Mumbai, Oct 23 : Shares of petrochemicals-to-retail major Reliance Industries took a tumble Friday afternoon after its foreign partner in the D9 block of Krishna Godavari basin, Hardy Oil and Gas, said it had encountered problems at the gas find.

The Reliance Industries scrip fell almost 4 percent around 2 p. m. to Rs. 2,050 from its previous closing figure of Rs. 2,133.55, though it crawled up marginally to Rs. 2,058.95 about an hour before close -- still 3.5 percent below Thursday's close.

The company is the operator of the block and holds a 90 percent stake, while Hardy has a 10 percent participating interest.

In a statement, Hardy said while the exploratory well did hit some background gas, the well encountered poor reservoir sands in both the middle and lower miocene target levels.

The well will be plugged and abandoned, the statement added.

The Hardy Oil stock was down 36 percent at the London Stock Exchange around this time. (IANS)