Terming as "illegal" marketing margins charged by Reliance Industries (RIL) on gas supplied to it, Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Infrastructure has asked the Mukesh Ambani-led company to withdraw these charges and refund the payments it had made till now.
"... The charge towards the marketing margin imposed by you (RIL)... For sale of gas is illegal, unauthorised and unwarranted," Reliance Infra has written to RIL, which is supplying 0.55 mmscmd gas to the Anil Ambani group firm under an agreement signed in April this year.
"It (the charge) is in excess of the ($4.2 per mmBtu) price determined by the government, which according to you is the price at which you can sell gas under the PSC. It (marketing margin of $0.135 per mmBtu) is not even shared with the government as a part of profit petroleum," Reliance Infra added.
Another Anil Ambani group RNRL is currently engaged in a legal battle with RIL over supply of gas.
The communication comes within days of the Petroleum Ministry hitting out at the Anil Ambani Group for making "baseless allegations" that the ministry was favouring RIL on unauthorised marketing margin and said why the same was not questioned when Reliance Infra signed a gas deal with Mukesh Ambani-led firm.
"They (ADAG) had not raised the issue of marketing margin at the time of signing the GSPA and not till now. They are suddenly making baseless allegations that the Petroleum Ministry is favouring RIL," Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey had told reporters earlier this week.
Reliance Infra in the letter to RIL yesterday said that their gas supply agreement was not a result of any marketing undertaken by RIL or any agency and "since there has been a complete absence of any marketing, the charge in respect of marketing margin is clearly unwarranted.
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"...Further it appears that the sale consideration charged by you using the nomenclature of marketing margin is not even shared with the government of India," R-Infra said.
"You are therefore requested to withdraw the charge towards marketing margin with immediate effect. We request you to refund with interest the marketing margin that has been collected by you without any authorisation," R-Infra said, adding that it would not be making any such payments henceforth.