Myths are being spread about natural gas: Ambani

Mumbai, Sep 23 (UNI) Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) Chairman Anil Ambani today claimed that some myths and falsehoods are deliberately being spread about certain key issues related to the exploration, production and supply of natural gas in the country.

Addressing shareholders of Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) at its AGM here, he said these issues include availability and pricing of gas in India, the Government's share in profits from sale of gas, or the concept of profit petroleum, the relationship between this share and the capex approved for the development of oil and gas discoveries, and the Government's role in fixing the price of gas.

Mr Amabni said it is a myth that India does not have sufficient gas reserves and Reliance Industries Ltd does not have enough gas to supply to RNRL. Though it was true that the demand for gas had so far exceeded supply in the country there have been several very large discoveries in recent years. These have the potential of redrawing the energy map of the country. ''Indeed, it is now certain that India will soon have abundant supplies of natural gas,'' he said.

The Chairman said there is only a very small window, perhaps no more than two to three years, during which the domestic production of gas would be dominated by one private supplier and gas might continue to be in short supply. And it is only this window that was available to a monopoly supplier to take advantage of.

Over a slightly longer term, about four years or so, gas supply is set to quadruple from the existing 80 MMSCMD to 300 MMSCMD, more than meeting the emerging domestic demand, he opined.

''Even this scenario of future plenty takes into account barely four out of the 162 blocks, which have been awarded by the Government and for which Production Sharing Contracts have been signed. One could only imagine the scenario when gas starts flowing from all the fields for which production sharing contracts have already been signed,'' Mr Ambani said.

He said, ''RIL has consistently claimed in the court that it does not have any gas to sell to our company; but it recently claimed to the media that over 25 per cent of its profits would come from the gas business. It is also noteworthy that RIL's obligation to supply gas to Reliance Natural is not limited to the KG basin alone.'' MORE UNI VK RN MP NS2015