Petronet LNG tenders to buy two LNG cargoes
India’s biggest gas importer Petronet LNG (PLNG.NS) has tendered to buy two cargoes of liquefied natural gas, two trade sources said. The cargoes are for delivery in August and September, the sources said. LaDainian Tomlinson Womens Jersey
Essar Oil to double CBM production this year
Company to ramp up wells count in Raniganj East block coal fields, seeks to triple output to 2.5 mn scmd in FY18, from current level. Essar Oil & Gas is planning to ramp up its coal-based methane (CBM) production to a minimum of 1.8 million standard cubic metres per day (scmd) by the end of the current fiscal year from the existing 0.85 million scmd and scale it further up to 2.5 million scmd during 2017-18. In this endeavour, it will increase its wells count in theRaniganj East block coal fields from the near-300 mark to 363 this year. “We’ll complete the increase in well count by March 2017. Of the near 300 wells now, 266 have been fracked while 247 have been completed and 175 have been on active de-absorbtion cycle”, the company’s CEO of exploration and production, Manish Maheshwari told Business Standard. It has a revenue-sharing contract with the government for the 260-acre Raniganj CBM project, where it has been granted mining rights for 500 sq km. So far, the company has made an investment of Rs 3,300 crore in this project, which is in advanced stage of operations. The company owns CBM mining rights in the coalfields in Raniganj in West Bengal, Sohagpur in Madhya Pradesh-Chattisgarh, Rajmahal in Jharkhand and Talcher and Ib Valley mines in Odisha making it the largest private CBM producer in India. “Rajmahal will also begin production in five years. Currently there are 20 core holes in this project and we have received the necessary approvals for land acquisition there. At present only Raniganj is producing the CBM but other projects will come up in time”, he said. This project, where the company is pumping in $ 3-4 million is in its primary stage. While land acquisition approval for the Sohagpur minefield is pending from the Chattisgarh government, the Petroleum Exploration Licence for the Talcher and Ib Valley coalfields is pending from the Odisha state government. All these coalfields is supposed to have a reserve of 12 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of CBM of which Raniganj has a possible reserve of 1.1 tcf. To extract CBM from these coal mines, the company has employed six drilling rigs of which two have been procured from Greka drilling on a contractual basis. It is also on the lookout for CBM mining projects globally including Iran but will keep off “matured markets” like USA and Australia. Besides, Essar Oil & Gas, which is expecting the global crude scenario to remain buoyant at a maximum of $ 50 per barrel of oil till mid-2017 is also planning to aggressively increase its count of petrol pumps from over 2,000 outlets to 5,000 outlets by 2018. Butch Goring Jersey
Iran seeks interest on $6.5 bn due from Indian oil refiners
Iran has asked Indian refiners like Essar Oil and MRPL to pay interest rate of Libor-plus 0.75 per cent on the USD 6.5 billion they owe it in past oil dues, to make up for the foreign exchange losses. The demand was made when Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Iranian Central Bank Governor Valiollah Seif in Tehran earlier this month. “They are seeking interest rate on past oil dues. They mentioned a rate of Libor (London Inter-Bank Offered Rate) – plus 0.75 per cent in the meeting,” a senior official said. Iran is insisting on interest being paid after differences cropped up over foreign exchange rate. Iran sold oil to refiners like Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in US dollar per barrel. 45 per cent of the oil bill was paid in rupees in a UCO Bank account while the rest 55 per cent was to be cleared whenever banking channels open. Now with lifting of sanctions, Iran has presented its unpaid bill. But Essar Oil and other refiners want to pay Iran at the exchange rate prevalent at the time of buying crude oil in the last three years. Rupee to a US dollar was under 55 in February 2013 when the 45:55 payment system became operational. Rupee to a US dollar is nearing 67 now. “They (Iran) say they are losing a lot of money due to exchange rate variation and now want to make it up through interest rate,” the official said. India is agreeable to paying some interest rate even though the ‘Bilateral Payment Agreement’ entered into in August 2012 does not provide for payment of interest. The official said Iranian Central Bank officials will shortly visit India to further discuss the modalities. Ideally, if refiners had kept dollar equivalent to their purchase in separate account over the years they could have readily paid Iran now. But for a barrel of oil they bought in February 2013 at say USD 80, they would now have to pay Rs 5,360 instead of Rs 4,400 then. He said Iran wants its dollar dues in full without factoring in the exchange rate. Refiners like Essar Oil on the other hand want to pay rupee equivalent of the purchase at current rate. Iran, he said, wants dollar equivalent of the dues in Euros. Tehran has told India that the three-year old mechanism of paying 45 per cent of oil import bill in rupees and keeping the remaining 55 per cent pending for payment channels to clear, has come to an end. It will be opening or re-activating euro accounts with Indian banks and would like to have the past money transferred from refiners into these accounts. Mike Hull Jersey