New Delhi: Reliance Industries on Monday said
Anil Ambani Group firm RNRL's intervention in its legal row
with power PSU NTPC over gas supply will weaken the state-run
company's case to get fuel at a rate 44 per cent cheaper than
the government-approved rate.
Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) today moved the Supreme
Court seeking permission to become a party to NTPC's case
against RIL for getting natural gas at USD 2.34 per million
British thermal unit.
"RNRL's application for intervention in RIL-NTPC case in
the Supreme Court further weakens the NTPC's case as the
Government has categorically mentioned in its Interlocutory
Application that both the cases are different from each
other," an RIL official, who did not want to be named, said.
The Government in its IA made a distinction between NTPC
and RNRL seeking gas from RIL on the same terms, saying the
PSU's case was based on an international tender it floated for
sourcing gas while Anil Ambani Group firm's claim was based on
a private family agreement.
"In the RNRL's case, the Government had rejected the
price of USD 2.34 per mmBtu as it was not an arm's length
price," the RIL official said.
He alleged NTPC's failure to sign a contract with RIL
for sourcing 2.67 million cubic meters per day of gas that
the Government allocated to its plants other than the Kawas
and Gandhar expansion projects, to its "nexus" with RNRL.
NTPC is the only firm that has not signed a Gas Sales and
Purchase Agreement (GSPA) from among the three dozen firms
that were allocated the initial 40 mmscmd gas from RIL's KG-D6
fields.
"One of the reasons why NTPC has not signed the GSPA with
RIL so far for Kawas and Gandhar is due to difference on the
marketing margin front and the way RNRL has raised the same
issue clearly shows the close nexus between both the
companies," he alleged.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, September 14, 2009, 20:36