CM: No more extensions for airport bidders
Chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Sunday said that the state government will give no further time extension to bidders to submit their request for proposal (RFP) for the construction of the international greenfield airport at Mopa. Parsekar told mediapersons that the last time they received RFP from three bidders and two bidders requested a two-month extension to submit RFP. He also said that after assurance from them that they would submit the RFP in a month’s time, an extension was granted till August 26. “We will not extend the time frame further, and on August 26 we will announce the bidder for the airport,” he added. He also said that extension was granted keeping in mind that there would be healthy competition and more revenue would come to the state. Henrik Lundqvist Womens Jersey
Hike in refining capacity
Refining has been one of the biggest success stories in the Indian economy. About 15 years ago, India had to import refined products, but today it has become a net exporter. The country’s refining capacity has gone up to 240 million tons and the consumption of products – petrol, diesel, kerosene, etc. – is 180 million tons. The challenge is in crude oil production; India produces just 40 million tons of crude oil. Says B. Ashok, Chairman, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL): “GDP and population expansion, coupled with India’s low per capita energy consumption, will drive massive fuel growth. Oil will continue to feature prominently in India’s energy mix even in 2040, despite rapid growth in renewable sources.” Indian Oil is bullish on its latest high-complexity refinery at Paradip, which will significantly improve the refining competitiveness of the company and India. The chairman of IOCL also foresees a paradigm shift in retailing as competitions shifts to the thriving rural hinterlands. With all its brownfield expansions in line, Indian Oil would cross 100-million-tonne mark in about six years. It is also planning to set up a world-scale refinery in the west coast and all three state-owned refiners – Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum – will jointly establish the refinery. Indian Oil is also present in both domestic and overseas exploration and production projects. “Overseas, we have stake in three producing states – one is a gas field at British Columbia where we have a 10 per cent stake. It is a 12-mt LNG project. We have some small production in Venezuela and the US. We have recently acquired stake in Russian assets.” Lester Hayes Jersey
Convening over oil and gas
One of Asia’s largest oil and gas events, Petrotech, will be held in New Delhi between December 5 and 7 this year. ‘Hydrocarbons to fuel the future: Choices and challenges’ is the theme of the event. “As the prime showcase of India’s hydrocarbon sector, Petrotech-2016 is already attracting technologists, scientists, policy makers, management experts, entrepreneurs, service providers and vendors from countries and companies worldwide,” says Verghese Cherian, Director (HR), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), which is organising the event this year. “We aim to put together a spectacular value-added 12th edition, which will be a bigger conference and larger exhibition in Delhi than the previous editions.” Rajesh Ahuja, Executive Director, IOCL, who is also the Convenor of Petrotech-2016, says the event has grown rapidly since its first edition. “When we started in 1995, about 1,500 delegates from a dozen countries participated in the event,” he notes. “This time, we are targeting 6,000 delegates from 50 countries.” The Petrotech series of international oil and gas conference and exhibition is a biennial platform for national and international experts in the oil gas industry to exchange views and share knowledge, expertise and experiences. This year’s event is being organised by Indian Oil, which alternates with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in staging the mega events. “India being a booming economy, and with the Prime Minister creating a novel brand image across the globe, it has fascinated many international players,” says Cherian. “They are keen to participate and partake in this new edition of Petrotech as we are an emerging nation with strong demands for energy at all levels of our growth, be it the lowly farming sector or the increasing industrial sector.” As the Indian economy flourishes, the country is set to witness an upswing in energy demand. Cherian says that the rising per capita income, the multifarious initiatives to promote economic growth, infrastructure development, and the drive towards ‘Make in India’ are expected to boost the country’s energy demand in a big way. “The world is indeed taking note and watching with interest as the discourse unfolds on a range of hot topics such as clean energy, rising energy demand, smart cities, etc,” he adds. “Solar energy is being projected in a big way across the globe and so is India as this energy from the sun is both sustainable and infinite.” Over the years, Petrotech has garnered an enviable reputation in international circles as one of the most coveted forums for the global hydrocarbon industry. With a plethora of topics and technical sessions, the 2016 edition will sow the seeds of a vibrant future and engage participants in a memorable and eventful conference, adds Cherian. “India’s oil and gas sector is facing a major talent challenge from competing sectors that could potentially affect its ability to operate and grow,” he adds. To increase awareness of the challenges in the oil and gas sector among engineering graduates, a special Youth Forum is being organised to showcase opportunities in the sector. Beau Bennett Womens Jersey
After Reliance, Essar Oil too keen on subsidised LPG supply
Essar Oil wants to distribute subsidised cooking gas cylinders if the government allow this, its chief executive has said. Essar Oil is planning to enter the domestic cooking gas, or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), distribution segment that is expected to expand by 60% in three years as the government has set a target for state firms to enroll 100 million new cooking gas consumers. “We would like to get into domestic LPG distribution but the subsidy is an issue. The government should sort out the subsidy issue and allow private players into this,” said Lalit Kumar Gupta, chief executive of Essar Oil. He, however, didn’t confirm if Essar has written to the government seeking permission for this or suggesting any change in the way subsidy is disbursed that would allow private players an entry in this rapidly growing segment. Essar’s bigger rival, Reliance Industries, has already written to the government, expressing its intent to enter subsidised domestic LPG distribution, beginning with the cities. Reliance argues that every domestic cooking gas customer should be treated equally and the current practice of limiting subsidy to just the customers of state firms be scrapped. For this to happen, the government may have to bring in a system whereby it directly transfers subsidy into customers’ bank accounts. The government then reimburses state companies. Essar currently doesn’t have any cooking gas distribution but Reliance has a base of about 1 million consumers to whom it supplies non-subsidised cylinders, mostly in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Essar Oil sells LPG produced at its Gujarat refinery to state firms. But a collapse in oil prices that has dramatically shrunk subsidy and a direct cash transfer to consumers have made private players reconsider business opportunity in this fast growing segment. Total LPG consumption in the country has grown for the last 34 months in a row and jumped 7.8% in the first quarter of this fiscal year. Domestic packed LPG consumption grew 6.4% in the quarter as 4.25 million new customers were acquired. Reliance Industries is planning to lure away many of the 10 million LPG consumers who have given up subsidy with better services. Entry of private players in the domestic subsidised space has the potential to raise the service level for consumers and challenge. Cory Joseph Womens Jersey
Oil, gas industry to lose out heavily from GST: Icra
New tax law does not seek to include oil and gas products as well as tobacco and liquor under its purview. The oil and gas sector will not gain from the goods and service tax (GST) and will lose out due to compliance with dual taxation regimes and non-creditable tax costs, says a report. The GST law in its present form excludes a major portion of the oil and gas industry products thereby excluding the industry from most of the benefits of the one-tax-one-nation proposal. Not just that, the new taxation regime will impose an additional burden on the industry due to compliance to a dual tax regime, said a report by the domestic rating agency. Profitability of the industry could also be modestly hit because of tax-related under recoveries, Icra warned. The new tax law does not seek to include oil and gas products as well as tobacco and liquor under its purview. “The impact of the GST will be negative on the oil and gas industry due to the compliance with dual taxation regimes and non-creditable tax costs,” Icra analysts K Ravichandran, Prashant Vasisht andAnoop Bhatia say in the report. Last week, Parliament passed the 122nd Constitution Amendment Bill 2014. While the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill on August 3, the Lok Sabha did the same on August 8. The government hopes to roll out the new tax regime, which will subsume several Central (central excise, service tax, special additional duty of customs etc) and state (octroi, entry tax, value added tax, purchase tax etc) taxes into a single tax, from April 1, 2017. The GST will mitigate cascading taxation and facilitate a common national market. For the Bill to become a law, it has to be passed by at least 19 state Assemblies besides setting up a GST Council that will make recommendations on taxes to be subsumed, exemptions, rates, date from which GST would be levied on crude, high speed diesel, natural gas, aviation turbine fuel and petrol. Explaining the rationale for their conclusion, the analysts point out that the present GST law does not include five petroleum items — crude oil, natural gas, motor spirit, high speed diesel and aviation turbine fuel — at present but would be included at a later date, while LPG, naphtha, kerosene, fuel oil etc are included. Steven Kampfer Womens Jersey
PSU oil cos book 60% floating terminal capacity of Swan Energy
ONGC, IOC and BPCL have booked 60 per cent of the capacity of Swan Energy Ltd’s upcoming floating LNG terminal off the Gujarat coast, giving the Nikhil Merchant-led firm much-needed backing to complete the Rs 56 billion project. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), IOC and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) have agreed to take one million tons per annum capacity each on the 5 million tons a year floating LNG terminal planned at Jafrabad port in Gujarat, sources privy to the negotiations said. Gujarat State Petroleum Corp Ltd (GSPC) too is in talks to take 1.5 million tons capacity in the floating, storage and regasification unit (FSRU). The companies hiring the capacity will bring their own LNG from abroad and pay Swan a tolling fee. Swan Energy is building the project in joint venture with Exmar of Belgium. The company had last year secured all necessary permits for the project and the state-owned firms agreed to hire 60 per cent capacity of the terminal on tolling basis for importing their own gas will help Swan take the final investment decision and tie-up project financing. Antonio Gates Authentic Jersey
Plans for new gas pipelines to connect Bangladesh and India
According to the Executive Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC), S C Soni, the Indian government has recently begun planning to build a 6900 km gas pipeline that will link Bangladesh and West Bengal. The Economic Times has claimed that Soni told reporters: “As part of Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for north-eastern region, 6900 km pipelines would be laid connecting Sitwe [in Myanmar], Chittagong [in Bangladesh] and most north-eastern states, Siliguri and Durgapur.” Large quantities of gas are flared (burned) in the north-eastern region of India since, at present, it cannot be piped to the consumers, he noted. Thus, the plan is to carry the gas elsewhere to make it more readily available for productive purposes. Bangladesh Petroleum Corp. (BPC) and Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) signed an agreement in April 2016 to jointly set up a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminal plant in Chittagong to help pipe gas to the north-eastern states. Thirteen routes with a total length of approximately 6900 km of pipelines have been proposed for the purpose. An Indian financial newspaper has also claimed that the government hopes the planned pipeline will boost mutual co-operation in the region’s energy sector, supporting this with a quote by the country’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. Interacting with the media at the launch of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) in Kolkata, Pradhan is reported to have said: “The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has started the process for constructing a pipeline from Contai in West Bengal via Haldia to Duttapulia on the India-Bangladesh border for supplying oil and natural gas.” “We have discussed with Bangladesh and agreed to take the pipeline to the country. There are also talks to bring the pipeline back to India through Shiliguri.” According to The Financial Express, the minister also suggested that there are plans to lay a pipeline from the Numaligarh refinery in Assam, which would supply high-speed diesel to Bangladesh. He continued to state that India is increasing its natural gas terminal capacity. “We have booked substantial gas in several parts of the world, including America, Australia and Mozambique. We have a long-term contract with Qatar and are also discussing with Iran. So, we have plenty of gas bookings and India as a whole is augmenting its LNG terminal capacity,” Pradhan stated. The future According to Soni, the ONGC Board has approved a plan to invest Rs. 50.50 billion to explore more gas in Tripura by 2022. “Under this plan, new wells would be drilled and additional surface facilities would be created to increase gas production from 5.1 million to 6.25 million m3/d from Tripura gas fields,” he said. Butch Goring Authentic Jersey
India to save Rs 200 billion from new gas import deal with Qatar: PM Modi
India will save as much as Rs 200 billion as it has renegotiated a long-term gas import deal with Qatar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday. India buys 7.5 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum from Qatar. The price formula for this was fixed 13 years back and the rate went out of sync when global energy prices slumped last year. “We are dependent on other nations to meet our requirement of energy and petroleum (oil) supplies. And so long-term agreements have been entered into to get assured quantity at a pre-determined price,” Modi said in his Independence Day address to the nation from the Red Fort. In the changed world economic scenario, the Qatar LNG price posed a huge burden on Indian economy, he said, adding that India used its foreign policy to reopen the price. “What was Qatar’s right and we were bound to pay, we managed to get Qatar to renegotiate…to make possible something which was impossible,” he said. India will save Rs 200 billion by renegotiating the LNG price lower, Modi said. “They (Qatar) were entitled to take Rs 200 billion (as per the long-term signed contract) but our diplomatic ties ensured that we renegotiate the terms.” RasGas of Qatar supplies LNG to India under a 25-year long term contract since 2004. Bobby Orr Womens Jersey