RIL to invest $27bn in next 4 years: Report

New Delhi (PTI): Reliance Industries (RIL) plans to invest about $27 billion in next four years across its core oil and gas and petrochemical businesses as also new ventures like telecom.A According to a Deutsche Bank AG report issued after its analysts met one of the company's two joint chief financial officers (CFOs), "RIL is at the cusp of its next capex cycle as it invests $27 billion over 2013-14 to 2016-17 fiscal." About 85 per cent of the capex will be in its core business, the report added. It elaborated that RIL will spend $11 billion in oil and gas exploration including US shale gas venture and $4 billion in refining business, $8 billion in petrochemicals, while $3 billion is earmarked for telecom venture and the remaining $1 billion goes into retail business.A RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani had last year announced plans to invest `100,000cr across energy, retail and telecom businesses in the next five years to double operating profit. The company is in the process of getting regulatory nod for newer and satellite gas fields in order to reduce the falling output from KG-D6 block. Further RIL is investing $8 billion in expansion of its petrochemical business to meet the rising demand of plastics and polyester. Also, it is setting up $4 billion petroleum coke gasification project that will produce synthetic natural gas that will replace expensive LNG as fuel. However the report said, "Our positive view on RIL is premised on expectation of approval for gas price increase in FY14, approvals for KGD6 R-Series and NEC-25 development plans in FY14 improving visibility on monetisation of these discoveries, and start of a new capex cycle." "The company has submitted a development plan for KG-D6 R-Series and will soon submit the same for (the separate) NEC-25 (block)," it said.