Reliance to tighten grip on world fuel markets

India’s top privately run refiner Reliance is expected to raise crude oil imports by about 22 percent this year as it ramps up production at its giant complex, further stamping its mark on world markets.

To maximise profit margins with its sophisticated refining capability, Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries is also set to limit African crude imports this year in favour of Middle East grades, if light crude prices continue to strengthen against heavy-sour grades, traders and analysts said.

“I expect Reliance refineries to run at full steam, even if in between there is a small shutdown, they can easily run at about 65 million tonnes,” said a trader familiar with refining operations. Reliance declined comment on traders’ estimates.

This means that the company’s two refineries — the largest facility in the world — will run above their full combined capacity of 1.24 million barrels per day (bpd), higher than last year when its second plant began operating at full rate in the second half.

After the world first saw increasing flows from Reliance in the summer of 2008, with the start of its new 580,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) plant, this year will see the full blast of exports of high-value diesel and gasoline made from a diverse slate of the cheapest available crudes.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/energy/oil-gas/Reliance-to-tighten-grip-on-world-fuel-markets/articleshow/5746150.cms

Reliance’s Naptha in demand

India’s Reliance has sold two naphtha parcels for April loading within a week despite weakening sentiment, traders said on Thursday.It sold a 50,000-55,000-tonne spot parcel for first-half April loading to an oil major at premiums above $20.00 a tonne to Middle East spot quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.

It had also sold via tender 50,000-55,000 tonnes for April 4-8 loading from Sikka port to Glencore at a premium of around $21.50 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis. Traders are expecting India’s exports to stay high at more than 800,000 tonnes in April versus around 900,000 tonnes in March despite falling sentiment.

Source:http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSGE62O0EK20100325

Reliance, Tata, Adani bought 4830 hectare of Gujarat government land in 3 years

Mukesh Ambani‘s Reliance, Tata and Adani Group have emerged as the largest government land buyers of the state.

Together they have bought 4,830 hectare land from the state government in the last three years valued at Rs377.97 crore. This fact came to light in a written response given by revenue minister Anandi Patel to Congress MLA from Kalupur, Mohammed Farooq Shaikh.

Patel informed the state assembly that Reliance had been allotted 1,333 hectares of land for its SEZ in Jamnagar in addition to 57 hectare for marine tank farm and 1225 sq. mt for a refinery related project.

Tata Group has been provided 1,476 hectare, which includes 1,031 hectare for its ITproject in Gandhinagar and 445 hectare for much-hyped Nano car project in Ahmedabad. Tata has paid Rs11.35 crore for IT SEZ land; however, they have not paid any money for the prime land given in Sanand for the Nano car project.
Adani Group has been allotted 1,964 hectare of land for SEZ project in Kutch. “The Gujarat government has earned over Rs377.99 crore revenue by way of land allotment to these industrial giants,” the minister stated.

Source:http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_reliance-tata-adani-have-bought-4830-hectare-of-gujarat-govt-land-in-3-years_1360768

Mukesh Ambani – Quality precedes Quantity

The country’s most valued company RIL’s Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani today said time has come for India to think of economic growth in qualitative terms.
Observing that India is capable of achieving double-digit growth, he also said, “The power of youth and energy is driving India’s development today. No one doubts India’s ability to achieve double-digit growth on a long and sustained basis.”

“Today, much of India’s growth is being described and debated purely in quantitative terms and I believe that having achieved 8-9 per cent growth, the time has come for us to think in qualitative terms,” Ambani said at the IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award function here.

He further pointed out that the country was paying insufficient attention to the quality of development that it ought to achieve. “We are aspiring for bigger but we are not focusing enough for better,” he said, adding that health and education are the two key developmental indicators.

India needs to address and improve the quality of education as it will be the backdrop on which growth aspirations can be realised, Ambani said.

“After all, if India can produce world-class businesses, why can’t India also produce world class universities. It should be our ambition and our determination to show that the new Stanfords, Harvards and Oxfords in the 21st century will be Indian universities,” Ambani said.

The Reliance Foundation has decided to establish a world class university in India.

“We as a nation must make the transition from company- wide focus on quality to country-wide focus on quality. We can achieve this by linking the quality of India’s development to national pride,” he said.

Today, Indian products and services are far better than foreign brands and the country had achieved world-class in many sectors, he said.

“Dalal Street is as good or better than Wall Street in terms of functioning of the capital market. Bollywood has emerged as a strong competitor to Hollywood. All these have certainly added to our national pride,” Ambani said.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Think-of-economic-growth-in-qualitative-terms-Mukesh-Ambani/articleshow/5703503.cms

Reliance eyes gas venture in US

Reliance Industries Ltd., the owner of the world’s largest fuel-making complex, is in talks with Atlas Energy Inc. to invest in the U.S. natural-gas producer’s shale assets. Reliance is seeking a joint venture with Atlas Energy to develop the U.S. firm’s Marcellus Shale gas operations.

Independent oil and gas company Atlas is looking for a partner for its operations in the booming Marcellus Shale in the eastern United States, which could bring in $1 billion or more for the firm.

Reliance, India’s largest listed firm, is eyeing a deal in trying to gain a foothold outside India, as it attempts to break into new markets and expand its various businesses including refining, oil and gas exploration and petrochemicals.

The Marcellus Shale, which spans parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York, could hold enough natural gas to satisfy U.S. demand for a decade, according to some geologists. “The sentiment is that the U.S. has a wall of gas that can be drilled at very low prices,” said Brian Lively, vice president of exploration and production research at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. in Houston.

Atlas’ core Marcellus position consists of 266,000 acres largely in southwestern Pennsylvania. Bidders for the Atlas position should include large international integrated oil and gas companies as well as domestic independent oil and gas companies. Reliance Industries would be joining British, French, Japanese and Canadian rivals in investing in U.S. reserves trapped in rocks that until five years ago were considered too hard to be worth drilling.

Reliance Industries has raised about $2 billion selling shares since September and the funds may be used for capital expenditure, Chief Financial Officer Alok Agarwal said in Jan. Reliance had outstanding debt of 700 billion rupees ($15 billion) in cash and cash equivalent of 159.6 billion rupees as of Dec. 31, Mukesh Ambani, CMD, Reliance Industries said in the AGM in January. At the other end Marcellus Shale, Chief Executive Officer Edward Cohen said on a conference call on Feb. 26, “We’ve made clear that we are very alive and receptive to the joint venture situation. We’re well into the process.”

Source:http://news-views.in/reliance-eyes-stake-in-natural-gas-field-in-us/

Reliance Barabanki Team wins in ‘Chanakya’

The Barabanki Manufacturing Division of Reliance Industries (RIL) controlled by Chairman Shri.Mukesh Ambani, bagged runners-up trophy in ‘Chanakya’ jointly organized by All India Management Associaltion (AIMA) and Lucknow Management Association. The management game, Chanakaya was held on 11th and 12th of February 2010 at the Lucknow Campus of Amity University.

The Reliance Industries team from Barabanki and the other participating teams had to take strategic business decisions and see the impact through AIMA’s indigenously developed software ‘Chanakya’. The philosophy behind the management simulations is “learning by doing”.

‘Chanakya’ is a high value training program and a computer simulated manager’s game, played by teams comprising three to four members each and this year thirteen teams of the corporate world participated in it. The game involves decision making for a virtual company with focus on a particular performance parameter.

The objective of the game is to develop the competitive skills of participants by testing their managerial talents and knack for improvisation and innovation. The game is recognized as the fastest and most cost effective set of techniques in training.

Source:http://reliance-news.blogspot.com/2010/03/reliance-industries-barabanki-team-bags.html

Reliance Industries & CNN felicitate unsung heroes

IBN18 India’s leading No 1 News Network in partnership with Reliance Industries Limited India’s largest private sector enterprise honored 24 Real Heroes of India. Real Heroes is a movement to acknowledge the unsung champions of the common man who strove tirelessly to promote the welfare of others. These Real Heroes were shortlisted by the editorial team of CNN-IBN, and they were spread across six categories including, Women Welfare, Social Welfare, Health and Disability, Youth, Education and Children & Sports.

The ceremony was attended by luminaries including CMD of Reliance Industries, Mr. Mukesh Ambani, his wife, Mrs. Nita Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Aamir Khan, Yash Chopra and other eminent personalities applauded the heroes who through their extraordinary work have made a difference. Each of the Real Heroes was presented a trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.

The Real Heroes all represent an inspirational story of selfless service, these range from a mechanic in Jharkhand who has set up an orphanage with his own meagre resources to provide education, food and shelter to children who were left orphans due to polygamy or alcoholism to a person who has been fighting to preserve the environment over the past three decades. From a hockey coach who is on a mission to train players free of cost to an 80 year old gynecologist who is fighting to rehabilitate mentally challenged women and provide them vocational training so they can be financially independent, and many more who have dared to stand up for the betterment of the society were awarded as the Real Heroes.
Speaking on the initiative on behalf of Reliance Industries, Nita Ambani, President, Dhirubhai Ambani Foundation said, “I feel proud today – proud to be an Indian. I also feel proud of ‘Indianness’ today. ‘Indianness’ that puts compassion, kindness and empathy before everything else. We salute the benevolence of these extraordinary people. They embody the purity of the human spirit. They may not have received the spotlight of publicity but their actions radiate the sunlight of generosity. Each of these stories is a font of inspiration. My Real Heroes friends you are our crusaders of hope. Thank you for this
Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, IBN18 Network added, “Each one of these real heroes has performed extraordinary deeds to promote the welfare of their fellow citizens and society as a whole. Their path wasn’t easy and they have battled tremendous odds ranging from personal tragedy to social opposition and financial constraints. Yet the flame to make a positive impact has continued to burn bright and they have truly been the instruments of change. I would like to thank all our distinguished guests for their presence here in support of the Real Heroes of our nation”.

Source:http://www.reliance-tracker.in/reliance/cnn-ibn-and-reliance-industries-honour-24-real-life-heroes/

Reliance weighs entry into Canadian oil sands

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), India’s largest refining and petrochemicals company led by Mukesh Ambani, is considering a $2 billion bid for Canadian oilsands developer Value Creation Incorporated, a RIL spokesman said February 5.

“We have just identified the company,” the spokesman said. “It is a new area of interest.”

Value Creation is a private company based in Calgary which holds various interests in oil sands. The company’s Terre de Grace oilsands block in Alberta, northwest of Fort McMurray, covers 290 square miles and is expected to come online in 2011, producing 40,000–80,000 b/d.

Value Creation is also developing the Heartland upgrader in the greater Edmonton area of Alberta, which it acquired as part of its 2008 takeover of BA Energy. The Heartland upgrader is being built in three phases and will be capable of processing 260,000 b/d of bitumen from the Alberta oil sands.

A spokesman for Value Creation declined to comment on Reliance’s interest in the company.

Source:http://www.heavyoilinfo.com/reliance-weighs-entry-into-canadian-oil-sands

Reliance gas for Konaseema project

Arrangements have been made, at the instance of the AP Transco, to supply gas from Krishna-Godavari basin of the Reliance Industries owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani to the 445-MW Konaseema power project in East Godavari district to enable it to start generation.

This followed an approval given by the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) to the Transco’s proposal to purchase power from Konaseema.

The entire system of the project, including the switch-yard and the transmission lines which would evacuate the generated power and wheel into the State grid, has been readied.

The Konaseema project has three units, two with 140 MW capacity each and one with 280 MW. For the present, only the two units with smaller capacities will go on stream.

The APERC also conceded Transco’s request to extend the time-limit up to March 31 to submit its tariff proposals for 2010-11 fiscal. Meanwhile, the distribution companies have been asked to ensure night supply (6 pm to 6 am) to all households in the State in the light of students preparing for various examinations; for seven hours to farm pumpsets to save the standing rabi crops; and provide supply to industries on all days except Sundays and the days observed as “power holidays”.

They have been instructed not supply power to industries from 6 pm to 10 pm every day.

The Transco supplied 228 million units from all its sources when the unrestricted demand in the state, indeed, reached a whopping level of 270 mu.

Source:http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/10/stories/2010031062770600.htm

RIL is leading the charge in today’s trade

As far as Reliance Industries is concerned, it is a bellwether for the market if you look at it.

Indian markets move up or down based on the performance of Reliance Industries we have seen in many of the cases in past. Current rally in the stock is a relief rally, thanks to the bid not being approved and if the bid would have been approved, then a lot of cash would have flown from RIL and there would have been some borrowing as well, so it is a relief really for that.

Reliance Industries is a great stock to have in your portfolio anytime. It is reasonable to have but you have to take into account overall market conditions today before we talk over specific stocks.

Timing is impossible for anybody to predict but markets will correct a little bit over the period of time and considering that, I am not recommending buy on any of the large counters in a rush but independently speaking of that part Reliance Industries, it is a great stock.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Views/Recommendations/Relief-rally-for-RIL-Fortress/articleshow/5666917.cms