Petro ministry gears to file a defamation suit against RNRL

The petroleum ministry is contemplating to file a defamation suit against an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) firm RNRL for persistently making false claims about government revenues from Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 fields. The ministry is in close touch with the law ministry for slapping the suit against RNRL over its claim of the government share from KG-D6 of just Rs 500 crore as against RIL’s super-normal profit of Rs 49,500 crore.

Despite making clarifications over the government’s revenue, the ministry said RNRL constantly stuck to this false claim with a clear objective to malign and tarnish its image. The ministry has clarified in a written statement that government’s revenues from KG-D6 over the life of the field would be more than Rs 84,000 crore as against RNRL’s claim of Rs 500 crore for initial years and RIL’s super-normal profit of Rs49,500 crore.

The ministry is prepared with a file to be sent to Petroleum Secretary before sending to the law ministry. The file content has said that government’s revenue from KG-D6 in the first year would be Rs 700 crore at a minimum output of 40 mmscmd and Rs 1,200 crore in royalty and profit share at peak output of 80 mmscmd, expected next year.

Exemplifying the revenue of government further, it says the earnings will be more than Rs 500 crore as the royalty at the rate of $4.2 per mBtu alone comes to Rs 541 crore in the first year.