Business | Oil & Gas
Reliance Industries says gas reserves may exceed 50 tcf
India's Reliance Industries said yesterday its natural gas reserves could exceed 50 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and that it was hoping to start up a new refinery six months earlier than planned.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 September 20, 2006
London: India's Reliance Industries said yesterday its natural gas reserves could exceed 50 trillion cubic feet (tcf) and that it was hoping to start up a new refinery six months earlier than planned.
Reliance's head of international operations Atul Chandra added that one of Reliance's discoveries at a site he declined to identify could yield 1 billion barrels of oil.
Reliance made one of the world's largest gas finds at the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin in 2002.
"Reserves and technical resources put together could exceed 50 tcf," Chandra told an oil conference, adding that the information had not yet been officially announced.
Previously, the KG find was estimated to contain 35 tcf.
Chandra was also optimistic that significant oil reserves could also be proved up.
"Some of us feel it could be a billion-barrel discovery," he said, but later declined to confirm if he was talking about the KG basin.
Chandra said that he expected the Indian government to liberalise the coal industry to allow private investment in production, which Reliance would take advantage of. "Soon we will be entering into the coal business," he said.
Reliance is also targeting commercial coal bed methane production in 2008, Chandra said.
He added that Reliance hoped to enter Iraq "at the appropriate time" either on its own or with partners.
Reliance Industries' turn-over represents around 3 per cent of India's GDP, Chandra said, and the company hoped to raise this to 10 per cent.
In help achieve this, the company seeks to develop a presence as a retailer.
Jamnagar project
Reliance is building a new refinery adjacent to its Jamnagar facility. It had planned to start operations in December 2008 but now the company is targeting June 2008.
This comes as many large international oil majors are struggling to keep projects on schedule due to a tight market for inputs and contractors.
Chandra said it would be one of the most sophisticated in the world, with a complexity level of 14.4 as measured by the Nelson index, enabling it to process heavy crudes.
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