State-owned oil firms surpass combined annual capex targets
State-owned firms have beat their capex targets which had been set for the running financial year. These 11 state-owned firms expended over the target of Rs 876.03 billion. As shown in the data furnished by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, during the period of April-February, these firms disbursed Rs 917.81 billion as their capital expenditures, which is excessive on account of 2014-2015. The companies like ONGC, Oil India Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., Indian Oil, Videsh Ltd., Numaligarh Refinery Ltd., Balmer Lawrie Co. Ltd., and Oil India, have surpassed their capex targets. The GoI has taken a bold step in supporting PSU oil firms to upgrade the investments, while it is being noticed that there is a slowdown in private sector investment, and thus the powerful demand and certain policy plans have helped to raise the investment opportunities in the Oil and Gas sector. Michael Roberts Authentic Jersey
Oil companies to face higher tax burden under GST: Parliamentary panel
Upstream oil and gas producers like Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Oil India Ltd will face “substantial additional tax” liability under the proposed goods and service tax (GST) regime due to the clipping of existing tax breaks, a higher tax rate on services and the temporary exclusion of five hydrocarbons from the new indirect tax system, a parliamentary panel has reported. The new tax regime, expected to kick in from 1 July, seeks to streamline the tax system by pruning exemptions and establishing a seamless market across the country. However, crude oil, petrol, diesel, jet fuel and natural gas have been temporarily excluded from it as part of an understanding between the Union and state governments meant to prevent any disruption in states’ revenue from the oil sector in the initial years of the tax reform. The GST Council is expected to take a call after a couple of years on the inclusion of petroleum products under GST. The parliamentary standing committee on petroleum and natural gas chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Karnataka, Pralhad Joshi, which tabled its report in both the Houses on Friday, said if the import and excise duty exemptions on select goods for oil and gas production are not continued under the GST regime, it will lead to “substantial additional tax implication on upstream companies”. Besides, the five hydrocarbons excluded from GST will continue to be subjected to existing value added taxes (VAT) and cesses. This would prevent oil companies from taking credit for the GST paid on the equipment and services purchased for meeting the tax liability on their output. Use of credit between the two systems of tax is not allowed. The panel pointed out that offshore works contracts, which oil and gas producers get into and which at present do not attract state VAT, will come under GST. Also, service tax levied by the Centre, which currently covers only 40% of the value of such contracts, will be replaced by GST that will apply to its entire value. Also, the service tax rate, which at present is 15%, will make way for an expected 18% GST, imposing additional tax burden on upstream companies, the panel noted. Services are expected to be taxed at three slabs—5%, 12% and 18%—with most of the services taxed at 18%. However, the GST council is yet to arrive at a final decision on the tax rates to be applicable on various services. Tax experts said the exclusion of five hydrocarbons from GST will have an impact on the economy. “It would be very essential that necessary changes are incorporated in the GST legislation because the hydrocarbon segments missed out of GST are critical components in various downstream industries and are likely to face cost escalation leading to an inflationary effect on the economy,” said Prashant Deshpande, partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP. In the case of goods purchased from one state to be sold in another, the panel noted that a 2% central sales tax levied now, the proceeds of which go to the origin state, will be replaced by a much higher integrated GST (IGST), causing additional stranding of taxes. Refiners using crude oil on which they pay excise duty, VAT and cesses, will have to keep separate books of accounts for petrol, diesel and jet fuel that will continue to attract these taxes and for LPG, kerosene and other petrochemicals that will attract GST. This will “increase compliance cost”, the report said. The panel said the GST will lead to increase in operational cost of the petroleum products and can have a cascading effect across the supply chain. Therefore, some way of giving credit to the taxes paid should be found. It recommended the oil ministry to take up the matter of providing full tax credit with the ministry of finance for a mutually acceptable solution. Jaccob Slavin Womens Jersey
BCAS has given nod to e-boarding at airports: Government
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security has approved e-boarding facility that will help domestic fliers at airports reduce waiting time for baggage check-in and security clearance. “The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has accorded approval for e-boarding on the basis of successful trial run conducted at Hyderabad airport,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha told the Rajya Sabha today. An advisory to airports operating under public private partnerships (PPP) for e-boarding has been issued too, he said. After implementing the project on pilot basis in April, 2015 for three months, the GMR group-run Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad on December 28 last year, became the first airport in the country to offer e-boarding facility to domestic fliers. The e-boarding facility covers all boarding processes right from entry into the terminal building, check-in, security checks, boarding gate and boarding bridge check before entering the aircraft. With the implementation of e-boarding facility, a domestic passenger at RGIA needs only a mobile e-boarding card and his Aadhaar number to gain entry into the airport. Kasperi Kapanen Womens Jersey
Govt gives go ahead for 18 new airports costing Rs 30,000 crore
The government has given in principle approval for setting up 18 airports which together are estimated to cost nearly Rs 30,000 crore. Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha today said the government has granted “in principle” approval for the greenfield airports. Citing information provided by developers, the total estimated cost for setting up of the 18 airports “comes out to Rs 30,000 crore (approximately)”, Sinha said. “As regards construction of new greenfield airports, execution of project including finalisation of project cost and financing arrangement is the sole responsibility of the respective airport promoters,” he said, as per an official release. The 18 airports which have received in principle nod for construction include Mopa (Goa), Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg (Maharashtra), Bijapur, Gulbarga, Hasan and Shimoga (Karnataka), Kannur (Kerala), Pakyong (Sikkim), Karaikal (Puducherry), Dholera (Gujarat) and Bhogapuram (Andhra Pradesh). Besides, “site clearance” has been given to 5 greenfield airports. They are Machiwara, Ludhiana Airport (Punjab), Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, Alwar in Rajasthan and Kothagudem in Telangana. The information was given by Sinha in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, as per the releases. Justin Simmons Womens Jersey
SpiceJet to train 70-75 aircraft maintenance engineers each year
SpiceJet aims to train up to 75 aircraft maintenance engineers under its apprentice programme every year as the airline looks to nurture talent in-house. Against the backdrop of skilled manpower shortage in the fast-growing domestic aviation sector, the airline would provide employment to students who successfully complete the apprentice programme. The initiative would help in improving skills of the students with increased focus on practical training, SpiceJet’s Senior Vice President (Engineering and Maintenance) Arun Kashyap said. “Initially, we plan to train around 70-75 people every year,” he told PTI. The programme, which was started in August 2016, is divided into two phases — three months of classroom teaching and nine months of hands-on training. So far, 22 students have completed their classroom course and the new batch started earlier this month. Kashyap said that the airline is in discussions with aircraft engine makers, including Pratt & Whitney, with respect to the apprentice programme. There is a shortage of skilled manpower to the tune of 300-500 people for the domestic airlines. These are mainly for technicians, and certifying staff, he noted. Those inducted into the apprentice programme are generally students who have completed their aircraft maintenance engineering course having two-and-a-half to three years duration. Bradley Chubb Jersey
SpiceJet most punctual airline in February: DGCA
SpiceJet was the most punctual domestic airline in February, according to data collected by the Director General of Civil Aviation from four cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The airline’s on-time performance was at 81.1 percent, while IndiGo’s was 79.7 percent. The least punctual airline was the national airlines Air India (domestic) at 66.2 percent. On the Bangalore route, Air India was most punctual with 79.9 percent on-time performance. It performed worst at Mumbai with 59.1 percent on-time performance. Meanwhile, Jet Airways and Jet Lite performed best at the Hyderabad airport with 80.3 percent on-time performance. It had the worst performance in Delhi. SpiceJet’s best performance was at the Hyderabad and worst was at Bengaluru. However, it outperformed Air India, Jet Airways + Jet Lite, Go Air and Vistara even at the lowest. Even at its best in Bengaluru, Go Air fared worse than Air India, Jet Airways + Jet Lite, SpiceJet, IndiGo and Vistara. Jamize Olawale Womens Jersey
Work to start on Adani’s Jharkhand plant in June: Jharkhand Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma
The Adani group will start work on its 1,600 MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) in the state in June, a top state official said. The Gautam Adani-led conglomerate has committed Rs 20,000 crore in various projects, including the ultra mega plant at Godda, during the just-concluded Momentum Jharkhand investment summit. “We have completed the land acquisition process for the Adani’s ultra mega power project in the state and are in the process of distributing awards to landholders. They (Adani Power) will start work on the project in June this year,” Jharkhand Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma told PTI. The nearly Rs 10,000 crore ultra mega power project is part of over Rs 3 lakh crore investment commitments made during the summit last month. The chief secretary said about 1,000 acres of land have been acquired for the Adani Power project. “Once the work starts on the project in June, it will be completed within 18 months,” she said. Earlier asserting that Jharkhand is of strategic importance to the Adani group, Adani Enterprises MD Rajesh Adani has said the group will pump in Rs 20,000 crore in various sectors in the state, including the UMPP. Adani Power Jharkhand has already signed a MoU for setting up the UMPP. In the renewal energy space, the group has announced setting up a 500 mw solar power project worth of Rs 3,000 crore. It has also announced an investment of Rs 700 crore in coal block mining, besides setting up an integrated fertiliser complex. Jharkhand is “confident” that it will actualise more than 80 per cent of the total investment commitments worth over Rs 3 lakh crore by 2019, the chief secretary said. Adani’s project is part of the investment commitments through which the state is aiming to generate 3 lakh jobs. Archie Manning Womens Jersey
Government to sign oil & gas field contracts on Monday
The government will on Monday sign contracts for the 31 small discovered oil and gas fields it had auctioned in the first bid round in more than six years. State-owned oil firms IOC, BPCL and HPCL had cornered a third of the fields whose award was confirmed by the Cabinet last month. “Contracts with successful bidders will be signed on March 27,” a senior official said. Touted as an auction round that would replicate the shale gas revolution of the US, half of the fields went to new and lesser known entrants like engineering company Megha Engineering & Infrastructure, KEI-RSOS Petroleum, Enquest Drilling and Nippon Power. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved award of 31 fields out of 34 that received bids in the auction that closed on November 21. These fields, which hold in place reserves of 62 million tonnes of oil and oil equivalent gas, can cumulatively produce a peak of around 15,000 barrels of oil per day and 2 million standard cubic meters per day of gas, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) said in a statement last month. The peak oil and gas output envisaged is about 2 per cent of India’s current oil and gas production. “It has been estimated that the indicative gross revenue over economic life would be approximately Rs 46,400 crore of which royalty collection and government’s revenue share is expected to be around Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 9,300 crore, respectively,” it had said. Development of these small oil and gas fields is crucial in achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of reducing oil imports by 10 per cent by 2022. Akhil Teja Natural Resources Ltd, which was incorporated just three days prior to close of the bidding, had bid for the most number of 17 fields. But it drew a blank with the CCEA not even accepting its solo bid for three on land blocks, according to analysis of list of awardees approved by CCEA. Bharat PetroResources Ltd, a unit of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), won the most number of 5 fields. It had put in a bid for eight. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) bagged three fields, the same number as new entrant PFH Oil and Gas Pvt Ltd got. Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd’s upstream arm, Prize Petroleum won two fields on its own and one in consortium with Hindustan Oil Exploration Co (HOEC) and Oil India Ltd. HOEC, which had in all bid for eight fields, won another field in consortium with new comer Adbhoot Estates Pvt Ltd. Nippon Power Ltd two out of the eight fields it had bid for. OilMax Energy Pvt Ltd too won two fields. Sun Petrochemicals Pvt Ltd, a privately owned company formed by the directors of drugmaker Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd, won one block. In all 46 fields, which were taken away from state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL), were put on bidding. 34 of them received bids. Of these, 14 were single bids. All the 26 onland areas had received bids, although 9 had only single bidders, including three from Bengaluru-based Akhil Teja Natural Resources Ltd. Of the 20 offshore blocks on offer, only 8 received bids, 5 of which were single company offers. Ryan Schraeder Womens Jersey
At Less Than 3000 MW In 2014, India’s Solar Power Capacity Crosses 10,000 MW in Less Than 3 Years
India’s solar power generation capacity that stood at 2,650 MW on May 26, 2014, crossed the 10,000 MW mark on March 11, registering a three time increase in less than three years. “Bright Future: India has crossed 10,000 MW of Solar power capacity today. More than 3 times increase in less than 3 years,” Power, Coal, Mines, New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted. The milestone came as India’s largest power producer, NTPC commissioned a 45 MW solar power project at Bhadla in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. In 2016, about 4 GW of solar capacity was added, the fastest pace till date. As much as 14,000 MW (or 14 gigawatt) of solar projects are currently under development and about 6 GW is to be auctioned soon. Soon after assuming charge as the minister for power and RE, Goyal set an ambitious target of adding 100 GW of solar power generation capacity, 60 GW of wind and 175 GW of overall renewable energy capacity by 2022. According to power ministry estimates, another 8.8 GW capacity is likely to be added in 2017, including about 1.1 GW of rooftop solar installations. From the highs of Rs 14-16 a unit, solar power tariffs have fallen to a low of Rs 2.97 a unit. This price was discovered in a recent auction last month for the Rewa solar power project in Madhya Pradesh. Wind Power tariffs too have seen a drastic fall from the levels of over Rs 10 a unit to a low of Rs 3.46 a unit. The reverse bid auction for the 750 MW Rewa solar power park in Madhya Pradesh received bids received at Rs 2.97 by Acme, Rs. 2.974 by Solenberg and Rs 2.979 by Mahindra for a 250 MW unit each. These are the first year tariff bids, with a 5 paise escalation for 15 years (and 33 paisa to be added for the levelised tariff). In the reverse bid auction for wind power, as many as 14 developers submitted bids cumulatively for approximately 2,700 MW. Finally five bidders who bid at Rs 3.46 a unit got successful. This too is a significant fall from the earlier highs of Rs 8-10 a unit In a reverse auction, the bid is won by the company quoting the lowest price/tariff to be charged from customers. Presently, both developers and investors are upbeat on India’s RE sector that has never witnessed such growth before. According to Bridge to India, the reduction in tariffs will spur demand and also force a drastic rethink of how wind power is procured in India. The dramatic fall in solar tariffs, it said, and would change India’s energy landscape dramatically in the years to come. “In our view, cost advantage trumps everything else in the power sector including COP21 commitments, environmental imperative and regulatory support. That makes solar technology the firm favourite for powering India’s future economic growth” Mike Williams Jersey
Use of solar panels for green power generation on the rise in Mumbai
Your city’s switching on the green way. Nearly 60 housing societies and commercial buildings in Mumbai have already started generating their electricity requirement by using rooftop solar power plants. Currently, these housing societies generate about 1,400 units of green power a day. And it goes beyond Mumbai. More than 400 other establishments across the state have set up their own solar energy panels to reduce their need for power generated by using coal. That’s more than 11,500 units of green power across the state. The quantum of power generated in Mumbai alone is a huge relief on the pollution front. The total quantity of green power generated everyday across the state is equivalent to planting 1.75 lakh trees as this amount of green power replaces an equal amount of power that would otherwise be generated by using coal a source of pollution. Statistics put out by the state power regulator estimate that 150 more consumers from Mumbai and more than 1,600 in the rest of the state are slated to replace more than1lakh units of coal power with solar energy within a couple of months once they are provided with special electricity meters which are also known as net meters. A net meter, also called a reverse meter, shows the quan tum of green power and conventional energy utilized by a consumer. It reduces the power bill amount after netting off savings on green power vis-à-vis the power bill payable for use of conventional energy . expGreen energy derived from solar panels is meant for use in common areas of a buil ding. The balance energy which is left unutilized is then put up on the building power grid for common public use. This fetches the consumers a profit of Rs 2 to Rs 3 per unit which is calculated by the net meter. Chief of The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri), Ajay Mathur, says, “Green energy production the solar way will grow rapidly in a few years. After 2026, technology will be so established that people might virtually say no to coal power generated in power plants.“ However, Ashok Pendse, an expert in power-related matters, said there will be certain challenges to retain the cheap value of solar power–like the government and investors will have to retain consistency in generation of solar power in the absence of sunlight, for instance. “Besides, the shadow of highrise buildings on rooftop solar panels can affect efficiency,“ said Pendse. Another expert, Sunil Tongey, said that if a housing society invests between Rs1lakh and Rs 3lakh for solar panels and batteries, the cost can be recouped by three years. The report by TERI states that conventional energy can take care of country’s power supply till 2026, after which renewable energy–especially solar and wind–is expected to increase the country’s power capacity besides nuclear power. Brayden Schenn Authentic Jersey