Krishna-Godavari gas basin case adjourned till Oct 6

Mumbai, Sep 30 (IANS) The Bombay High Court Tuesday adjourned the hearing of a dispute between Reliance Industries (RIL) and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) till Oct 6.

The new bench of Bombay High Court of Justice S.J. Kathawala and Justice J.N. Patel would now be replaced by the earlier one comprising Justice K.K. Tated and Justice J.N. Patel, as the bench might have to hear the case afresh.

The dispute revolves around a pact between RNRL and RIL on which firm has the rights over the gas supplies and at what price.

The earlier interim order, in which the court restrained RIL from selling gas or from entering into any contract with a third party, has lapsed. RIL was subsequently planning to start production from the basin.

The court had also restrained RIL from entering into contracts to sell the gas from this basin - known in official jargon as KG-D6 gas - with companies other than RNRL and the state-run National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC).

It had also asked the two sides to settle the dispute within four months, but an agreement could not be arrived at within the stipulated timeframe.

RNRL has claimed at least half of the 80 million standard cubic metres of gas per day that is envisaged from the fields off the Andhra Pradesh coast - said to be the country's biggest source of hydrocarbons currently.