New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has set up a team to examine the expenses Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) incurred on its D6 natural gas field in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin in the Bay of Bengal. The audit will begin this month.
CAG, the government’s external auditor that has also been asked to conduct special audits of Cairn India Ltd’s Rajasthan oil field and British energy firm BG Group Plc-operated Panna-Mukta and Tapti offshore oil and gas fields in the Arabian Sea, has set up various teams to undertake the audits, people familiar with the developments said on condition of anonymity.
CAG is likely to deploy a high-profile team that would include principal director P.K. Mishra, additional deputy director A.K. Awasthi and director Dharamendra Kumar for the audit at the Mukesh Ambani-led RIL, the people said.
The director general of hydrocarbons has been accused by Reliance Natural Resources Ltd, controlled by Mukesh Ambani’s estranged brother Anil Ambani, of approving an increase in RIL’s capital expenditure on the D6 exploration block from $2.4 billion (Rs11,280 crore) to $8.8 billion. This block is where RIL made one of the biggest discoveries of natural gas in India.
An external spokesperson for RIL did not respond to Mint’s queries on the matter.
(Mint’s Utpal Bhaskar contributed to this story.)