The Hindu : GAIL strikes oil near Ahmedabad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 19, 2003

Business

Business

GAIL strikes oil near Ahmedabad

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBAI JUNE 18. The Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ram Naik, today said the State-owned Gas Authority of India Ltd. had discovered oil and associated gas at an on-shore block near Ahmedabad in the Cambay Basin. Mr. Naik said details of the find would be available in four weeks, as only the first well had been drilled so far.

GAIL along with the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPL) which hold 50 per cent participating interest, found the oil and gas reserves in NELP-II block in the Cambay Basin. The Chairman and Managing Director of GAIL, Prosanto Banerjee, said the discovery was made last week and there were a total number of seven wells in the block. Further he said the phase I involves a total investment of $6.6 million.

PTI reports:

Govt. likely to offload part of GAIL stake

Fuelled by the success of Maruti Udyog Ltd's IPO issue, the Government is likely to consider the timing for selling a part of its stake in state-owned gas utility Gas Authority of India Ltd.

"The Government has communicated to us about this issue (part sale of its stake) two weeks ago and it is only a question of time,'' Mr. Banerjee, told reporters here today. He, however, did not elaborate on the timeframe for government to shed its stake.

"We had suggested to the Government, which holds 67 per cent stake in the gas company, to sell 4-5 per cent stake to retail investors for improving liquidity of the scrip,'' Mr. Banerjee said adding the enthusiastic response to Maruti's public offering would be a positive feedback. Asked about the requirement for funds to lay 5,000-6,000 km long gas pipeline, he said the total outlay was pegged at Rs. 18,000-19,000 crores but there were no immediate plans to raise funds from the market.

The money would be used from reserves and internal accruals, he said adding "as and when a particular section of gas pipeline becomes operational, GAIL will gain immediate revenues from it.''

GAIL was laying down a Dahej-Uran-Pune pipeline for supply of LNG from Petronet's LNG terminal in Gujarat.

Mr. Banerjee said GAIL was prepared to extend this line up to Kakinada on the east coast as part of national gas transportation grid development.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business