Law- Nagaland – PIL
The ongoing case regarding the PIL filed against the Nagaland Petroleum and Natural Gas (NP&NG) Rules and Regulation witnessed a new development as the Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, filed a counter affidavit as one of the respondents in the case. According to a report received today, as respondent number 8, the Government of India filed a counter affidavit at the Kohima Bench of Guwahati High Court and the affidavit provided the Centre’s interpretation of Article 371(A) and said the Nagaland Legislative Assembly has no jurisdiction to make laws over oil fields in the state. The Ministry, in its affidavit disagreed that the State of Nagaland has any power to make law for development of oil fields and mineral resources. It further submitted that the Parliament has “exclusive power” to make laws on the said subject. It claimed that Article 371(A) “does not even restrict the Parliament to apply any of its laws on oil fields and mineral resources in Nagaland and no resolution from the State of Nagaland is required to apply the Parliament’s law on oil fields and mineral resources in the state.” The Ministry hence stated that any existing law made by the State of Nagaland on oil fields and mineral oil resources is “liable to be struck down, the same being without jurisdiction and ultra vires to the Constitution of India.” It stated that “the exploration of oil and natural gas is a subject covered by entry 53 (regulation and development of oil and mineral oil resources; petroleum and petroleum products; other liquids and substances declared by Parliament by law to be dangerously inflammable) List 1 of the Union List and therefore, the Parliament alone has the powers to legislate laws on this subject.” The Ministry also questioned whether the subjects mentioned under Article 371 (A) as “existing customary and religious laws of Nagaland” and subject for which the state is empowered to make law under state or concurrent list includes development of oil fields and mineral resources, “considering the fact that the said subject does not fall under state or concurrent list.” It further stated that the “plain words of Article 371 (A) and the constitutional history of amendments would show that 371 (a) was meant to be a restriction of application of Laws of Parliament and not a source of Legislative Power of the State.” It may be noted that the PIL against the Nagaland Petroleum and Natural Gas (NP&NG) Rules and Regulation, was filed by the Lotha Hoho (LH) and 2 others against the State of Nagaland and 7 others against the state Government’s attempt for exploration of petroleum oil from various spots of Wokha district. UNI AS KK 1342 Christine Michael Sr Jersey
Chinese ship opens new trade route via Pakistani port
Pakistan’s top civilian and military leaders traveled to the country’s southwest on Sunday to open a new international trade route by seeing off a Chinese ship that’s exporting goods to the Middle East and Africa from the newly built Gwadar port. The first convoy of Chinese trucks carrying goods for sale abroad has arrived in Pakistan amid tight security using a road linking Gwadar to China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, the government said in a statement. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan will provide best possible security to foreign investors to enable them to use the Chinese-funded port+ for international trade. Amid security concerns for foreign workers, the Pakistani army has created a special force to guard the new trade routes and the port, which is located in insurgency-wracked Baluchistan province where an overnight blast at a shrine killed nearly 50 people. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group and Pakistani officials said it was aimed at harming the Chinese-funded projects in the southwest and elsewhere in the country. China is building a network of roads and power plants under a project known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor+ that is expected to absorb $46 billion in Chinese investment in the coming decades. China and Pakistan have long maintained close political and military relations, based partly on mutual antipathy toward neighbour India. Gwadar port is located on the Arabian Sea and it occupies a strategic location between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The port is also located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, just outside the Straits of Hormuz. China is seeking convenient and reliable access to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Chinese ships now use the Strait of Malacca, a narrow passage between the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia. The proposed new route would give China access to the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East. Todd Gurley Womens Jersey
GAIL scraps USD 7-bn LNG tender
After dragging for more than two years, state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd has scrapped a USD 7 billion tender for hiring newly built ships to ferry LNG from US after bidders did not agree to ‘Make-in-India’ terms. GAIL, which was forced by the Oil Ministry to add the Make-in-India condition to its tender, will now hire the ships from the global spot or current market to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG), a top official said. Two Japanese bidders — a consortium of Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL)-Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) and Mitsui & Co and a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Corporation-Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (K Line) and GasLog, had sought several deviations from the tender conditions, which were not agreeable to GAIL. “We discussed with both the bidder the deviations they sought for over six months but when they didn’t agree, we were left with no option but to cancel the tender,” the official said. In the tender, GAIL sought to time-charter nine newly built LNG ships of a cargo capacity of 150,000-180,000 cubic meters to LNG it has tied up from Sabine Pass and Cove Point LNG projects in US, with supplies slated to start from December 2017. Bids were sought in lots of three, with the condition that one of the three ship will be built at an Indian shipyard. The official said since Indian shipyards neither had technology or experience of building the highly specialised LNG ships, the bidder sought sovereign performance guarantee for the ones built in India. After postponing the deadline thrice, GAIL had in February last year scrapped the tender to hire nine LNG carriers to ferry gas from the US, with a caveat that three of them be made in India. At that point, no foreign shipyard was willing to share LNG ship-building technology. Negotiations that followed saw Cochin Shipyard strike a deal with Samsung Heavy Industries to cooperate in construction of the vessels. It has also been licensed by GTT of France to build LNG carriers with the Mark III membrane containment system. However, L&T Shipbuilding, which had a deal with Hyundai Heavy Industries, has pulled out of the bidding as it turns its focus to defence projects. Pipavav Defence and Offshore Engineering has teamed up with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) of South Korea for ship-building. The tender was re-floated on September 15, 2015. After the deadline was postponed thrice, two consortiums put in bids on March 31 this year. The official said according to the tender condition while two ships were to be built at the shipyards of their foreign collaborators, one carrier has to be built in India. The tender document provides for the Indian shipyard taking 5 per cent to 13 per cent in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that it will build. This condition was not there in the original tender floated in 2014. Also, GAIL has a right to take up to 10 per cent equity stake in any or all of the nine ships. Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), which is to operate the carriers, will have a right to 26 per cent interest, according to the document. GAIL has tied up 5.8 million tons per annum of LNG from the US which the newly built ships will ferry. Maurkice Pouncey Authentic Jersey
KG-Basin gas migration penalty: Reliance serves arbitration notice on govt
With an arbitration notice from Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) — coupled with having to handle ONGC officers who erred during a period prior to his regime — Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan finds himself in a bind. Contesting the Centre’s compensation notice of $1.55 billion for migrated gas that flowed from ONGC’s adjacent fields in the Krishna-Godavari Basin during the weekend, RIL and its partners have sent an arbitration notice. Based on the recommendations of the Justice AP Shah Committee, the Centre has made a claim against RIL-BP-Niko for gas said to have flown from the neighbouring blocks. Sources told BusinessLine RIL and its partners in the KG-D6 block have sent a notice to the Centre on the grounds that the compensation claim is based on misinterpretation of key elements of the production sharing contract (PSC), and is without precedent in the global oil and gas industry. While government and RIL officials remained non-committal on the arbitration notice, sources associated with the developments said: “The contractors are within their rights to opt for arbitration as per the PSC, but, it does not close the dialogue process between the government and the contractors. While the issue can be challenged, work on further development of the fields can simultaneously continue.” A tougher challenge for the Centre is how to fix accountability of those in ONGC and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH), who were supposedly in the know on the gas migration, which is being contested now. Pradhan had, on November 10, said he is bound by the law. The Shah panel had also pulled up ONGC for not making proper disclosure when it first came to know about the gas migration. “It is not easy, as the period involved is six-seven years back. How do you fix responsibilities for those who have already retired? None of the current set-up of ONGC or DGH is involved,” pointed out another official. “Whatever action is taken, it has to be ensured that the current set-up is not demotivated.” Confirming the continuity of reservoirs, the Shah committee had said US-based independent consultant DeGoyler & MacNaughton’s report must form the basis for the migration of gas till 2015. Ryan Murray Authentic Jersey
Aban Offshore in discussion with lenders on repayment issues
The company has nine out of 18 rigs working while others are idle at the end of September. Aban Offshore is in talks with its lenders to settle the issues related to repayment of loans, at a time when the offshore drilling contract business has been highly competitive and almost half of its rigs are idle at present. Outstanding payments from Iran is around $250 million as of September, this year, said senior management officials of the company. It is expected to repay $120 million this year and plans are to pay back $130-140 million in FY18. According to reports in September last year, the company had a total debt of around $2.2 billion. Responding to a question by analysts in an earnings call, on whether there is a need to restructure the company’s debt repayment obligation to manage the debt given that it is very low principal payments, S Srinivasan, senior vice president, Aban Offshore Ltd, said the company is in constant discussion with its lenders on how to address the issue. There has been some delay in repayments because the collection has also been delayed from Iran, the market size is down, among other issues. “We have been discussing with the bankers to see how it can be done,” he said. However, he refused to reveal more on the talks, stating that nothing has been finalised yet. The company has nine out of 18 rigs working while others are idle. The market continues to be sluggish because of the oil prices and the company is facing extreme competition in terms of bidding, he added. “We are incurring some losses on idle rigs, which is less than $10,000 per rig for idle rig. We have on cycled the rigs, so it can go for any work, small or long term at the earliest possible opportunity,” he said. This year, the company is repaying debt of about $120 million and in FY18, it is expected to pay around $130-140 million. While it is getting some amount of payments from Iran, which was earlier facing a sanction, but still it has to receive a large sum from that country, he added. Sam Reinhart Jersey