Britain's Hardy in talks to buy out RIL stake in Gujarat offshore block

British firm Hardy Oil and Gas is in talks to acquire Reliance Industries Ltd's complete 90 percent stake in a gas discovery block in the western offshore off Gujarat.

"Hardy continued discussions with the operator to acquire their 90 percent interest and operatorship. General commercial terms have been agreed and a draft farmout agreement is under review by both parties," Hardy said in the firm's operational and financial review of 2014-15.

The agreement for transfer of interest and operatorship will be subject to approval of the government, it added.

Hardy currently owns 10 percent stake in the block where the gas discovery Dhirubhai-33 (D-33) was made in 2007.

Claiming that reserves discovered so far are not economically significant, RIL has said it wants to exit the Gujarat-Saurashtra offshore basin block (GS-01).

"A draft farmout agreement is under review by both parties and the final outcome of these negotiations will be known in the near term," Hardy said.

"Following this, a priority will be to secure government approval of the FDP and initiate planning for development," it added.

Hardy, along with RIL have relinquished block KG-DWN-2003/1 (KG-D3) due to access restrictions imposed by the government.

"On December 23, 2014, the D3 Management Committee considered a proposal from RIL, the operator of the D3 block, in which Hardy holds a 10 percent interest, for the relinquishment of the block," the statement said.

"In KG-DWN-2003/1 further progress in petroleum operations was impeded by defence restrictions imposed in October 2012. Since then the JV had continued to seek unrestricted access to the block without success. RIL and its JV partners finally decided to relinquish the block in line with government's policy," RIL said last month in its annual report for 2014-15.