British Gas plans to double investment in India

BG Group chief executive Frank Chapman said that the consortium comprising BG, Reliance and ONGC intend to invest around $750 million in the fields in Gujarat. A part of the fund would be allocated for the expansion of Tapti fields.

Chapman said that the group wanted to expand its geographical presence in India and wanted to enter the power generation business. “The new bill opens up investment opportunities,“ he said.

BG India would be looking at some cities in Gujarat for setting up city gas networks and was also evaluating the prospects of entering Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad for similar projects.

BG, which had bid for two blocks in the fourth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy would participate actively in NELP 5 when the government is expected to call for bids in December.

“We put in bids for two blocks in what was a fair and competitive process. We will wait for the data packs before deciding on how many blocks we want to bid for,“ said Chapman who is in India to meet government functionaries of the new regime.

The BG Group CEO met petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar yesterday and also offered assistance in building sound regulatory practices in India.