Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries (RIL) is likely to appeal in a day or two against the Bombay High Court that restrained it from selling half of the intended gas output from its prolific KG-D6 block to parties other than firms owned by his brother Anil Ambani.The High Court has in its May 3 ad-interim order asked RIL not to sell the volumes committed in the 2005 demerger agreement that split the Dhirubhai Ambani empire between Mukesh and Anil.Sources said RIL was likely to file an appeal against the order with a division bench of the Bombay High Court by Tuesday as the order would force the company to produce only half of the 80 million standard cubic metres per day of planned production from July 2008 in theabsence of infrastructure to take the fuel to power plants owned by Anil Ambani group."Our project financing has been done on the basis of producing 80 mmscmd of gas and recovering the cost through sale of that volume. Now here is a situation where we will be investing in creating infrastructure for producing 80 mmscmd but the actual output will be only half of that...this disturbs our entire financing," a source close to RIL said.RIL had committed $5.2-billion investment to produce 80 mmscmd of gas beginning July 2008. But with the Anil Ambani group not in a position to take the gas to any of its power plants in the absence of a transport pipeline from east coast, this uncertainty, some say, will jeopardize the country's first deep-sea gas development project that was supposed to wipe out the current 80-90 mmscmd national gas deficit.
