Plans for specialised forces for civil aviation, airports junked
Government’s plan to raise specialized force for guarding the civil aviation sector has been shelved, even as the global civil aviation body, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had recommended India to put up an effective safety mechanism and specialized security force in the wake of terror attacks and suicidal bombings at major international airports globally. Interestingly, ICAO is visiting India in March 2017 to ascertain India’s safety preparedness at airports. ICAO’s role assumes significance given the fact that the US Federal Aviation Administration (USFAA) had downgraded India’s civil aviation sector for 15 months – between January 2014 and March 2015 – over safety oversight, based on ICAO’s feedback and recommendations. However, a high level meeting of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) authorities held recently to ascertain security preparedness at airports especially keeping in view ICAO’s team has junked the idea of having a specialized police force for civil aviation and airports. Instead, it has decided that more men from Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), a paramilitary force, would be drawn and make them better equipped to ensure further security upgrade at airports. Terrelle Pryor Sr. Authentic Jersey
CAG flags variations in AT&C losses shown by Power Ministry
Expressing concern over implementation of a scheme meant for reducing Aggregate Technical and Commercial losses, Government auditor CAG has flagged variations in figures for these losses in various documents presented by Power Ministry before Parliament. In its report tabled in Parliament today, CAG also observed there were instances of diversion of R-APDRP funds and overlapping of schemes were noticed in some states. R-APDRP was launched in December 2008 as a continuation of the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP). “Variations were noticed in the AT&C losses presented in various documents by the Minter of Power to Parliament. The methodology used for calculating the AT&C losses, though laid down, was not followed uniformly leading to varying estimates of the AT&C losses,” CAG said. The programme envisaged sustainable reduction of AT&C losses, establishment of reliable and automated system for collection of accurate base line data, adoption of Information Technology in the area of energy accounting, mapping all power distribution assets, indexing and metering all consumers for better billing efficiency. CAG stated that as against Rs 28,424 crore provided for the scheme in the XI and XII Plans periods, only Rs 12,415.04 crore was actually budgeted during 2008-09 to 2014-15 which was only 43.68 per cent of the envisaged amount. R APDRP scheme has been subsumed in Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) since December 2014 and no separate budget for R APDRP has been allocated after 2014-15. The actual releases during 2008-15 on R-APDRP scheme were only Rs 8,175.45 crore implying slow pace of scheme implementation. CAG noted that the counterpart funding (by state) was not tied up by many utilities implementing the scheme within the prescribed period. Audit noticed that Power Finance Corp PFC did not maintain records of counterpart funding raised by the utilities from financial Institutions. The CAG said that PFC submitted two sets of UCs (utilisation certificates) to the Ministry of Power. One indicating the total disbursement of central funds made by PFC to utilities and the other indicating the utilisation of funds by the utilities as received from them periodically. It observed that there was a considerable mismatch between both sets of UCs, UCs furnished by PFC indicated disbursement of Rs 8,606.62 crore while UCs from utilities indicated utilisation of a meagre Rs 4,155.88 crore (49.29 per cent of the total funds released) as on March 2016. Michael Roberts Womens Jersey
IOC, BPCL, HPCL sign deal to set up India’s biggest oil refinery
Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corp today signed a pact to build India’s biggest oil refinery at a cost of $30 billion on the west coast. The three firms signed the pact for the 60-million tons a year refinery in Maharashtra with IOC as leader of the consortium, officials said. IOC will hold a 50 per cent stake in the project while BPCL and HPCL will have 25 per cent each. The consortium agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference here. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said oil majors like Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia are interested in taking a stake in the project, but nothing has been finalised as yet. “There are other companies also interested. Let’s see how talks progress,” he said. The 60-million tons a year refinery and a mega petrochemical complex will be set up in two phases. Phase-1 capacity will be 40 mt together with an aromatic complex, naphtha cracker unit and a polymer complex. This will cost Rs 1200-1500 billion and will come up in 5-6 years from the date of land acquisition. The mega complex will require 12,000-15,000 acres and two-three sites on coast of Maharashtra are being explored. The second phase, involving a 20-mt refinery, will cost Rs 500-600 billion. IOC has been looking at the west coast for a refinery as the company found it tough to cater to requirements in West and South with its refineries mostly in the North. HPCL and BPCL too have been looking at a bigger refinery because of constraints they face at their Mumbai units. The mega west coast refinery will produce petrol, diesel, LPG, ATF and feedstock for petrochemical plants in plastic, chemical and textile industries in Maharashtra. Fifteen-million tons a year is the biggest refinery any public sector unit has set up at one stage. IOC recently started its 15 mt unit at Paradip in Odisha. Reliance Industries holds the distinction of building the biggest refinery in India till now. It built its first refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat with a capacity of 27 mt, which was subsequently expanded to 33 mt. It has built another unit adjacent to it for exports, with a capacity of 29 mt. The refinery being planned by the state-owned firms will be bigger than that. The phase-1 itself will be bigger than any one single unit. India has a refining capacity of 232.06 mt, which exceeded the demand of 183.5 mt in 2015-16. According to the International Energy Agency (EA), this demand is expected to reach 458 mt by 2040. Charles Mann Jersey
India pushes Nigeria for more oil term contract volumes
Indian state-run oil refiners have called for Nigeria to increase its total term contract volumes next year by more than 20% as demand from the South Asian country climbs, an official from Nigeria’s state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said. This request comes a few weeks before Nigeria’s crude oil term lifting contracts for 2017 are finalized, which will be decided by mid-December. India as the largest buyer of Nigerian crude, has always said it should have a longer-term arrangement with NNPC to ensure security of supply. “Three Indian companies mentioned that they are looking for a combined total of 11 million mt [in 2017] from 9 million mt [this year],” Anibor O. Kragha, group executive director at NNPC, told S&P Global Platts in an interview on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference in New Delhi late Monday. Now what they will get is a balance between term contracts and [spot] sales contracts,” he added. The Nigerian crude oil term contracts involve the export of around 1.17 million b/d of Nigerian crude, out of the 2.2 million b/d the country can theoretically produce. They are then sold by contract holders to end-users, refiners and other buyers. But with Nigerian oil output sharply down due to renewed militancy, the term volumes could be much lower for 2017 if output does not rebound. Nigerian oil output had recovered sharply after it fell to a 30-year low in early summer but renewed attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta have shut in production of popular export grade Forcados in the past month. Total oil and condensate production was around 1.9 million b/d, including 300,000 b/d of condensates, oil minister Emmanuel Kachikwu said last week. He said output could reach 2.2 million b/d if the militancy issues were resolved by early next year. NEGOTIATIONS ONGOING Kragha said that negotiations are ongoing and that he was not sure if the deal would materialize, but he added that once Nigerian output recovers, it will “increasingly look towards India” as the major buyer of its crude. “Indian demand is very positive for us. A vibrant Indian economy is good for us,” he said. The two countries have been working on a memorandum of understanding in the past month to enable the participation of Indian companies in Nigeria’s upstream and downstream oil and gas sectors. The deal being negotiated by Nigeria will also have the Indian government make an upfront payment for the purchase of Nigeria’s crude on a long-term basis as well as Indian public sector companies investing in Nigerian refineries. Indian state-owned refiners tend to buy most of their crude on term contracts while their remaining requirements are sought via tenders. “We just came out of a meeting with key Indian oil companies and they are pushing to get incremental allocations for the term contracts,” said Kragha. “We explained to them that there needs to be a balance.” INDIA’S RELIANCE ON NIGERIAN CRUDE India is a significant buyer of Nigerian crude, which is largely light and sweet, rich in gasoline and diesel and low in sulfur, and meets the needs of Indian refiners. State-owned refiners like Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd are major regular buyers of Nigerian crudes like Qua Iboe, Bonny Light, Escravos, EA Blend, Erha, Usan and Agbami. A source from an Indian refiner told Platts that Nigerian crude is a must for most of its refineries, especially the older ones, which have been designed to run light sweet crudes. “Despite all the militancy issues, we still buy Nigerian crude, as our refineries need it. We will continue to buy Nigerian crude, but we want them to supply us with more,” he said. India, which is currently among the world’s fastest growing economies, has seen its gasoline and gasoil demand climb sharply over the past few years. This has encouraged Indian refineries to buy more Nigerian crudes. In 2015-16, India imported nearly 23.7 million mt of Nigerian crude, nearly 12% of India’s overall oil imports, according to official Indian data. The South Asian country also imports some 2 million mt/year of LNG from Nigeria. Every month almost 20-25% of total Nigerian crude exports travel to India, particularly to IOC, which is the main recipient of Nigerian crude. Indian refiners like IOC, HPCL and BPCL are currently on crude oil term lifting contracts for 2016 with NNPC. Paul O’Neill Womens Jersey
Bangladesh to award LNG terminal project to Reliance, says ministry
Bangladesh is set to announce the selection of India’s Reliance Power Ltd. to build a 500,000 Mcf/d a floating storage and regasification unit and a 750 MW combined cycle power plant during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India in mid-December, officials said Wednesday. The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board expect a draft power purchase agreement, implementation agreement and land lease agreement to be signed during the visit, MPEMR Additional Secretary Md Mahbub Ul Alam told S&P Global Platts Wednesday. “We are now working to finalize the draft deals,” BPDB Chairman Khaled Mahmood said. The projects are expected to be awarded under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provisions) Act 2010, which does not require a tender process. The FSRU will be built at Maheshkhali Island and the LNG-based power plant at Meghnaghat; the power plant on a build, own and operate basis for around 22 years with a 15-year tax holiday. Bangladesh is expecting to start imports of LNG either by late 2017 or early 2018 to cope with the mounting domestic demand for natural gas. The country last year created an Energy Security Fund to finance the import of LNG and build terminals, Platts reported earlier. Excelerate Energy has started work on building Bangladesh’s first LNG terminal — a floating storage and regasification unit — at Moheshkhali island, Platts reported in May. Leighton Vander Esch Womens Jersey