Business Standard: 5 years on, RIL to Soften its Fracking in the US

Five years after farming into three shale gas assets in the US, Reliance Industries will reduce investment in two of the joint ventures.

Reliance's shale gas business in America comprises three upstream joint ventures with Chevron, Pioneer Natural Resource and Carrizo Oil & Gas, and a midstream joint venture with Pioneer.

Till July 2012, Reliance expected its shale gas business to become a material contributor to the company's earnings. At the end of the June quarter, Reliance's capital expenditure in the three shale gas  ventures was $275 million, down 15 per cent from a year ago. 

"It was yet another challenging quarter for the business due to strong macro headwinds, characterised by weak benchmark prices and high differentials. Strong operational trends and successful capex management helped to some extent. Overall business performance was stable on a sequential basis, but lower on a year-on-year basis," Reliance said in its earnings statement.  MORE