NSE pulls plug on power exchange ahead of IPO
In what could potentially disturb the power trading market in the country, National Stock Exchange (NSE), with the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) has voted to shut down their power trading platform, the Power Exchange of India (PXIL). NSE-NCDEX collectively own 61 per cent stake in the power exchange. They said at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) dated January 25, they’d decided to shut the “loss-making” bourse. Sources say there was strong dissent from stakeholders in the power sector. “We recently advised PXIL to consider taking immediate steps to close down its business as early as possible and in any event not later than February 28, since PXIL has been incurring heavy cash losses,” said NSE in the draft prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for its upcoming initial public offer of equity. Persons close to the development said NSE put this statement to a vote during the EGM. “Other shareholders, all of which represent the power sector, voted against it. Tata Power Trading Company, with 5.16 per cent holding in PXIL, was not even present when voting took place,” said an executive. Other shareholders are GMR Energy, Tata Power, JSW Energy, state-owned Power Finance Corporation, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam and West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company. An NSE spokesperson declined to comment. Sources in NSE said the decision was because of the losses at PXIL. “The business of PXIL is very limited and the market is not growing. NSE decided to come out of it. There are extraneous factors responsible,” said a source privy of the matter. PXIL’s losses widened to Rs 2.45 crore in 2015-16, from Rs 1.8 crore a year before. Under power sector regulations, approval from the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is also required for closing down an exchange. Section 36 of the latter’s Power Market Regulations state: “Power exchanges shall have their exit scheme approved by the Commission during the registration process, detailing the manner in which the running contracts on the exchange shall be closed or the succession plan for all transacted contracts in case of closure of a power exchange, cancellation or withdrawal of registration under these regulations.” NSE will be seeking CERC approval. India Energy Exchange is the only other power trading marketplace in the country. PXIL has only two per cent in the power trading market, with average daily traded volume of close to three million units. However, in the Renewable Energy Certificates market, its share had risen to 49 per cent in 2015-16, from 23 per cent a year before. Bo Jackson Womens Jersey
12,033 un-electrified villages provided power, says power minister Goyal
As many as 12,033 villages out of 18,452 un-electrified villages have been provided with power till last week and the remaining ones would be electrified by May 2018, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said. The Power Minister told the Lok Sabha that 4,220 Decentralised Distributed Generation (DDG) projects costing Rs 1,354.60 crore have been sanctioned till January 2017. These projects cover 3,285 un-electrified villages in different states. DDG comes under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) — which is meant for providing electricity access to villages and habitations. “As reported by the states, there were 18,452 un-electrified villages in the country as on April 1, 2014. Out of these, 12,033 villages have been electrified as on February 6, 2017. Remaining villages are targeted to be electrified by May 2018,” the Minister said. Answering to a separate question, Goyal said the government is working to reduce coal imports and reduction in it has helped in foreign exchange savings. To reduce import of coal, coal companies have been advised to improve domestic coal production. Further, to reduce import of high grade coal, Coal India Ltd has been asked to take steps for import substitution, he added. Among others, state-owned Coal India is offering higher grade coal through various types of e-auction. “In the current year (2016-17) till December 31, 2016, indicative import substitution by Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) holding consumers of Coal India Ltd has been to the tune of 12.8 MT,” Goyal said. Conor Sheary Womens Jersey
Solar power rate touches record low
Solar power rate touched a record low in Madhya Pradesh with per unit tariff coming down to as low as Rs 3 per unit. Auction for world’s biggest solar power park in Rewa district of the state, which began at 10 am on Thursday, was going on till the time of writing this story. The lowest bids received for all three units till 11.30 pm was Rs 3.13 per unit. Eighteen bidders, including 5 foreign firms, are participating in auction. The project will be given to developer that offers lowest bids. The unit-wise base prices at which the auction started are Rs 3.59 for first unit, Rs 3.61 per unit for second unit and Rs 3.62 per unit for the third unit. Within hours, the rates became lower than Rs 3.23 per unit. The entire team of officials of Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam was present at meeting hall of Nigam since 10 am, keeping a close eye on auction on a big screen. Sources said as the auction did not stop and bidders continued to bid. The auction is expected to continue till late in night. Arrangements for taking rest were also made . Earlier 20 bidders, both national and international, submitted proposals for developing the park. The bids closed on January 23 and the proposals were evaluated and two of the bidders were dropped. The park is being developed by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited, a joint venture of Solar Energy Corporation of India and Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam (MPUVN). The 750-MW park being developed in three segments of 250 MW each is spread over 1,500 hectares of land in Gurh tehsil of Rewa and is to cover five villages of Barseta. Once completed, it will generate clean energy, overtaking 648 MW solar power plant at Kamathi in Tamil Nadu, the largest plant in the country so far. Joel Eriksson Ek Jersey
Gas exploration to continue despite tough pricing scenario: ONGC
Dinesh K Sarraf, Chairman of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), said on Thursday that while the state-run firm would continue to invest in gas exploration, it was getting increasingly difficult owing to the “tough” pricing scenario. Speaking to CNBC-TV18. Sarraf said gas prices were displaying a downward trend and that he had asked the government to revise gas prices upwards. On the government’s Budget proposal to merge all state-owned energy firms into a consolidated giant, Sarraf said the combine will have economies of scale. He said while there are a number of ways in which a merger can be undertaken, a vertical integration would be best as it would ensure that the companies perform better irrespective of pricing trends. A horizontal integration, on the other hand, would lead to monopolies, Sarraf said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech last week had announced a proposal to merge state-owned oil companies to create an integrated oil behemoth. The creation of an oil giant will also allow it to actively look at mergers and acquisitions in a proactive manner. Earlier, Indian Oil Corporation Chief B Ashok said the proposal of merging oil companies into one big public sector undertaking was a welcome move, but may not be an easy task. He said integration across the value chain will bring stability to the industry and mergers can lead to creation of a world-scale company. James Harrison Authentic Jersey
Phase I of Strategic Petroleum Reserve programme has capacity of 5.33 MMT: Govt.
Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question yesterday that Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) facilities set up at Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur under Phase I of the SPR programme have a total capacity of 5.33 MMT. Mr. Pradhan said that, on January 25, 2017, a Definitive Agreement on Oil Storage and Management was signed between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd (ISPRL) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for filling up one of the two caverns at Mangalore SPR facility. The other cavern at Mangalore has already been filled up by the Government, he said. He also said that the ISPRL, which is the special purpose vehicle (SPV) for construction of SPR facilites, had invited preliminary Expression of Interest (EoI) from reputed international parties for filling up of the Padur SPR facility. Mr. Pradhan said that there was 63 days of existing storage, based on estimated commercial reserve of crude oil, petroleum products and gas. The total 5.33 MMT reserve of Phase-I of the SPR programme is currently estimated to supply approximately 10.5 days of India’s crude requirement according to the consumption during 2015-16, he added. Chicago Blackhawks Womens Jersey
Cairn India Q3 avg gross oil & gas production across assets firm at 182 kboepd
Qtrly average gross oil and gas production across assets firm at 182 kboepd, in-line with expectation. .Says in active discussions with world class oil field services companies to partner for end to end outsourcing of certain projects. .Proposed merger of Vedanta Limited and Cairn India expected to complete in the first quarter of CY2017. .Says commencing exploratory drilling in February for Palar-Pennar project .Says gas sales in Rajasthan temporarily suspended due to technical issue between transporter and buyers .Says production from appraisal wells expected in Q1 FY18 for Aishwariya Barmer Hill project .Satellite field Guda stage-1 is expected to start production in Q1 FY18. .Says the drilling programme in palar-pennar block is planned to be completed in April 2017 Charles Woodson Jersey
ONGC halts naphtha exports from Hazira
India’s Oil and Natural Corp (ONGC) will not export naphtha from Hazira in western India as it supplies the fuel to a cracker operated by ONGC Petro additions Ltd (OPaL), four sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. OPaL, promoted by ONGC and co-promoted by Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) and gas company GAIL (India) Ltd, operates a cracker which has a capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of ethylene a year. “We are supplying all of the naphtha to OPaL… we will export if our laycans do not match with that of OPaL’s,” said a company source, adding that OPal is working out its strategy to source some quantity from the market as well. A cracker of this size typically consumes more than 3 million tonnes of naphtha a year, based on Reuters calculation, but OPaL cracker is able to run on gas and naphtha. “OPal did not run full until recently,” said a second source, explaining why ONGC only stopped halting exports this year. ONGC is the key supplier of feedstock to OPaL, with the raw material coming from Hazira, Uran and Dahej in western India. ONGC Hazira was exporting one to two 34,500-tonne cargoes a month in 2016 but this stopped this year, based on Reuters data. ONGC was also exporting an average 35,000 tonnes of naphtha a month from Mumbai in 2016. It last sold a cargo for January 2017 loading. Patrick Eaves Authentic Jersey
BP sees new output from KG-D6 block after 2020
UK-based oil and gas major BP Plc today said new natural gas production from the flagging eastern offshore KG-D6 block will start after 2020, at least three years later than previously planned schedule. BP in its fourth quarter earning presentation said Satellite, R-Series and D-55 discoveries will start production “beyond 2020.” The company holds 30 per cent interest in Reliance Industries-operated KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block in the Bay of Bengal. The discoveries, it said, are currently in “design” stage, implying project engineering work was in progress and construction is yet to begin. Reliance Industries holds 60 per cent interest in the block while the remaining 10 per cent is with Niko Resources of Canada. RIL-BP currently produce gas from Dhirubhai-1 and 3 field and oil and gas from MA field, three of the over one-and-half dozen discoveries made in KG-D6 block. The fields, which began gas production in April 2009, hit a peak output of 69.43 million standard cubic meters per day in March 2010 before water and sand ingress shut down well after well. The block currently produces around 8.7 mmscmd. “By 2020, we anticipate that our current suite of major projects will add 800 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (mboed) of new production net to BP, which includes 500 mboed of new capacity planned to be on-line by end of 2017,” BP said without giving break-up of output from a portfolio that spans across the globe. Work for developing R-Series and satellite discoveries has begun. A field development plan (FDP) approved in August 2013 envisages USD 3.18 billion investment in R-Series or D-34 gas field to produce 13-15 mmscmd of gas for 13 years. RIL-BP recently submitted FDP for two other discoveries D-29 and 30, which formed part of R-Culster. Besides, another FDP of USD 1.529 billion for four satellite gas discoveries D-2, 6, 19 and 22, was approved in 2012. The four fields can produce 10.36 mmscmd. Both of these productions were to start by 2017. The two partners have also submitted a FDP of D-55 or MJ find. Sources said it will take 36-42 months to build and install new facilities on these fields and to drill new wells and hook them up. BP said it had a net impairment reversal in the fourth quarter of USD 442 million, comprising impairment charges of USD 339 million offset by impairment reversals of USD 781 million. “The impairment reversals include USD 234 million relating to assets in India, with the recoverable amount calculated on a fair value basis. In addition USD 319 million of exploration costs were written back relating to India,” it said. BP said the USD 319-million reversal relates to Block KG D6. “In addition, an impairment reversal of USD 234 million was also recorded in relation to this block,” it added. Raymond Felton Womens Jersey