Flying from IGI Airport gets cheaper
Flying out of IGI Airport here has got cheaper from today with the discontinuation of the development fee being charged from each passenger for the past several years. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the joint venture company which runs the IGI airport, was allowed to levy Rs 100 per flight as Development Fee (DF) from passengers flying on domestic routes and Rs 600 from those flying to international destinations. The airports tariff regulator Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) had in February issued an order directing DIAL to discontinue DF from May 1, after having allowed it to levy DF through a December 2012 order. Citing the average monthly collection of Rs 30 crore as DF, the AERA had in its order in February said the total sanctioned DF amount of Rs 3,415.35 crore was likely to be recovered by April 30, 2016. To cover the financial gap in developing the airport, the allowable DF was determined at Rs 3,415.35 crore. Last month, Directorate General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) had also asked all airlines operating from Delhi to refund the development fee charged from passengers flying out of the IGI Airport on the tickets booked for journey beyond April 30. DIAL is a joint venture between GMR group, Airports Authority of India and Germany’s Fraport AG. Rigoberto Sanchez Authentic Jersey
Embassy Group buys part of Chennai SEZ unit from SNP Infrastructure
Embassy Group has partially acquired a stalled SEZ project in Chennai from SNP Infrastructure for an undisclosed amount, two people aware of the development said. The 26-acre property on Thoraipakkam-Pallavaram road is close to the airport. Land on Pallavaram road costs about Rs 20 crore per acre. “The special economic zone project was shelved in 2008 by SNP due to bad market condition.It will be partial buyout and partial joint development,” the people cited earlier said. Mike Holland, CEO of Embassy Office Parks -a joint venture between Blackstone and Embassy Group -refused to comment on the matter. “The structure is ready and Embassy will soon start construction,” said one of the persons quoted earlier. While Embassy will build office property over 4 million sq ft, the remaining will be used for integrated development comprising residential and retail components. In the recent past, Chennai has seen a spurt in land transactions, with a majority of investments coming in office assets. The biggest deal during this period involved Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and Shapoorji Pallonji Group’s joint venture company SPREP acquiring SP Infocity IT Park in Chennai for $220 millon, or nearly Rs 1,460 crore. In addition, Brigade Properties, a joint venture between Brigade Enterprises and GIC, Singapore, jointly acquired a 15.86-acre land parcel from Kansai Nerolac Paints in Chennai in a deal valued at Rs 550 crore, and Chennai-based real estate developer VGN raised Rs 670 crore from Piramal Capital and ECL Finance. Embassy Group has 24 million sq ft of leased and under-construction property. Of this 12 million sq ft of office properties is under construction, with a total capital expenditure of Rs 4,500 crore. Tyson Alualu Authentic Jersey
Government expecting Rs 25 lakh crore investment for infra development: Nitin Gadkari
The government is expecting investments worth Rs 25 lakh crore over the next 3 years in the roads, railway and shipping infrastructure that includes setting up of 27 industrial clusters at ports at around Rs 8 lakh crore, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. “We are committed to overhaul country’s infrastructure and gradually working towards achieving this. We plan to spend Rs 25 lakh crore in our highways and shipping sector which includes setting up of 27 industrial clusters near ports at an estimated cost of Rs 8 lakh crore,” Gadkari said. Apart from Rs 8 lakh crore on developing 27 industrial clusters, another about Rs 5 lakh crore would be spent on road, railway and ports connectivity projects, the Minister said on the sidelines of an event by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. Besides, smart cities will be built at ports which will entail a huge investment, he said. Earlier addressing the Chamber event, Gadkari said, “By May this year, awards in highways projects will swell to Rs 2 lakh crore from Rs 1.6 lakh crore now and by May 2017 it will be another 5 lakh crore.” He said concerted efforts by his Ministry to expedite road projects has started bearing fruits and the road building pace, which was barely 2 km a day when the Narendra Modi government took over, has reached 20 km a day and will touch 25 km a day next month. He added that at the time of taking charge of the Ministry, 403 projects worth Rs 3.35 lakh crore were stuck but most of the issues have been addressed and barring 31 projects worth about Rs 30,000 crore all are being executed, he said. He further said that out of the six planned ports in the country, three alone at Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra would entail an investment of Rs 60,000 crore. Massive work is also being done on waterways front and detailed project reports are being worked out for converting 111 rivers into waterways. Work on the stretch between Pala in Haryana and Wazirabad will be initiated in three months’ time, he added. Tarik Cohen Jersey
Essar 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 financial year from the existing 0.85 scmd and scale it up further to 2.5 million scmd during 2017-18. In this endeavour, it will increase the number of its wells in the Raniganj East block coalfields from around 300 to 363 this year. “We’ll increase the well count by March 2017. Of the nearly 300 wells, 266 have been fracked, 247 have been completed and 175 have been on the active de-absorption cycle,” the company’s CEO for exploration and production, Manish Maheshwari, told Business Standard. Essar Oil & Gas 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 33 billion in this project. The company owns CBM mining rights in coalfields in Raniganj, West Bengal, Sohagpur in Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh, Rajmahal in Jharkhand and Talcher and Ib Valley in Odisha, making it the largest private CBM producer in India. “Rajmahal will also begin production in five years. 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 CBM but other projects will come up in time,” Maheshwari said. Land acquisition approval for the Sohagpur minefield is pending from the Chhattisgarh government and the Petroleum Exploration Licence for the Talcher and Ib Valley coalfields is pending from the Odisha government. All these coalfields have combined reserves of 12 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of CBM, of which Raniganj has reserves of 1.1 tcf. To extract CBM from these coal mines, Essar Oil & Gas has employed six drilling rigs of which two have been procured from Greka drilling on contract. It is also on the lookout for CBM mining projects globally but will keep off “matured markets” like the USand 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. Oscar Dansk Jersey
Congress demands SC monitored probe into KG basin scam allegedly involving PM Modi
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Saturday held demonstrations and burnt effigies of prime minister Narendra Modi outside all the 33 district collectorates and eight mahanagarpalikas, demanding a Supreme Court monitored probe into what it calls Rs 200 billion scam in Krishna-Godavari basin involving Modi when he was chief minister of the state. Stating that the scam was bigger than the 2G scam, state party spokesperson Manish Doshi said that the Modi regime in the state had given Gujarat state petroleum corporation’s (GSPC) 10 per cent stake amounting to Rs 200 billion in KG basin gas field to GeoGlobal Resources, a multinational company existing on paper, for nothing. Cameron Brate Authentic Jersey
India ready to clear $ 6.5 billion of Iran’s oil dues
Keen to step up engagement in hydrocarbon sector with Iran, India has conveyed to the Persian Gulf nation that it was ready to clear nearly USD 6.5 billion of the dues for oil import from that country at the earliest, provided there was clarity on payment channel. The message has been conveyed to Iran even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the oil-rich country later this month. Government sources said there has been a series of discussions at various levels both in Tehran and here and both sides were confident of resolving the issue soon. “We are working on clearing the dues to Iran and are hopeful that the issue will be resolved soon,” they said. Following lifting of sanctions against it in January under a historic nuclear deal, Iran had terminated a three-year-old system with India of getting paid for half of the oil dues in rupees and has been insisting on being paid in Euros for the oil it sells to Indian refiners. It has also scrapped free delivery of crude oil to Indian refiners. Officials said though Western sanctions against Iran were lifted, problems persist in banking channels due to which regular transactions were not possible yet. Refiners like Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MPRL) owe nearly USD 6.5 billion in dues to Iran. Since February 2013, Indian refiners like Essar Oil and MRPL paid 45 per cent of their import bill in rupees to UCO Bank account of Iranian oil company. The remaining has been accumulating, pending finalisation of a payment mechanism. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Iran last month during which they had conveyed to Iranian leaders that India wants to significantly ramp up engagement in oil and gas sector with that country. The issue of the pending dues had also figured in the meetings. Swaraj during her visit had conveyed to Iranian leadership that India wants to invest in joint ventures in oil and gas sectors in the Persian Gulf nation where foreign investors from major economic powers are rushing in to get early footholds after lifting of sanctions. Following lifting of sanctions against Iran, India has been eying deeper energy ties with that country and has already lined up USD 20 billion as investment in oil and gas as well as petrochemical and fertiliser projects there. New Delhi is looking to increase engagement with the sanction-free Iran by raising oil imports and possible shipments of natural gas. It also wants rights to develop Farzad-B gas field in the Persian Gulf discovered by OVL. A deal for the field was not signed during Pradhan’s visit as Iranian Parliament, Majlis, is yet to approve the new Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) under which the Farzad-B field is to be given to the OVL-led consortium. Indian firms have so far shied away from investing in Iran for the fear of being sanctioned by the US and Europe. The same was deterring New Delhi from claiming rights to invest nearly USD 7 billion in the biggest gas discovery ever made by an Indian firm abroad. But after the lifting of sanctions, India is making a renewed pitch for rights to develop 12.8 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves OVL had found in 2008. Pradhan also conveyed to the Iranian side that both countries must expand the basket of oil and gas trade. He had also expressed India’s interest in importing LPG from Iran and said companies from both sides could discuss setting up of an extraction plant in Chabahar, if required. India’s total crude import in 2015-16 was around 184 million tons. Iran had in November 2013 offered free delivery of crude oil to Indian refiners as tough Western sanctions crippled its exports. With shipping lines refusing to transport Iranian crude for fear of being sanctioned, Iran used its shipping line for the delivery and did not charge for transportation. Kevin Huber Authentic Jersey
BPCL cleared for $450m investment in BORL
India’s Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) has obtained government clearance to increase its investment in Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd. (BORL) up to a maximum of Rs30 billion ($450 million), a report said. This will further increase the capacity of BORL’s Bina refinery in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, according to the Tomes of Oman report. “The infusion of funds by the BPCL will enable BORL to overcome implications arising out of erosion of its net worth,” the report quoted a cabinet statement. BORL “proposes to undertake a debottlenecking project at the refinery to further increase the refining capacity from six million tons per annum to 7.8 MTPA. The estimated project cost is Rs30 billion,” the statement said. “The highlights of the proposal for debottlenecking project include certain modifications to produce products in accordance to the new auto fuel policy,” it added. Philip Rivers Jersey
Petrol, diesel prices hiked
Petrol price was today hiked by Rs 1.06 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.94 a litre. Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 62.19 per litre from midnight tonight as against Rs 61.13 currently, said Indian Oil Corporation, the nation’s largest fuel retailer. Similarly, a litre of diesel will cost Rs 50.95 compared to Rs 48.01 at present. The hike comes on back of Rs 0.74 per litre cut in petrol price and diesel by Rs 1.30 a litre on April 16. “The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and the rupee-US Dollar exchange rate warrant increase in price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision,” the IOC said. State-owned fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) revise rates of the fuel on 1st and 16th of every month based on the average oil price and the foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight. “The movement of prices in the international oil market and the rupee-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes,” the company added. Trai Turner Jersey