Reliance scraps plan to transfer KG block stake

Reliance Industries has scrapped its plan to transfer an 80 per cent stake in its deepwater block to its arms as 8220;it has raised the money it needs for the block8221;.

8220;Our projects are nearing completion and we have successfully raised the finance, and so do not wish to pursue the application seeking approval to assign our participating interest to our 100 per cent-owned subsidiaries and have since withdrawn it,8221; Reliance said in a statement. There were no details of the amount of funding it had raised. 8220;Reports suggesting that the proposed assignment was to entities, which are part-owned by two top RIL executives, are completely inaccurate, misleading and mischievous,8221; RIL said.

Meanwhile, petroleum secretary R S Pandey said RIL would start pumping gas from its D-6 block by end-October, a month later than the government8217;s most recent forecast. 8220;What I have been hearing is that there will be a little bit of delay for technical reasons,8221; Pandey said in New Delhi. The company has said it would start production in the second half of this year, while the government initially said the field would start pumping in July.