DGCA seeks info on ticket pricing from airlines
With concern being expressed over steep fluctuation in airfares, civil aviation regulator DGCA has sought details from the airlines on their pricing ways, especially the highest fare bucket. The latest move comes against the backdrop of concern expressed in various quarters, including by the MPs, about steep fluctuation in airfares, mainly during emergency situations and peak seasons. The regulator has sought details of ticket prices from the airlines, especially those sold in the highest fare bucket, a DGCA official said today. As it seeks to clamp down on airlines charging exorbitant ticket prices, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has also asked them to submit specific information about the number of seats and relevant fares on 20 identified routes, the official said. The routes, for which ticket pricing information has been sought, include those connecting Jammu and Kashmir, Leh and Port Blair. On Wednesday, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju had told Lok Sabha that the ministry would hold consultations with the airlines to explore the possibility of curbing charging of exorbitant airfares during emergency situations. “The ministry will commence the process of consultations with stakeholders, including airlines, to explore possibility of containing fares,” he had said. His assurance had come amid Lok Sabha members voicing concern over exorbitant airfares during emergency situations like unprecedented floods in Chennai and Srinagar and the recent Jat agitation. Allan Houston Jersey
Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju bats for solar units at all airports
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju today said he has asked all the airports in the country to install solar energy units on the lines of Kochi airport. He was talking to reporters after showing installation of 5 KV solar energy panels at his residence here with an estimated cost of Rs 5 lakh. Talking about the expense, the Minister said state government had given Rs 2 lakh as a subsidy for installation. A 12 MW-capacity solar power unit has been installed at Kochi airport run by the Cochin International Airport Limited. Similarly, solar unit has also been installed at the Delhi airport, he said, adding that he had asked other airports in the country to emulate this step. The Minister also batted for grant of special status to Andhra Pradesh, saying the delay in granting it may cause more financial distress to the state. Brandon Mebane Authentic Jersey
Chinese team starts hydrocarbon exploration in Nepal’s western district
A team of Chinese experts on Sunday launched a study on prospects for minerals, gas and oil at Shreesthan in Dailekh, a western district of Nepal, which, officials claim, holds petroleum products in abundance. It is after a gap of two decades that the Nepal government has allowed Chinese geologists to begin hydrocarbon exploration in the western part of the country in a bid to become self-reliant. Six Chinese experts are involved in the exploration bid, according to a government statement issued here. The Chinese team will carry out the feasibility study on all 10 petroleum blocks in Nepal sprawled from east to west. The Chinese team will report its findings in about a month on the exploration prospects apart from the amount of petroleum products that could be harnessed in the district. The study comes in the wake of an agreement between Nepal and China during Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s visit to the communist country in March, said Minister for Industry Som Prasad Pandey, who kick-started the exploration venture. Under the agreement, China was also to help in the construction of at least three petroleum reservoirs in Nepal. China will also extend technical and financial help to Nepal in exploration. Nepal began exploring for hydrocarbons some three decade ago and awarded several contracts to international firms. But the attempts were not a success due to lack of political will and adequate budget. Rasheem Green Authentic Jersey
Refined petroleum imports more beneficial than crude
Bangladesh will benefit more if it imports refined petroleum products instead of bringing in crude oil and refining them at home, BMI Research said in a new report. The country imports crude oil from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which is refined at Eastern Refinery Ltd (ERL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation. Recently, ERL has contracted Engineers India Ltd as a consultant to expand the country’s lone Patenga refinery. The facility currently has a refining capacity of 1.5 million tons a year. The government is seeking developers to construct a second crude distillation unit at the refinery, which will increase the refining capacity by an additional three million tons a year by 2019, at an estimated cost of $1.7 billion. “Given the geographical proximity of the Middle East and the competitiveness of its refineries, it may be more economical for Bangladesh to import refined fuels from the Middle East in the short term,” said London-based BMI Research. At present, Bangladesh imports refined fuels from countries such as Malaysia, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei, Turkey, Kuwait, the UAE and Oman. “Additionally, we forecast Bangladesh will remain a net importer even if the refinery expansion project goes ahead, restricting the potential of international sales revenue that ERL and BPC could generate.” Owned by Fitch Group, BMI Research provides macroeconomic, industry and financial market insights. The analysis forecasts Bangladesh’s refined fuel consumption will grow at an average of 3 percent a year to 2025, led by an expanding manufacturing sector and strong economic growth. BMI Research cautioned that there are significant downside risks to the expansion project, such as a delay or project downsizing, given that the government has yet to secure financing. The government has teamed up with France-based Technip in order to treble the country’s capacity for refining crude oil, thus cutting the reliance on imports. Under the deal, Technip, which also established the existing sole unit of ERL in Chittagong 47 years ago, will set up the second unit. Once completed, the second unit will help the country save $220 million, said BPC Chairman AM Badrudduja earlier. Domestic refining can help save a country up to $5 a barrel, according to experts. At present, the country’s annual demand for crude and finished oil is 5.5 million tons. Of them, 64 percent is diesel, 17 percent furnace oil and 5 percent kerosene. The rest are octane, petrol and other products. Of the fuel imports, 46 percent is used in the transport sector, 26 percent in power sector and 17 percent in agriculture. Mohammad Tamim, a professor of petroleum and mineral resources engineering department at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said the second unit should be designed in a way that it can process crudes to give out the maximum quantity of diesel. The current refinery can produce up to 30 percent diesel, while the available technology can produce up to 45 percent diesel from crude. ERL processes Arabian light crude and Murban crude, imported respectively from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and produces 16 petroleum products. But the refinery cannot process Russian crude, for example. BPC has made a profit twice in the last 15 years, mainly because it subsidises fuels to end consumers. In fiscal 2014-15, BPC made a profit of $443.1 million. However, the profit will be short-lived, as the BMI Research analysis forecasts fuel prices to strengthen in the coming years, increasing the subsidy burden. Dale Hawerchuk Womens Jersey
Diesel vehicles ban worst advertisement of India: Toyota
With the Supreme Court set to take up the matter of ban on diesel cars and SUVs on Monday, the world’s largest automaker Toyota said continued restrictions on vehicles that comply with all regulations would be the “worst advertisement of India”. The ban has been imposed on diesel vehicles with an engine capacity of above 2,000 cc in Delhi and NCR. The company, which operates in India as a joint venture — Toyota Kirloskar Motor — with the Kirloskar group, is among the worst hit and has not been selling its popular vehicles Innova and SUV Fortuner in the Delhi-NCR region since the ban was imposed in December last year. “If we don’t get a breakthrough on Monday, our vehicles despite being compliant of all regulations in India would continue to be banned. That’s the worst advertisement of India,” Toyota Kirloskar Motor Vice-Chairman and Whole-time Director Shekar Viswanathan told PTI. Stating that the environment lobby is not adequately informed, he said, “Does the ban suggest to mean that other diesel, petrol and CNG driven vehicles don’t pollute? Why is the ban only on 2,000 cc and above diesel cars and SUVs?” On the company’s plans in case the ban stays, Viswanathan said, “Then, we will sit out of the market where the ban is imposed. We cannot change the engine specification as our customers may not desire it.” He also cautioned that there would be “losses, laying off of people and hardships for dealerships” in the auto industry if other cities were to seek a similar ban on such diesel vehicles as is being currently done in the capital and NCR. Questioning the rationale of the ban, he said, “While the latest BS-IV compliant cleaner vehicles are banned, old vehicles of pre-BS era, BS I, I and III continue to pollute.” Asked if Toyota is ready for an environment compensation cess on the lines of the Supreme Court asking the Delhi Police to pay 30 per cent of the real value of new vehicles as a pre-condition for their registration, Viswanathan said, “That would be too much of a burden for ordinary customers.” Besides Toyota, other manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover and Mahindra & Mahindra are the major automobile firms hit by the ban. The automobile industry has been against the ban, saying such restrictions will not help achieve the desired objective of reducing pollution and will only vilify diesel technology. Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava had termed the ban as “totally arbitrary”. Derrick Thomas Womens Jersey
Diesel to be cheaper by 54 paise/litre as Delhi government slashes VAT
Diesel will be cheaper by 54 paise a litre from Saturday as the Delhi government late on Friday night reduced VAT to 15.75 per cent from 18.5 per cent. Diesel would now cost Rs 50.41 per litre against Rs 59.94 in Delhi. The new rates are at par with the price in Haryana, especially in respect to Gurgaon and Sonepat – the two cities that drew a lot of refulling business. Delhi has about 400 outlets with a combined daily sale of 1200 kilo-litres. The AAP government had some three months back raised VAT on diesel to 18.5 per cent from 16.5 per cent. This gave advantage to fuel retailers in neighbouring states, prompting a drop in sales at pumps in Delhi, especially those bordering Haryana and UP. However, diesel continues to be cheaper in UP even after the latest reduction in VAT. Chris Chelios Womens Jersey
Domestic crude export not economically justified: Centre to High Court
With nearly 85 per cent of India’s crude oil requirement being met by imports, it would not be “economically justified” to permit export of the country’s domestic crude production, the Centre has told the Delhi High Court. The submission was made by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, while opposing UK-based Vedanta group company Cairn India’s plea for permission to export excess crude from its Barmer oilfield. Defending its decision not to allow Cairn to export the crude, the ministry has said an empowered committee of secretaries has gone into the issue and concluded that India’s energy security would be adversely affected by allowing crude oil exports as then “more expensive” and “lighter crude oil” would have to be imported. “India has a total refining capacity of 223 million tons of crude oil. That in the present scenario only 38 million tons of crude oil from domestic production is available for refining in Indian refineries. “That the balance (84.9 per cent) crude oil is required to be imported to meet the domestic refinery capacity. Hence, allowing export of domestic production of crude oil is not economically justified,” the ASG told Justice Manmohan. The ASG, assisted by central government standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia, also told the court that Cairn has “complete freedom to fix the price of crude oil”, that it sells to any domestic refinery, “on arms length basis” as the company has claimed it was forced to sell its share of crude to private players at prices 20 per cent less than global rates. With regard to Cairn’s earlier claim that selling its share of crude at lesser price has caused a loss of Rs 14 billion to the government, the ministry told the court that “we do not want to earn profit out of our natural resources” and added that crude oil cannot be exported presently as per its policy of zero per cent export till India attains self sufficiency. The court, thereafter, asked the government to place the policy before it by the next date of hearing on May 18. Roger Clemens Authentic Jersey
Cong for probe into Gujarat gas ‘scam’
After flagging it in Parliament repeatedly, the Congress today took the matter related to Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (SGPC) gas exploration to President Pranab Mukherjee demanding a judicial investigation into the “scam”. Basing its demands on a CAG report which revealed recently that the GSPC fruitlessly invested around Rs 197 billion in exploration of gas in Krishna Godavari basin, the Congress said GSPC must be made accountable for loss of public money. The explorations were based on the purported discovery of India’s largest gas reserves, of 20 trillion cubic feet, valuing Rs 2220 billion in 2005 in the basin. An announcement to this effect had been made by the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. He had then promised commercial production from 2007 on an investment of Rs 15 billion. But no gas was found or produced. The Congress leaders led by party president Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser Ahmed Patel and comprising state unit chief Bharat Singh Slinky and Shankarsinh Vaghela argued before President for a judicial probe saying the state cannot be the judge in its own case. Jeremy Hill Authentic Jersey