India’s Reliance Industries Ltd. has made multiple bets on U.S. shale gas and they’re paying off, the company said when it released its fiscal first quarter 2014 results last Friday, which included an 84% hike in U.S. shale-derived revenue from a year ago.

Reliance has upstream joint ventures (JV) in the U.S. shale patch with Chevron Corp. (see Shale Daily, Feb. 22, 2011; Daily GPI, April 12, 2010), Pioneer Natural Resources (see Daily GPI, June 25, 2010) and Carrizo Oil & Gas (see Shale Daily, Oct. 5, 2012). Reliance also has a midstream joint venture with Pioneer. At the end of the first quarter of FY 2014 the aggregate investment by Reliance in all of these was about $6 billion, the company said.

“Reliance’s shale gas investments continued to grow and development growth momentum remained strong in each of the joint ventures,” the company said Friday. Reliance’s share of gross production stood at 37.7 Bcfe in 1Q FY14, which reflects a growth of 71% on a year-over-year and 4% on quarter-over-quarter basis.

“Average combined daily production (gross at JV level) for all three JVs stood at 914 MMcf/d (including about 51,600 bbl of condensate) during the quarter. As at the end of 1Q FY14, [the] cumulative number of producing wells stood at 494 compared to 440 wells as at the end of the trailing quarter.”

The company’s approximate $6 billion U.S. shale investment to date breaks out as $3.33 billion with Pioneer, including a midstream JV in the Eagle Ford Shale; $1.90 billion with Chevron; and $801 million with Carrizo, according to a company presentation.

Analysts at Edelweiss Securities said in a note that Reliance has become “a serious shale gas player.” The company could spend another $5 billion on U.S. shale activities between now and 2016, they said.

Aggregate revenues from the company’s U.S. shale gas business improved to $214.5 million, reflecting a growth of 84% over the corresponding period of last year and 11% growth over the trailing quarter. The growth was attributed to higher volumes as well as higher prices for natural gas and condensate.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization from the shale business were up 74% from one year ago and 6% from the previous quarter, the company said.

“Average unit realization grew to $6.69/Mcfe in 1Q FY14 as compared to $ 6.48/Mcfe in 1Q FY13. All [three] JVs are focused on joint partner efforts on operations, cost and efficiency improvements; high graded development and prudent lease holding strategy to retain optionality,” Reliance said.