Hardy not to raise stake in Reliance gas block

May 6 (PTI) New Delhi, UK’s Hardy Oil and Gas Plc today said it will not exercise the option to raise its stake in a Reliance Industries-operated gas block, which is one of the 23 areas where the Mukesh Ambani firm is selling 30 per cent interest to BP Plc for USD 7.2 billion.

Reliance is selling a stake in 23 oil and gas block it had won under various rounds of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds along with partners like Niko Resources of Canada and Hardy since 1999.

NELP allows firms to sell or farm-out participating interest (or stakes) subject to the preemption right of the consortium partner.

In a statement, Hardy said, “It has elected not to exercise an option to increase its participating interest by 3 per cent in the D3 (KG-DWN-2003/1) exploration licence.