India's family battle over gas
31 July 2009
The world's richest brothers are locking horns yet again - and this time, it is over natural gas.
The latest spat between Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani, who control India's Reliance group of industries, could turn out to be the most unsavoury yet and hinder efforts to solve the country's chronic energy shortage.
This week, Anil Ambani, the 50-year-old younger brother, described the government as "partisan and biased" towards his elder brother, Mukesh.
At the heart of the latest battle between the siblings is the natural gas that was discovered by Reliance Industries in the Krishna Godavari basin off India's eastern coast in 2002, three years before the brothers parted ways.
The Reliance empire was divided between the two brothers in 2005 after a bitter seven-month feud.
In a family pact vetted and supervised by the brothers' mother in 2005, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) was to supply 28 million cubic meters of gas a day at $2.34 per million units to Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited (RNRL) for 17 years.
source: bbc.com