HC to hear RIL plea on July 5

The Bombay High Court will on July 5 hear Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries' (RIL) appeal for review of an interim court order limiting gas sales from its KG-D6 block to brother Anil Ambani's group company Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) and state-run NTPC.

RIL today filed an appeal before a division bench headed by Chief Justice Swantra Kumar, seeking a stay on an interim order by a single bench restraining it from selling gas to companies other than RNRL and NTPC. The appeal will be heard on July 5, an RIL spokesperson said.

RIL had last month invited bids from power and fertiliser companies with consumption of more than 1 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) and falling on its gas pipeline from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

But the Anil Ambani group, which claimed half of the 80 mmscmd planned peak output from KG-D6 committed to RNRL as a part of the family split, approached the court for a stay.

A single bench of the Bombay High Court, in an interim order, stated that the 81.6 mmscmd output was only for RNRL, NTPC or RIL's captive use for the next eight years.

Incidentally, July 5 is also the date when the single bench is to give its final view on RNRL's petition. According to the Ambani family spilt agreement, RIL was to supply 28 mmscmd of gas to Reliance Energy at $2.34 a million British thermal unit (mbtu) and also sell the 12 mmscmd of gas earmarked for NTPC, if its agreement with the state-run power major collapsed.

RIL had bid for $2.34 an mbtu for NTPC's tender to source LNG/natural gas three years ago, when crude oil prices were at around $35 a barrel.

With oil prices jumping to $70 a barrel, it sought price discovery and arrived at a price of $4.33 an mbtu.