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Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is weighing a sale of its US shale gas investments, people with knowledge of the matter said. The company may sell the holdings as part of a strategic review of its assets, as it believes their worth isn't fully reflected in its market value, one of the people said, asking not to be named as the details are private.
It has invested more than $8 billion in its unconventional gas joint ventures through the end of March, according to its annual earnings report.
Selling the shale assets would allow Reliance to put its capital to more productive uses, given the gas market may not improve for some years, according to one of the people.
It hasn't made a final decision to sell, and Reliance isn't willing to part with the assets at a depressed price, another person said.
BHP Billiton wrote down an additional $2.8 billion on its shale assets this month, joining impairments by explorers Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil ASA and Total SA. Tushar Pania, a spokesman for Reliance, didn't reply to an e-mail seeking comment.
