A load of crap from an idle brain

I was thinking that it would be a 1:22 or 1:24 share swap.  That was going to be too much of a loss for me.  1:16 is not bad considering that my average price for RPL is quite ok.  So, over a period of few months the merger will be through and i will be holding the shares of Reliance Industries. A much better opportunity moving towards a more diversified company from a company with interests in just refining.

Was it unexpected? Not really.  For anyone who has knowledge of the past record of Reliance Industries, they have always done this.  Merging their subsidiaries with the parent company.  The only thing i was worried about was the merger ratio.  That’s why i kept buying the RPL stock when it was below 100 rupees only.

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India’s largest company by market capitalisation, has offered one share for every 16 held in Reliance Petroleum (RPL) to merge its refinery subsidiary.  RIL will issue 69.2 million new shares to shareholders of RPL in order to buy back the company and will have 3.7 million shareholders after the merger. RIL’s equity capital will rise to Rs 1,643 crore and the promoter’s holdings will fall by 2 per cent to 47 per cent, the company said in a statement issued today.

Alok Agarwal, RIL’s chief financial officer, told reporters here today that no fresh treasury stock would be created and the parent’s holding in the petroleum unit would be cancelled. Almost 200 million existing treasury shares would continue, he added.

RIL’s absorption of RPL will be tax neutral for both the entities. “This merger is not about tax benefits. As far as taxation is concerned, the SEZ refinery is a separate undertaking. Both refineries will retain their tax benefits,” Agarwal said.

“This is about size, this is about diversification,” Agarwal said, adding the merger would give RIL the ability to take on projects much larger than done before.  RIL has set April 1, 2008 for the date of the amalgamation. The takeover is subject to approvals by the high courts at Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Full article here.

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Reliance Industries Ltd’s new refinery in western Gujarat state began processing crude this week, nearly doubling company output and creating the world’s biggest refining complex just as global demand retreats.

After reaching full capacity of 580,000 barrels per day (bpd), the $6 billion project, one of the most sophisticated in the world, will make the oil complex in Jamnagar the single-biggest supplier of fuels to the global market. It will pump out 1.24 million bpd of ultra-clean fuels to meet demand in Europe, Africa and the United States.

The refiner’s process configuration is being designed to maximise gasoline, alkylate, jet fuel and diesel output, as well as premium products such as 0.1 percent sulphur gasoline and diesel, while the production of residual fuel will be limited.

RPL refinery at a glance

• It is one of the world’s most complex refineries with a Nelson Complexity index of 14.0. This will enable the refinery to process heavy-crude varieties and produce superior quality products that meet stringent specifications, even beyond the forthcoming Euro IV norms.

• The high complexity will also present a significant competitive advantage in the current industry landscape of increasingly heavy and sour new crude discoveries. In addition, the widening light-heavy differentials in recent years will add to its competitiveness.

• RPL refinery is located adjacent to RIL’s existing refinery and petrochemicals complex, which is among the largest and most efficient complexes in the world. Through sharing of best practices and leveraging the existing infrastructure, RPL will stand to gain in the areas of operational efficiency, logistics, crude sourcing, product placement and risk management

• Close proximity to the Middle East. The result: lower ship turnaround time and reduced crude freight costs.

Above news source: Reuters UK & Indian Express

Pictures source: Reliance Petroleum website

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India’s largest private sector company, Reliance Industries Ltd., said it began producing crude oil from its KG-D6 block of the Krishna Godavari Basin on Sept 17, confirming media reports. Initial production levels are at 5,000 barrels of crude per day. Peak hydrocarbon production of 550,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) is expected over the next six to eight quarters, the company announced at a press event over the weekend.

‘India’s current hydrocarbon oil and gas production is 1.3 million boepd. With Reliance’s contribution in the energy sector, India’s indigenous production of hydrocarbons will increase by over 40 percent in the next 18 months,’ chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani told reporters.

The energy and petrochemicals major estimated that the production from KG-D6 facility will save India an annual foreign exchange outflow of $20 billion.

The KG-D6 block in Krishna Godavari basin is located in the Bay of Bengal, off the coast of eastern state of Andhra Pradesh. RIL holds 90 percent participating interest and Niko Resources Ltd. holds the balance.

P.M.S. Prasad, president and chief executive, oil & gas at RIL said Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) and Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd., have sent in bids for buying the crude. Prasad added the contracts with HPCL are likely to be more of spot contracts.

Mukesh and Nita Ambani with jars of crude oil from the Krishna Godavari basin

Prasad said: ‘We will be going in a next few days to gas productionStarting from January we will be producing gas.’ Mukesh Ambani’s RIL and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd. (RNRL), which is owned by estranged brother Anil Ambani, have been entangled in a legal battle which is centered on the pricing of gas from the KG Basin.

News courtesy: Forbes

Above pictures courtesy: Reliance Petroleum,  Motortrend and Rediff

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Rakshabandhan wishes to one and all.  Meanwhile, wanted to share this extremely funny ad of Castrol starring none other than the Thalaivar Rajnikanth himself.  Have a good laugh.  Saw this ad first on Freehyd forums.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG38tUdFms0]

Wikipedia on Rakhi.

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ONGC Ltd has decided to exit the proposed refinery-cum-petrochemicals project at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, making way for the GMR Group, which will hold 51% equity in the project that was originally to cost Rs 31,000 crore. The project is part of Andhra Pradesh’s Petroleum Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) proposed over 600 square miles and envisaged to attract investments worth Rs 340,000 crore over the next ten years. GMR’s entry is expected to put PCPIR on the fast-track now.

However, the refinery project is likely to cost close to Rs 40,000 crore with GMR indicating that it would like to increase the capacity upwards of 20 million tonnes to make it more viable, sources privy to the proceedings of a board meeting today told DNA Money.

It is understood that GMR has proposed a higher capacity upwards of 20 million tonnes of refining to make the export oriented project more viable. Reliance Industries had started its own refinery with a capacity of 30 million tonnes and was now going in for an expansion, it was pointed out at the board meeting held on Monday.

Full article here

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