Reliance Industries, ONGC, BP enter partnership to explore oil block in Saurashtra basin

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) on Tuesday, July 29, announced that it has entered into a joint operating agreement with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) and BP Exploration (Alpha) Ltd (BP).

The joint operating agreement for the exploration of “Block GS-OSHP-2022/2”, located off the Western coast in the Saurashtra basin. It spans an area of approximately 5,454 square kilometres and is classified under Category-II basins.

Category-II basins are ones that have contingent resources pending commercial production.

It was awarded to RIL, ONGC and BP as part of the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy, under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round-IX. The consortium will pursue exploration operations in the block, pursuant to the terms of the award, RIL said in a regulatory filing.

The consortium, with ONGC designated as the operator, will undertake exploratory activities to assess and harness the hydrocarbon potential of the region, ONGC said in a separate statement dated Monday.

Furthermore, the deal was signed at ONGC’s office in New Delhi on July 28, 2025.

RIL Q1 result

RIL reported a 78% year-on-year (YoY) surge in its net profit to ₹26,994 crore in the June quarter of FY26, compared to ₹15,138 crore in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Its revenue from operations stood at ₹2.49 lakh during the quarter under review, jumping 5% YoY from ₹2.36 lakh crore in the first quarter of FY25.

The company reported a strong jump in other income in Q1FY26, which stood at ₹15,119 crore, soaring 280% YoY from ₹3,983 crore in the same period last fiscal year.

At an operational level, Reliance’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased close to 11% YoY to ₹42,905 crore in the June FY26 quarter, with its EBITDA margin expanding by 80 basis points (bps) to 17.25% from 16.41%.

RIL stock performance

Shares of Reliance Industries closed 2.09% higher at ₹1,416.60 per equity share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday.

While the stock hit a 52-week high of ₹1,551 on July 9, 2025, it reached a year’s low of ₹1,114.85 apiece on April 7, 2025.

RIL has a total market capitalisation of ₹19.17 lakh crore, as of July 29, 2025, as per data on the NSE.