Thaindian News

New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) The shares of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries moved up Monday as the Supreme Court was all set to commence hearings on the dispute over gas supplies from its Krishna-Godavari hydrocarbon asset.
The company’s shares opened strong on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) at Rs.1,960, against Friday’s close at Rs.1,933.40 and soon moved higher to Rs.2,020.

About an hour-and-a-half into trading, the scrip was quoting at Rs.1,989 with a gain of 2.88 percent.

The shares of Reliance Natural Resources, which is part of brother Anil Ambani’s group and the other party in the dispute, was ruling lower at Rs.82.40, down 0.66 percent, data with the stock exchange showed.

The Anil Ambani firm has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the government’s affidavit on the dispute, even as the petroleum ministry has suggested that the court treats the pact between the two brothers null and void.

The dispute concerns supply of natural gas from the field, off the Andhra Pradesh coast, as also the price at which Reliance Natural Gas will get the fuel for power projects within the group.

In reply to the lawsuit filed by Reliance Industries challenging the Bombay High Court order, Reliance Natural Resources has said the government has no role to play in the private gas sharing dispute, and certainly not as a party to the row.

The government, however, has said that the country’s interest must be taken into consideration first and that cannot be held to ransom by a dispute between two industrialists or a previous, private pact between them.