RIL ends 3% down after draft report reveals alleged theft of ONGC gas

Shares of Reliance Industries slipped nearly 3 per cent in the late afternoon trade on Thursday after draft prospectus from DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M) suggested that there was extraction of gas by RIL from state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) KG block.

The scrip of RIL ended the day at Rs 889.15, down 2.70 per cent after hitting an intraday low of Rs 886.60, down 2.99 per cent, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The US-based independent expert agency D&M was appointed to look into the technical issues on the long-standing gas dispute between ONGC and RIL and is likely to present its final report by next month.

"The draft is likely to reveal that 12-18 bcm of gas was drawn by RIL from the ONGC area, and for that it (RIL) might have to pay up to Rs 12,000 crore as compensation to ONGC," reported ET Now on Thursday.

The government is likely to seek legal opinion on compensation from RIL to ONGC. The oil ministry will examine the draft report on gas theft within next week.   

ONGC had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in May last year alleging RIL might have deliberately drilled natural gas from its fields that sit next to the private sector explorer's KG-D6 block in the K-G basin, said a Business Standard report.

"It made the Central government as well as petroleum ministry's technical arm Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) respondents in the case. RIL contested the claim," added the report.

The oil ministry had last year told the high court that the allegations levelled against it by ONGC were 'frivolous' and the government had taken all necessary steps to resolve the national explorer's complaint. It also said ONGC "never raised any issue on connectivity of reservoirs or channels" ever since it was granted mining lease of the Godavari PML Block (G-4) in 2008 and even when RIL started production from KG-D6 in April 2009.