Moily takes away five gas discoveries from Reliance

October 29, 2013

MoilyNew Delhi, Oct 29: Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily has decided to take away five gas discoveries from Reliance Industries in the KG-D6 block for its failure to meet timeline, but allowed it to retain three other finds. The move comes in the wake of allegations that Reliance Industries benefited during his regime.

The five discoveries – D4, D7, D8, D16 and D23 – have a reserve of 0.805 trillion cubic feet or about one-fourth of restated reserves in the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields in the KG-D6 block. They are worth $10 billion.

In a prompt response, Communist Party of India’s Gurudas Dasgupta, who has been vociferously demanding cancellation of RIL’s contract, said Moily’s announcement “was a mere show of some action by the government.”

“They only want to show that they are doing something, but actually are not taking any action against RIL. They are cheating the people of the country, who will eventually have to pay the price for the gas sold by the company,” he told Deccan Herald. He objected to RIL retaining the D29, D30 and D31 discoveries.

Incidentally, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) wanted 1,130 sq km to be taken away from RIL on the ground that the timeline to develop the fields had lapsed.

RIL and its partner, British Petroleum (BP), had made a detailed presentation last month to Moily, Oil Secretary Vivek Rae and DGH Director-General R N Choubey. Denying deviation from the production sharing contract, they claimed to have the right to retain the 1,130-sq km area.

For the three finds covering 316 sq km, Moily agreed with RIL-BP that the DGH did not insist on a drill stem test (DST) for confirmation of a discovery in the past. He instead said there was a delay on the DGH’s part in reviewing them though RIL had submitted a declaration of commerciality for the three finds on time.

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June 1,2020

Jun 1: Gold prices rose on Monday as riots in major U.S. cities rattled investors already reeling from strained Sino-U.S. relations and boosted demand for the safe-haven metal, with a weaker dollar lending further support.

Spot gold gained 0.8% to $1,739.75 per ounce by 0242 GMT. U.S. gold futures ticked up 0.1% to $1,752.60.

"Concerns about the unrest in the United States at the moment appear to be weighing on market sentiment," said Michael McCarthy, chief strategist at CMC Markets, adding that rising tensions between the world's top two economies provided further support to gold.

Protesters have flooded the streets in the United States over the death of George Floyd in police custody, in a wave of outrage sweeping a politically and racially divided nation.

The closely packed crowds and demonstrators not wearing masks have sparked fears of a resurgence of COVID-19, which has killed more than 101,000 Americans.

In Asia, China's state media and the government of Hong Kong lashed out on Sunday at U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to end Hong Kong's special status if Beijing imposes new national security laws on the city.

Gold is often used as a safe store of value during times of political and financial uncertainty.

Indicative of sentiment, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.3% to 1,123.14 tonnes on Friday, a fresh seven-year high.

Further supporting gold's appeal, the dollar index fell 0.4% against its rivals.

Elsewhere, silver jumped 2% to $18.20 per ounce, its highest since Feb. 26, before retreating slightly to trade 1.8% higher at $18.16.

Speculators cut their bullish positions in COMEX gold and increased them in silver contracts in the week to May 26, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday.

Palladium rose 0.7% to $1,958.25 per ounce, while platinum declined 0.3% to $835.56.

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January 7,2020

Mumbai, Jan 7: People protesting against the JNU violence were evicted from Gateway of India here on Tuesday morning as roads were getting blocked and tourists and common people were facing problems, a police official said.

Police had appealed to the protesters to shift but they didn't listen, so they were "relocated" to Azad Maidan, the official said.

Hundreds of people, including students, women and senior citizens - who assembled at the iconic Gateway of India since Sunday midnight - demanded action against the culprits and called for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's resignation.

Violence broke out in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus.

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April 3,2020

New Delhi, April 3: With 478 cases reported in the last 24 hours, the highest spike so far, India's tally of positive coronavirus cases on Friday rose to 2,547 including 162 cured/discharged and 62 deaths, as per the latest data of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As many as 647 positive coronavirus cases have been reported so far from across 14 States whose linkage can be traced to the Tablighi Jamaat cluster at Nizamuddin, the Centre said on Friday.

"A total of 647 cases of positive coronavirus cases have been reported from across 14 States whose linkage can be traced to the Tablighi Jamaat cluster at Nizamuddin," Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

"The cases can be traced in Andaman and Nicobar, Assam, Delhi, Himachal, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh," added Aggarwal.

The Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi has emerged as a hotspot for COVID-19 after several positive cases from across India were linked to the gathering including deaths in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana.

An FIR was earlier registered against Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897, in the national capital.

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