22,000 crore has been on the lookout of acquisitions in US.
Shale gas extraction involves tapping natural gas trapped between layers of shale rock, similar to the extraction of gas from between coal seams.
More such acquisitions in shale gas projects in the US will follow, sources said. An RIL spokesperson refused comments on the development.
“Shale gas extraction is gaining momentum worldwide and especially in the US. An agreement is also expected to be signed between India and the US during the visit of US President Barack Obama later this year,” said a senior petroleum ministry official.
Besides acquisitions of shale gas assets by RIL in the US, ONGC is also likely to execute some agreements with US firms during President Obama’s visit to India.
Source:http://news-views.in/mukesh-ambani%E2%80%99s-ril-eying-third-us-shale-gas-deal-in-north-america/
Eight Indian companies, including oil major Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL), have made it to the list of the world’s 500 largest companies compiled by Fortune.
The league of 500 elite companies for 2010 is topped by US retailer Wal-Mart Stores, followed by oil giant Royal Dutch Shell and another oil major, Exxon Mobil, in that order.
Besides IOC and Mukesh Ambani’s RIL, the other Indian companies in the list are steel-maker Tata Steel, auto company Tata Motors, oil entities Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and State Bank of India (SBI).
Tata Motors has made an entry into the list for the first time this year, while seven other Indian entities, which were part of the list in the previous year as well, are also featured in this list.
The list also features Citigroup, ArcelorMittal, Pepsico and Motorola, four companies led by people with Indian roots.
IOC has the highest rank of 125 among the featured Indian companies, followed by RIL at the 175th spot, SBI (282), BPCL (307), HPCL (354), Tata Steel (410), ONGC (413) and Tata Motors (442).
According to the magazine, IOC had revenues to the tune of $54.28 billion, RIL $41.08 billion, SBI $28.21 billion, BPCL $26.59 billion, HPCL $23.88 billion, Tata Steel $21.58 billion, ONGC $21.44 billion and Tata Motors $19.5 billion.
Vikram Pandit-led Citigroup is at 33rd place, with revenues of $108.78 billion, while NRI billionaire L N Mittal’s ArcelorMittal bagged the 99th position with revenues worth $65.11 billion.
Pepsico, run by Indira Nooyi, was ranked at 171st place with revenues of $43.23 billion and Sanjay Jha’s Motorola is at the 391st place, with $22.06 billion in revenues.
Source:http://www.reliance-news.com/mukesh-ambani/reliance-industries-makes-it-to-fortune-500-list/
Reliance Industries (RIL) intends to increase the competition in the fuel retailing space by opening around 5,000 outlets.
The country’s largest private sector oil and gas operator would initially start the 750 fuel stations, which were closed due to uncompetitive fuel rates compared with the public sector fuel stations. The company plans to eventually increase the number to 5,000 outlets after diesel prices are completely deregulated.
A senior RIL official told Financial Chronicle that the company is looking at all the strategic locations across the country especially in the north and the east, where it does not have a presence. Also, it is taking a fresh look at already identified locations to find if those have now come to be served by BPCL, HPCL or IOC pumps.
Mukesh Ambani’s company, at present, has its presence in 12 states and plans to have its footprints in other states too.
The government on June 25 deregulated petrol prices, as a result of which retail price of motor spirit was increased by Rs 3.50 per litre. It also announced that the empowered group of ministers had decided to deregulate diesel prices, but had allowed the retail price to be raised by only Rs 2 per litre for now.
Mukesh Ambani’s RIL has been supplying fuel at almost the same rate as public sector companies from 650 outlets mostly in the southern and western regions of the country. The company was forced to shut around 750 fuel stations in 2008 because it was not able to match the subsidized prices of HPCL, BPCL and Indian Oil.
The company has four types of petrol pumps which includes the Avon Plazas, where it provides all sorts of facilities to customers, such as restaurants, telephone facilities and lavatories. It also plans to open pumps with garages, where trucks and other vehicles can be repaired.
Morgan Stanley in a report said, “RIL should gain from the recent price hike and the deregulation of petrol prices, as it currently has around 1,500 outlets ready to tap gasoline marketing margins.”
