REVENUE STRATEGY - RELIANCE INDUSTRIES

Reliance Industries Ltd., India's biggest company has committed to spend $25 billion on drilling, refining, chemicals and supermarkets.

But:
1. It is facing delays in delivery of drilling rigs to develop the gas field discovered in the Krishna Godavari basin.
2. It is forced to curb exploration because of a shortage of rigs and contractors,

So:
1. It may bid and work together for the first time with BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. for drilling rights in India:
a) To share rising exploration costs, resources, technology, knowledge, experience and risks and
b) Gain the expertise, equipment and experience gained by Exxon and BP for more than a decade in deep-sea areas such as the Gulf of Mexico.
2. It is banking on rigs from Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore oil and gas driller, to drill in water depths of 7,000 to 10,000 feet and ensure India's biggest gas project starts on schedule.
3. It is directing rigs to drill wells used in developing the field, at the expense of exploration in new areas
4. It has more than 100 employees sitting with various contractors across the world to ensure that supply schedules are met.
5. It is in talks with GAIL (India) Ltd. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. to use their pipelines to sell part of the output. (GAIL's pipelines, which have a capacity to supply 140 million cubic meters a day of gas, are run at about 55 percent of capacity because of a lack of supply).

Alliances can remove obstacles to revenue.

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REVENUE STRATEGY - TALISMAN ENERGY

Fortuna Resources (Sunda) Ltd. unit of Talisman Energy Inc., the Canadian oil company spun off from BP Plc, is suing China's Cnooc Ltd. over a stake in a $5 billion liquefied natural gas venture in Indonesia for failing to offer a participating share in both Tangguh and onshore exploration rights acquired by Cnooc in mid-December 2006 for the Batanghari Block, or area, in central Sumatra.

Because:
1. In 1968 Warrior International Corp. entered into an agreement with Independent Indonesian American Petroleum Co. and Carver Dodge International Co., according to which if a partner acquires any exploration interests in Indonesia, it must offer the other parties a participating share.
2. Warrior International merged in 1984 with Warrior Oil Co., which was acquired by Paladin Resources Plc in 1999. In 2005, Paladin Resources was bought by Talisman for 1.27 billion pounds ($2.5 billion). Paladin Resources (Sunda) Ltd. then changed its name to Fortuna Resources (Sunda) Ltd.
3. Independent Indonesian American Petroleum's interest in the agreement was acquired by YPF Maxus Southeast Sumatra BV, a unit of Spain's Repsol YPF SA, according to the document. In January 2002, Cnooc paid $585 million to Repsol YPF SA, Spain's biggest oil company, for oil and gas fields in Indonesia.
4. Rights under a contract may pass from one company to another in a merger

Revenue can be lost or found in the fine print.

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REVENUE STRATEGY - RELIANCE INDUSTRIES

1. Reliance Industries Ltd., owner of the world's third-biggest oil refinery, may increase fuel exports this year to offset losses from the domestic market.
2. The refiner may sell all of its premium grade gasoline and diesel overseas. It produces the Euro IV motor fuels that meet regulations of countries such as the U.K. and the U.S. Reliance's exports rose 63 percent to 17.7 million tons in the year ended March 31 from 10.8 million tons a year ago. That accounted for 57 percent of the company's production.

In a lose-lose market you have to find escape routes.

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EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - RELIANCE INDUSTRIES

1. Reliance Industries Ltd., owner of the world's third-biggest oil refinery, cut domestic sales of gasoline and diesel last year because it couldn't compete with Indian Oil Corp., the nation's biggest refiner because state-run rivals sell fuel below cost under government orders. Losses on retailing oil products prompted Reliance to stop sales at some stations, cutting its market share to 2 percent in September from 13 percent in April 2006
2. It has slowed down the pace of retail network expansion as compared to the previous years to cut losses from selling fuels.
3. It may buy lower-grade supplies for domestic retail outlets from domestic producers including Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd.
4. It won government permission this year to exempt its crude oil imports from taxes in return for exporting at least 75 percent of its products.

[Indian Oil, the nation's biggest refiner, is losing 6.10 rupees (15 cents) for every liter of gasoline it sells and 3.75 rupees on a liter of diesel. Of the total losses, a third is reimbursed by the government as bonds, an equal amount is paid by companies including Oil & Natural Gas, and the refiners bear the remainder.]

In a lose-lose market you always have to find ways to lose your losses.

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REVENUE STRATEGY - CONOCOPHILLIPS

1. ConocoPhillips, the second-biggest U.S. refiner, is seeking more gas off northern Australia to supply a potential expansion to its Darwin plant, which has approvals for as much as 10 million tons a year of LNG production capacity.
2. A second LNG production unit at the site may have capacity of between 3.5 million and 6 million tons a year and may start up in 2012-2013.

Seek and you shall find .... even revenue

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REVENUE STRATEGY – WOODSIDE PETROLEUM

1. Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia's second-biggest oil company, may swap a stake in a proposed A$10 billion ($8.3 billion) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Asia for assets in the faster-growing Atlantic market or develop its own project for the Atlantic market through exploration in countries such as Libya.
[LNG demand Europe and North America may overtake demand in Asia by about 2015. LNG is natural gas chilled to liquid form for transportation by tanker to destinations not connected by pipeline.]
2. It will wait for and only consider an opportunity that is vastly superior to what it will give up with Pluto but works for another company.

Will the collective trance of the relentless treasure hunt ever end in a stupor of futility? Will the future ever really and purposefully influence the present?

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EXPENDITURE STRATEGY - BP

1. BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, is spending more on stock buybacks than its European peers to prop up its share price and return wealth to shareholders spending $2.5 billion last quarter and $15.5 billion last year. It defended the policy against protests for more dividends instead by arguing that it wasn't possible to estimate how much further BP stock would have fallen last year without support from buybacks. In contrast, rival Shell hasn't spent any money on buybacks since Feb. 1 because they haven't boosted Shell's stock enough.

2. BP will immediately appeal the court ruling to publicly release an internal study that blames specific managers at the plant for the explosion at the Texas City, Texas, refinery in March 2005, which killed 15 workers.

When everything else fails .... try financial engineering

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REVENUE STRATEGY - CONOCOPHILLIPS

1. ConocoPhillips pledged $22 million to help Iowa State University develop fuels out of corn and switchgrass.
2. The company unveiled a joint venture with Tyson Foods to produce diesel fuel out of animal fat. The venture will operate on a break-even basis and only then as a result of a $1-a-gallon federal subsidy. The project will be a learning experience leading to other alternative fuel initiatives down the road

This is ConocoPhillips' moral and financial contribution to reduce the environmental damage we perpetrate on ourselves. It will burnish the company's image and simultaneously create avenues for future alternative profit. When will everyone of us be thus involved, even if only for profit?

[Click here for full story at: BUSINESSWEEK.COM]