Reliance aims to double natural gas output Reliance Industries, India's biggest company by market capitalisation, plans to double its natural gas production in the next three to four years, despite troubles at the gasfield it co-owns with BP. Chairman Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, struck an upbeat tone at the company's annual meeting on Thursday, saying that the conglomerate will invest about Rs1tn ($18.2bn) over the next five years to expand its businesses in India, including its core petrochemicals activities and its retail and 4G mobile technology operations. Reliance also plans to double operating profits in the period. Analysts said the investment plan was expected but that the goal of increasing total gas production by 30m cubic metres a day was a positive development. Reliance says production at the Krishna-Godavari Basin D6 field has fallen to 34m cu m a day, down from a peak of 61.5m cu m in March 2010, and well below the 80m cu m target the company set in 2006. Tighter gross refining margins and a lack of production at the D6 field in the Bay of Bengal - in which BP bought a 30 per cent stake for $7.2bn last year - have been blamed for two consecutive quarters of declining profits at Reliance. "It means they are quite bullish on whatever gas reserves they might have," said Dikshit Mittal, analyst at SBI Capital Markets. Eventually, if they have the reserves in place, I think the ... government will have to approve the [company's further capital expenditure because it will] improve gas supplies for the country. Cumulative capital expenditure for the D6 project - which Reliance increased from the $2.4bn proposed in 2004 to $8.8bn in 2006 - has become a sticking point between the company and the government, which have a profit-sharing agreement for the D6 field. As production has fallen, the government has become more anxious, threatening $1.46bn in penalties and making allegations - which Reliance denies - that the company inflated capital expenditure, prompting Reliance to send the government an arbitration notice. Without government approval of new capital expenditure, which would further delay profit-sharing payments to New Delhi, Reliance says it cannot increase production at D6 or its satellite fields. After highlighting the Indian economy's recent inflationary, growth and currency woes, Mr Ambani said his company continued to be "in the mindset of investing in India and in her future ... We believe that India is poised to be one of the growth engines of the global economy over the next decade. Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister, on Wednesday called for greater infrastructure investment in India. Arvind Mahajan, head of natural resources for KPMG, said: "This seems to be a conscious attempt to [get the government's attention] ... The tone of this Reliance speech is very positive from a government perspective.