Reliance Industries Ltd has signed contracts worth $4.5 billion to develop its gas fields off India’s southeast coast. The spending will be part of $5.2 bn of investment the company plans for the area, RIL’s president for oil and gas PMS Prasad said here today. Gas production will start on schedule in 2008, he added. “Investment has already been committed to ensure that all suppliers meet their deadlines, which will enable us to start production,’’ Prasad said.
Commercially viable deposits in the fields may help Reliance meet India’s growing requirements for gas for power plants and fertiliser companies. India, Asia’s third-biggest oil market, is promoting exploration to reduce dependence on imports as prices rise to records and output declines from ageing fields. India’s current gas supplies of 85 million cubic meters a day, including imported liquefied natural gas, falls short of the potential demand of 170mn cubic meters, according to estimates by the Oil ministry. Gas consumption may rise to 400 million cubic meters a day by 2025 if the economy grows at the projected rate of 7-8 % a year.
Read more at Financial Express
