RIL bets big on oil & gas exploration

Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) plans an aggressive exploration campaign, investments in petrochemicals and overseas acquisitions, chairman Mukesh Ambani told shareholders at the annual general meeting (AGM). The company will work towards attaining global scale for its conventional energy platform - petrochemicals, refining and oil and gas exploration - and invest in its new businesses such as retailing and alternative energy, Ambani said. "The business transformation initiative would create a Reliance that is able to scale up existing businesses; adds new business both organically and inorganically," said Ambani.

He said that while the global financial crisis had fundamentally changed the world of business, RIL expected it would have both strong growth and a larger global footprint. "Exploration and production business would give the company a much higher growth trajectory in the coming years," Ambani said.

In April, RIL began pumping gas from its find in the Krishna Godavari basin, off the east coast, which is expected to almost double the country's gas supplies at peak production. Gas production has crossed 6 billion cubic metres and the field is slated to plateau production by the second half of 2010. Oil production has reached 2.8 million barrels with daily peak production expected by the end of the year, Ambani said. This production is from just three of the 19 discoveries in the area, he said.

RIL also plans to set up a petrochemical complex in Jamnagar that would nearly double its current capacity to 4 million tons a year. "Now that the oil and gas petroleum refining projects are commissioned, Reliance will work on making this world-class project a reality." RIL already has the single largest refining complex in world at Jamnagar in Gujarat, with a capacity to process 1.24 million barrels per day.