Never contested CAG auditing KG-D6 spending: Reliance

Reliance Industries on Saturday said it had never contested the government's right to get the company's spending on KG-D6 gas fields audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General but hoped it will not be subjected to a performance audit.

"RIL has at no time contested the government's right to conduct an audit by any agency, including the CAG, as provided in Section 1.9 of the Accounting Procedure of the PSC," the company said in a statement on Saturday evening.

Stating that it was a private operator functioning under a Production Sharing Contract, RIL said it "appreciates" CAG's reported statement that it does not conduct performance audit of private firms.

"We appreciate the fact that the CAG is in agreement that it does not conduct performance audit of private operators and expect that no such performance related audit issues applicable to the government will be applied to any such audit," RIL said.

The company said it was fully confident of its technical capabilities and "welcomes comments on operational matters if such comments come from experts having the requisite knowledge of the complexities of deep water operations in oil and gas sector".

"At all times RIL has fully co-operated with any auditor appointed by the government including in several cases where the government had already exercised its audit rights earlier or where such audit was beyond the period stipulated in the PSC," the company said.