RIL refuses gas, says RNRL cannot consume fuel

Mukesh Ambani-led RIL on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it cannot supply gas to Anil Ambani group firm RNRL in the absence of power plants to consume the fuel and apprehended that the same would be traded to make "enormous profits."

Replying to RNRL's petition seeking Supreme Court to direct RIL to supply gas as already ordered by the Bombay High Court, RIL said the Anil Ambani group firm "does not have a single power plant since the demerger (of the Reliance empire) and the ADAG owns just one gas-based plant."

"RNRL does not have existing plants capable of using the gas and it is necessarily seeking to trade in gas over (which it is not entitled to do at all) and make enormous profits based on the below market acquisition price of  $2.34 per mmBtu," RIL said in its affidavit. RNRL is demanding 28 mmscmd of gas from RIL for 17 years at a price of $2.34 per mmBtu, which is 44 per cent lower than the government-approved rate.

Apprehending that the gas could only be used by RNRL to trade, RIL said trading in gas is also barred by the government policy, under which KG D6 gas can only be sold to priority end users which have existing facilities to consume gas and users identified by the government.

RIL also noted that while the demand for supply was 17 years, the fact was that the life of production from KG-D6 fields was only 12 years.