Indian Oil lines up Rs 18,000 cr to raise Panipat refinery capacity
Indian Oil Corporation, the nation’s largest oil firm, plans to invest Rs 18,000 crore to raise capacity of its Panipat refinery in Haryana to 25 million tonnes (mt) by 2020, larger than previously planned. IOC had previously planned to raise capacity of Panipat refinery from 15 mt to 20.2 mt, but now it is looking at raising the capacity straightway to 25 mt, its Director (Refineries) Sanjiv Singh said here. “We have land at Panipat refinery site and so we are looking at going straight to 25 million tonnes,” he said. “We have to look at the capacity of the pipeline, which carries crude oil from west coast to the refinery before finalising if the capacity should be expanded to 20.2 million tonnes as planned earlier or go straight to 25 million tonnes.” IOC owns and operates 11 out of India’s 23 refineries with a combined refining capacity of 80.7 mt per annum. Singh said the company board will shortly take up investment approval for the Panipat expansion as well as that of capacity upgrade at Koyali refinery in Gujarat and Mathura unit in Uttar Pradesh. It is looking to scale up its Koyali refinery capacity to 18 mt from 13.7 mt currently while a 3-mtpa capacity addition is planned at Mathura. “We have land at both Koyali and Mathura, so the expansion would not be a problem,” he said. The IOC board had only last week approved over Rs 9,800 crore investment in expansion of its Barauni refinery in Bihar and setting up a petrochemical unit at the Panipat refinery complex. The board, in its meeting on Thursday, approved expansion of the Barauni refinery to 9 mtpa from 6 mtpa. The expansion along with downstream polypropylene unit will cost Rs 8,287 crore, Singh said. “We have three small crude distillation units at Barauni currently. We plan to pull them down and build new crude processing units. The options before us are to set up one big unit of 9 mt or two units of 6 mt and 3 mt,” he said. The Barauni expansion will be completed by 2021-22. The expansion would meet rising demand in eastern India, particularly in Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh, he said. Also, the board accorded “in-principle” approval for implementation of Olefin recovery project along with expansion of existing naphtha cracker unit, MEG (monoethylene glycol) revamp and benzene expansion unit modifications at Panipat at an estimated cost of Rs 1,527 crore”, he said. The Panipat refinery was commissioned in 1998 with a capacity of 6 mtpa. The refining capacity was doubled to 12 mtpa in 2006 and then raised to 15 mtpa in 2010. Once expanded, this will cater to fuel needs of north and western India. “We are working on raising fuel quality specifications to meet Euro-VI standards at our refineries and so, the Panipat expansion too is being reconfigured to meet the new specifications,” he said. Kyle Palmieri Womens Jersey
Government body proposes four new airports in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana
A government body recommended four new greenfield airport projects in the smaller towns of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, as part of India’s overall aim to improve airport infrastructure and regional connectivity in the country. “The Steering Committee on Greenfield airports headed by Secretary, Civil Aviation…met today and considered 4 new airport projects. The Committee recommended ‘in principle’ approval to 3 projects in Andhra Pradesh viz., Bhogapuram, Dagadarthi (Nellore) and Orvakallu (Kurnool). The Committee also recommended for ‘site clearance’ to the project of Kothagudem in Telengana,” the ministry of civil aviation said in an official statement. A new international airport at Bhogapuram will be developed by the state government under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode at an estimated cost of Rs 2,200 crore. It is estimated to cater to 6.3 million passengers per annum in the initial phase. The other two airports in Andhra Pradesh will be developed as domestic no-frills airports with an estimated cost of Rs 88 crores each. Dagadarthi will be developed under the PPP mode whereas a project at Orvakallu will be developed by state government on its own. The steering committee has also recommended ‘site clearance’ for a new greenfield airport project at Kothagudem in Telangana. With this, Telangana would be getting its second greenfield airport after the one at Hyderabad. Shayne Corson Authentic Jersey
India’s Vistara chief wants airline rule scrapped
The boss of India’s newest airline Vistara has urged the government to scrap a rule that restricts carriers in the country’s cut-throat aviation sector from expanding their operations abroad. Phee Teik Yeoh, the Singaporean CEO of Vistara, which was launched last year, said that recent reforms were welcome but more needed to be done to help fledgling airlines. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a long-awaited shake-up of the rapidly growing market in June, including amending a regulation known as the “5-20 rule”, which had been criticised by industry experts. The new policy stipulates that Indian carriers no longer need to have been in operation for five years before they can fly internationally, as was previously the case. But it insists that domestic airlines must still have 20 planes in their fleet before expanding to destinations overseas. “We are happy to see the 5-20 rule’s partial lift, although we would like to see the complete removal of it in the near future,” Phee said. “It would be the right decision in the right direction and would allow more choices for Indian travellers,” the 47-year-old added. Carriers say scrapping the rule and allowing them to fly overseas is crucial to them turning an early profit while the government wants them to focus on improving India’s domestic network. India’s aviation sector has undergone rapid transformation since a liberalisation drive first began in 2003 but budget airline IndiGo is the only consistently profitable carrier. Vistara, a joint venture between Indian conglomerate Tata and Singapore Airlines, is seeking to capitalise on the Indian government plans to increase domestic ticket sales to 300 million by 2022 by making air travel affordable for the masses. Only 70 million of India’s 1.2 billion citizens flew domestically in 2014-15, according to the Sydney-based Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation, making it one of the world’s most under-penetrated markets. Danny Trevathan Jersey
Indian Airlines to fly 20.8% more flights during winter schedule
In an attempt to catch up with the rise in passengers in India, Indian Airlines will fly 20.8% more flights during winter schedule 2016, which begins from October 30, 2016. “Overall increase in flights by 20.8% over Winter 2015. Total departures per week in WS 2016 will be 16,600 as against 13,744 during the same period last year. Scheduled operations will be available to/from 76 airports,” said a senior official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The DGCA approved the schedule today. While the airlines have increased their flight, the number of airports connected by airlines has reduced to 76 from 81 airports last year. Francisco Cervelli Womens Jersey
Boundary wall must for IGI security: DIAL
Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has moved the Delhi high court to restrain all interferences in the construction of a boundary wall at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, saying the airfield has been perceived as an “important target” after the Pathankot airbase attack in January this year. In an application, DIAL has said that boundary wall would add “another line of defence” in the security of the airport which falls under the “hypersensitive” airport category DIAL has alleged that construction work of the wall has been stopped due to violent protests by residents of the neighbouring village of Shahbad Mohammadpur, despite the construction being exclusively on airport land. “It is pertinent to mention that the IGI airport falls under the category of hyper-sensitive airport and has been perceived as an important target by terrorist organisations especially after the attack on the air base at Pathankot,” it said. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal has asked the association, representing the village, and authorities concerned to file their reply to DIAL’s application. The bench has fixed the matter for hearing on October 17. “The boundary wall on the perimeter of the IGI airport is being built exclusively on the airport land and not on land belonging to any other authority or private land,” it said, ad ding, “The wall will also prevent any encroachment on the airport land.” It has sought the court’s direction to restrain anyone from interfering with or obstructing the construction of a boundary wall along the operational wall of the airport. DIAL has also pleaded the HC to restrain anyone from encroaching on the airport land and has sought a direction to the police station concerned to ensure the outerwall’s construction. David Robertson Womens Jersey
Air Costa smells the coffee; gets pan-India license from DGCA
Regional carrier Air Costa, which was facing cash problems recently, said Monday it has received a pan-India license from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Until now the airline operated with a regional license which allowed him to do only regional routes within the country. It couldnt operate to metro cities outside the region it was operating in. “Now we will still do smaller cities but connect them to larger cities, like Tirupati-Delhi/Mumbai,” Vivek Choudhary, CEO of Air Costa told ET. In the official statement, he said the airline’s immediate focus now is adding aircraft and expanding operations. The airline currently covers eight destinations including Vijayawada, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Tirupathi, and Vizag. The airline has been operating for the last three years. It has recently been facing a major cash crunch, forcing it to delay salaries to employees. Before that, it had to ground operations for a day following problems with leasing company GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS). There were rumours of fund raising which the airline spokesman denied. On Monday Choudhary said there are is no fundraising proposition yet. Air Costa operates with Embraer E190 jets and Chaudhary said the airline will stick to that fleet type for now. Jason Zucker Authentic Jersey
Haldia Petro gets nod to set up fuel stations
Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd has received the nod from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to set up 50 retail outlets that will sell petrol and diesel, but with a rider stating that it will have to invest a minimum of Rs 20 billion in the sector. The decision should help promote competition and result in lower costs for petrol and diesel, better service, quality and more choice for consumers. Government sources said that the proposal was approved within a month. The HPL project is a consortium of the Government of West Bengal, The Chatterjee Group, the TATAs and Indian Oil Corporation set up in 1994 at an investment of Rs 58.64 billion. “The entry of more number of private players in fuel retailing will make the sector more competitive… this is an indication of the government’s continued emphasis on promoting ‘ease of doing business and is also in line with ‘Make in India’,” said a senior official in government. Reliance and Essar are already into fuel retailing along with public sector majors like Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. The entry of Haldia could make it more challenging for the incumbents to dominate the market. As per the current policy, a company investing or proposing to invest Rs 20 billion in exploration and production (E&P), refining, pipelines or terminals is eligible for authorization for marketing transportation fuels — motor spirit (MS), high speed diesel (HSD) and aviation turbine fuel (ATF). Officials in Haldia Petrochemical could not be reached for comment. However, sources in the company confirmed that it has firmed up plans to set up 50 retail outlets for marketing of petrol in Purbi Medinipur, Paschim Medinipur, Bbankura and Purulia districts. In the second phase HPL will set up another 50 retail outlets in the districts of Howrah, south 24 Parganas, North Parganas, Hooghly, Nadia and Burdwan. The third phase will see it expand across other parts of the country. Deatrich Wise Jr Authentic Jersey
RIL’s KG basin compensation bill could be over $1.3 billion
The oil ministry is set to ask Reliance Industries Ltd to pay the government over $1.3 billion for allegedly drawing about 8.9 billion cubic metres (BCM) of gas that flowed into its deep-water block in the Krishna Godavari basin from the neighbouring field of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. The Justice A.P. Shah panel, which went into ONGC’s claim that the fields of the two companies were connected, said in his report submitted to oil ministry on 31 August that the government should quantify the ‘unfair enrichment’ that allegedly accrued to Reliance due to flow of gas from ONGC’s field to Reliance’s during the six years from 2009. The compensation will be calculated at the then prevailing gas price without any allowance for cost of production, said a government official involved in the deliberations, who asked not to be named. Without allowing for costs, the benefit of gas from ONGC’s field that went to Reliance works out to over $1.3 billion, taking gas price of 4.2 per million British thermal unit (but) that prevailed for most of the 2009-15 period. The price was increased once towards the end of the period by the government, which could drive the compensation a bit higher. One BCM, a unit of volume, of gas accounts for 35.7 trillion Btu, a unit of energy which is used in gas pricing. Emails sent to Reliance and ONGC on Friday evening remained unanswered at the time of publishing. Reliance is expected to make a statement after it receives any communication from the government. “It is simple arithmetic of quantum of gas produced (by Reliance) which flowed from the adjacent connected field (of ONGC) and the price of gas that prevailed at that time. Recovery of cost of production from revenue is permitted only for gas that belongs to the field licensed to the contractor concerned,” explained the government official cited above. This is despite the fact that Reliance’s contract with the government for the KG D6 block is based on profit sharing. Under the profit-sharing regime, companies vie for contracts based on how much cost they can recover and how much profit they can share with the government at different rates of production. The Shah panel also said whatever benefit the company received in terms of the migrated gas was liable to be returned to the government of India, not to ONGC, which the panel said had no ownership rights over the natural resource. The ministry then asked the upstream regulator the Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) to calculate the compensation. The government is likely to finalise the figure shortly. While making the recommendation, Justice Shah relied on the estimate of gas flow between the fields arrived at by DeGolyer and MacNaughton, the US-based consultancy jointly hired by the companies. The government has since revamped the hydrocarbon licensing regime to cut down litigation and to improve the ease of doing business. Before new oil and gas blocks will be auctioned under the new Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP) cleared by union cabinet on March 10, the oil ministry will launch a massive communication drive to make investors aware of the contractual provisions, which could help in reducing litigation. “The new revenue sharing regime under HELP, which replaced the earlier profit-sharing formula in oil and gas contracts, does not require cost approvals and is less prone to interpretations and subjectivity in decision making,” said Anish De, partner and head of oil and gas, KPMG in India. De said that having a quick dispute resolution mechanism for industries across sectors will help in improving the ease of business in the country. Kendall Fuller Jersey
Probe blames refinery for gas leak
KOCHI: A detailed investigation conducted by Factories & Boilers into the recent gas leak at Ambalamedu has revealed that the accident was caused by venting of hydrocarbon gases from BPCL-Kochi Refinery functioning in the area. The agency also issued specific instructions to the PSU on preventing such accidents in future. As many as 25 students and two teachers of Ambalamedu Government Vocational Higher Secondary School were admitted to hospital after being exposed to the leaked gas. District Collector K Mohammed Y Safirulla in a statement issued here on Monday said the accident was caused by gas released from the crude oil distillation unit of BPCL-Kochi Refinery (CDU-III), during its installation. “When such procedures are carried out, for starting up vacuum distillation units, there will be venting of hydrocarbon gases for a short duration. Venting of gas from the hot well of the vacuum distillation unit is done in order to normalise the unit. It is a procedure followed universally,” said the Collector. The Collector said the gas cloud from the unit had settled on the premises of the school, due to the weather condition prevailed at the time of the incident. The cloudy sky prevented gas from escaping into the atmosphere. “To prevent such incidents from occurring again, the ‘direct vent provision’ should be blinded and gas should be vented through a scrubber and then to the flare stack,” added the District Collector. Johnny Unitas Authentic Jersey
Delhi discoms BRPL, BYPL become Reliance Infra subsidiaries
Reliance Infrastructure (R-Infra) said on Monday that it has, through share acquisition, converted, into subsidiaries, its two earlier associate companies BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) and BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) that supply power to major parts of Delhi. The two distribution companies (discoms) – BRPL and BYPL- “were previously associates of the Company,” BSES said in a stock exchange filing disclosing the share acquisitions. “Through the acquisition, the target companies have become subsidiaries of the company thereby strengthening the control of the Company over the target companies,” it said. “In both the companies the shareholding has increased from 28.82 per cent to 51 per cent through the acquisition,” it added. R-Infra said that while BRPL had a turnover of Rs 9,234.09 crore in 2015-16, BYPL had a turnover of Rs 5126.88 crore for during the same period. Reliance Infrastructure also said it has similarly made subsidiaries of associate toll road companies SU Toll Road Pvt Ltd, TD Toll Road Pvt Ltd. and TK Toll Road Pvt Ltd. Chris Mullin Authentic Jersey