Anil Ambani coughs up ‘marketing margin’ under protest

Clearly needing the gas, Anil Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure has agreed to pay the 'marketing price' demanded by brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd to keep the fuel flow going for R-Infra's Andhra Pradesh power plant. However, the payment is ''under protest''.

R-Infra wrote to RIL earlier this week saying it was instructing its bank ''to effect full payment of the invoice (raised by RIL for supply of KG-D6 field gas to R-Infra's Samalkot power plant), including the marketing margin element."

R-Infra, which had paid$0.135 per mmBtu in marketing cost to RIL for over four months without protest, wrote on 15 September to RIL saying it will no longer pay the "unauthorised and illegal" levy.

According to RIL, R-Infra defaulted on payment of Rs12 lakh in marketing margin on the 0.56 mmscmd gas supplied to Samalot in the first half of September, leading to RIL sending a notice of suspension of supplies.

"We request you to withdraw the suspension notice dated September 28 and confirm immediate resumption of the supply of gas," R-Infra vice-president Kamal Kant wrote to RIL.

On the same day, the Anil Ambani Group firm also wrote to the ministries of power and petroleum reiterating its position that the levy was "unauthorised and nothing but abuse of RIL's monopolistic position."

R-Infra's power plant is currently shut down for maintenance; but it will need gas to resume production. It is likely that RIL will resume gas supply once it is paid up.