Thermal power stations in MP consume excessive coal
At a time when state-owned thermal power generation companies are facing acute scarcity of coal and there is hardly 4-5 days of coal stock left—thermal power plants are using as much as 45% excessive coal! Shri Singaji Thermal Power Station in Khandwa district leads the pack when it comes to consuming excessive coal. The power station, which is the latest one and inaugurated in 2015, is among one of the worst performers. The power station has coal stock for only four days and is consuming around 45% excess coal. Going by reports accessed by TOI, a total of 760 grams of coal was consumed for producing 1 unit of power on May 26. This coal costs around Rs 1.8 and the transportation cost for coal is around Rs 1.20. This means production of one unit of power works out to around Rs 3—forget costs like wear and tear, salary and oil consumption. Similarly for Sanjay Gandhi Thermal Power Station, though it has consumed around 15% excess coal on May 26, it is far more than its own standards. Going by the same report, it consumed around 750 grams of coal to produe one unit of power on May 26. Sources say this was not a one day phenomenon at Shri Singaji Thermal Power Station. It is same ever since it went on stream, producing energy. As per power plant design, it should consume around 450 grams of coal for producing a unit of power, but its consumption remains above 600 grams for one unit of power. Apart from it,the thermal power station receives washed refined coal, this increases coal costs by nearly 20%, but it is practised to ensure less coal is consumed to produce energy. When contacted, Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited executive director (fuel management) A K Sankule said, “For three of our power stations, things have been nearly fixed. For Singaji, there is some problem, but we are hopeful of ensuring normalcy in a couple of days.” Asked about excessive consumption, Sankule says, “Some units at Sanjay Gandhi Thermal Power Station are old and maintenance work is in the pipeline. At Shri Singaji, we are mulling technical adjustments in the plant.” Riley Reiff Womens Jersey
Now, cables under ground to power Maharashtra city
The recent pre-monsoon showers exposed the shaky condition of the overhead power cables, which snapped at ease and left many city areas in dark for hours in the rain. Soon, city consumers will not have to suffer from power cuts due to damage poles and electricity wires. The city has received Rs 22.66 crore for building an underground power network under the Integrated Power Distribution Scheme (IPDS) of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL). M G Shinde, chief engineer of MSEDCL, Kolhapur zone, said the present elevated power supplying network is vulnerable to nature’s wrath. “Despite our maintenance, strong winds, heavy rain can disturb power supply. To provide interrupted power supply in the city, we have received RS 22.66 crore under IPDS. The tender process has been completed and work will start soon,” he said. Shinde added, “Under the scheme, we will form 118 km underground network of low tension lines and a network of 47 km of high tension line in the city. The company will install 168 feeder pillars in the city. Consumer can look forward to uninterrupted power supply with stable pressure with the underground network.” He explained that the underground power cables are much safer than the overhead power supply network and has longer life. “Another major advantage of underground network is that it will prevent the power theft. An elevated power network needs constant maintenance for uninterrupted power supply. We can also save on maintenance costs after installation of underground power network,” he said. Executive engineer of Kolhapur urban division Sunil Mane said they are some facing problems in roadside digging to lay the underground cables. “The municipal corporation has become hurdle in the work as it officers are not cooperating despite our promise to pay digging charges. Once these issues are resolved, our work would be completed at a better pace,” he said. Uday Gaikwad, city-based environmental activist, said the MSEDCL has already delayed underground power supply work. “There is no coordination between Kolhapur Municipal Corporation and MSEDCL. The company implemented underground power network work in some parts in the city, but the main core area, which is vulnerable to electricity accidents, remains out of underground network. I have been demanding underground network since past many years for saving trees, clean city skyline and avoid accidents,” he said. He added the company should give priority to the crowded and historical building premises to lay the underground network. “It will reduce possibility of accidents and help create good environment. Underground power network would save trees. The company, every year, cuts tree branches reclining on power supply lines. This whole exercise can be avoided,” Gaikwad said. Despite several attempts, municipal corporation officials were not available for comment. Alexander Mogilny Jersey
India extends $500-mn credit line to Mauritius; ISA ratification among host of pacts
A $500-million line of credit (LoC) from India to Mauritius is among four agreements signed by the two countries following delegation-level talks headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth here on Saturday. “#IndiaMauritius – New Vistas for a Futuristic Partnership,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted, listing out the agreements. The LOC agreement was signed between SBM Mauritius Infrastructure Development Co. Ltd and Export-Import Bank of India. Another agreement was signed on cooperation on maritime security between the two countries. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the two sides for setting up of a civil services college in Mauritius. Another MoU was signed between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of India and Mauritius Oceanography Institute for research and education in marine sciences and technology. Mauritius also submitted its instrument of ratification of the India-initiated International Solar Alliance (ISA). The ISA, launched at the UN Conference of Parties (CoP) climate summit in Paris on November 30, 2015, by Prime Minister Modi and then French President Francois Hollande, is conceived as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their special energy needs and provide a platform to collaborate on dealing with the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach. It is open to all 121 prospective member countries falling between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Earlier on Saturday, Jugnauth was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here following which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on him. Jugnauth arrived here on Friday on a three-day state visit to India. This is Jugnauth’s first visit abroad since assuming office this January. Sherrick McManis Jersey
Government clarifies tax on solar power equipment, parts at 5%
The government will levy a 5 per cent tax on all equipment required for generating solar power compared with nil duty now, a government official clarified, putting an end to confusion about the new taxation policy for the industry after its landmark tax reform. “All solar equipments and its parts would attract 5 per cent GST only,” Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said in a tweet on Sunday, contrary to the initially planned two tax slabs of 5 per cent and 18 per cent. India, the world’s third biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has set a target to produce 100 gigawatts of solar power in five years to fuel its economic expansion while reducing its carbon footprint. A flat 5 per cent tax on all solar power equipment will put the sector on par with domestic coal from July 1 and make solar energy generation more expensive. The 5 per cent tax, however, is in contrast to a previous notification that had fixed an 18 per cent tax on photovoltaic cells and panels, which account for a bulk of solar power generation costs. Domestic coal sales now attract a 11.69 per cent duty. State-run Coal India Ltd, saddled with millions of tonnes of unsold coal, is expected to be the biggest beneficiary of the decision. A tax on solar parts could hurt the young and booming industry, which relies heavily on cells imported from China. Solar tariffs in India had fallen to a record low of 2.44 rupees ($0.0378) per unit earlier this month. India is extending capital subsidies and cheaper loans for clean energy to help meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s goal of raising renewable energy capacity by more than five times in the next five years to fight climate change. Solar power generation capacity in India has more than tripled in less than three years to over 12 GW, helped by lower module prices and borrowing costs. ($1 = 64.5400 Indian rupees) Jordan Willis Womens Jersey
Hindustan Power plans to raise around Rs 6,000 crore in next two years
Hindustan Power is targeting to raise around Rs 6,000 crore over the next two years to add 5 -6 GW of solar power capacity. “I think our goal to build out 5-6 GW of solar over the next five years both in India and outside India and that would be somewhere in the range of around a billion dollars (around Rs 6,000 crore) of equity,” Hindustan Power Chairman Ratul Puri said on the sidelines of a function here. “So, that would be raised over the next couple of years through internal cash generations and from external investors or potentially divesting some assets..potentially a combination of all these three,” Puri said. Asserting that there was nothing imminent in any area at present, Puri said that the company was just exploring opportunities at this juncture. Replying to a question, he said, “I think we are always looking at different opportunities to raise capital to finance growth and there are always multiple opportunities that are available. And… selling part of our assets is one of those opportunities”. “So, I think there is something which is ongoing. Not just sale but we are looking at capital to fund growth,” he added. The company’s current capacity is 2,000 MW, of which 800 MW solar. Terrell Owens Jersey
Oil prices stay weak as US drilling undermines drive to tighten markets
Oil prices remained weak on Monday as a relentless rise in U.S. drilling undermined an OPEC-led push to tighten supply. Brent crude futures were trading at $52.10 per barrel at 0150 GMT, down 5 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures remained below $50, down 8 cents at $49.72. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers agreed last week to extend a pledge to cut production by around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of the first quarter of 2018. But the decision did not go as far as many investors had hoped. An initial agreement, which has been in place since January, would have expired in June this year. Despite the ongoing cuts, oil prices have not risen much beyond $50 per barrel. Much of OPEC’s success will depend on output in the United States , which is not participating in the cuts and where production has soared 10 percent since mid-2016 to over 9.3 million bpd, close to top producer levels Russia and Saudi Arabia. U.S. drillers have now added rigs for 19 straight weeks, to 722, the highest amount since April 2015 and the longest run of additions on record, according to energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc. Analysts say that key to reining in ongoing oversupply will be to reduce bloated global fuel inventories. “It’s going to be all about inventories and whether they fall as much as OPEC thinks,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader. While it is hard to come by reliable global oil inventory data, regional stock levels for the United states, Europe and parts of Asia suggest that inventories have dipped in recent weeks, albeit from record levels.
KG Basin to see $30 billion investment in 10 years: Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan
India’s gas output and refining capacity is poised to jump in the decade ahead, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. In an interview to ET, Pradhan said Indian refineries would easily switch from transportation fuels to petrochemicals if needed. The minister also spoke about the proposed merger of state firms and how India was driving a hard bargain with oil cartel OPEC to extract better deals. Edited excerpts: It’s been three years as minister. How has it been? The vote in 2014 was of hope and aspiration. People had voted against the previous system of governance. They expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give an outcome-oriented, performance-oriented, transparent, accountable and corruption-free government. It has been a privilege for me to be part of such a government. In three years, we are satisfied that we have been able to make many humble efforts. We still need to do many things in the rest of the term. When you took over as minister, did you come across anything that was perplexing or shocking that needed to be reformed? See, this was my first experience in administration. I had worked in the predominantly rural economies of Orissa and Bihar and had political understanding of such states. But only after I became a minister that I understood the wider scope of the oil sector and its linkage with the country’s economy, diplomacy and the essential role it plays in the daily lives of common people. Therefore, I had come with no baggage. That I should reform the sector was also not much on my head. We kept taking reform measures, and we continue to do so now. As a social worker, I had fundamental understanding of a few things. One that energy access and poverty alleviation are linked, that energy security can help a person shake off poverty. So it was learning the ropes? I had no link with this sector before. I had never studied economics or international relations. I was a student of sociology. I am fundamentally a political organiser. So, for me everything was new. I had to read basic economics and international relations. For a country that imports 80% of its crude requirement, it is important for the minister to understand international relations. So, I have been studying these things as a student because I had the target to pass the exam with distinction. It’s been a very thrilling experience for the last three years. You are being very modest, calling yourself a student. In Vienna, you spoke like a professor to OPEC members. In Vienna, OPEC strongly praised India’s two key economic reforms: demonetisation and goods and services tax. They also praised the Prime Minister’s decisive leadership. They will have to listen to India now. OPEC will have to give us a better deal now. How OPEC views this? This is going to be a hard bargaining. OPEC decided to extend supply cut by nine months but prices fell. OPEC alone can’t control prices. They make up just 40% of the global production. Producer, financial markets as well as the consumer have a role in determining prices. Therefore, this time round I told them that if consumers need to worry about supply security, producers also needs to think about their market security. Do you think technology would change the energy sector beyond recognition in the next 15 years? This is what people have begun to say. There is no doubt that innovation and technology are going to be biggest disrupter in the energy business. This will provide India with an opportunity to leapfrog. Our Prime Minister often says that in the last industrial revolution, Indians worked for others, but in this round of global industrial and scientific revolution, we will work for the benefit of our country. This time, PM says, we can’t miss the bus. Energy will be the ground for experiment. We have just seen power tariff of 4 cents a unit. And this will not stop here. How will this disruption affect our refineries? Today, transportation fuels are the primary output of our refineries, but there will come a time when the primary produce of our refineries will be petrochemicals. Our per capita petrochemicals consumption is 10 kg while the world average in 30 kg. And we will continue to need clothes, furniture, plastic and industrial goods, which require petrochemicals as input. So, there is huge scope for petrochemicals. Today we have a refining capacity of about 230 million tonnes per annum. We will add about 150 million tonnes capacity in the next 7-8 years, including 50-60 million tonnes of brownfield expansion. After 15 years, the primary produce of these refineries may be petrochemicals. We are trying to synchronise scientific innovation, business model and market requirement to make sure India develops into an industrial hub. How would this pan out into the upstream sector? In the next 10 years, $20-30 billion will be spent in KG Basin alone. Should we not leverage this to turn our east coast into a petroleum manufacturing hub? Should we not turn our east coast into another Houston or Aberdeen? Before the NDA government came to power in 2014, even a rickshaw-puller had a view on the natural gas price. A 50 paise increase in diesel prices would lead to public protests. But controversies have now ceased. How did you achieve this? We did nothing new. A government can find a solution by making transparent decision while keeping public interest in mind, which is what we did. Government should provide a policy framework and not indulge in pickand-choose with respect to businesses — this is what we did. When will the proposed investments in the KG Basin start reflecting in gas output? Gas production increased in April. This is a trend and the production will continue to rise. Today we produce about 80-90 million metric standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd). By 2020-21, it will rise to 120 mmscmd. This incremental production will come both from private and public sector. What
Natural gas no longer profitable business: ONGC
Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has said that producing natural gas is no longer a profitable business for the company as the government-mandated gas price is significantly below the cost of production. The oil major has sought a review of pricing formula from the government. “Natural gas is no more profitable business because the cost of production is very significantly higher than current gas prices,” Dinesh K Sarraf CMD of ONGC, told reporters here on Saturday, adding that “We have no reason to disbelieve that gas prices will not be raised.” “Keeping in view the cost of production of gas, cost of alternate fuels and other market dynamics, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is requested to review the existing domestic gas price formula and provide a floor price at least to the level of earlier APM (regulated) price ($4.20 per million British thermal units or mBtu)/ non-APM (administrative price mechanism) price ($4.20 to $5.25 per mBtu) fixed in June 2010,” ONGC recently said. ONGC wants a floor or minimum price of natural gas be fixed at $4.2 per mBtu for the business to be viable. He stressed that, with the current price, it does not make economic or commercial sense for any company to invest in new fields or in augmenting production from existing ones. Sarraf is against any fresh investment if the price remains below the cost of production. In October 2014, the government had adopted a new pricing formula using rates prevalent in gas surplus nations like the US and Canada to determine rates in a net importing country. Prices have halved to $2.48 per million British thermal units since the formula was implemented. India imports half its natural gas needs and the government is keen to cut import bill by raising indigenous production and ‘Make in India’. Sarraf said that the price paid to domestic producers is less than half of the rate paid for import of gas (LNG). ONGC produces 80 per cent of the 70 million standard cubic meters per day which makes it the biggest gas producer in India. He said using this formula the company lost Rs. 50.10 billion in revenue on natural gas business, and about Rs. 30.00 billion in profit in just last one year. Nikolay Kulemin Womens Jersey
IndianOil overtakes ONGC to become India’s most profitable PSU
Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has overtaken Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to become India’s most profitable state-owned company. IOC, which has for decades been India’s biggest company by turnover, posted a 70% jump in net profit to Rs191.0640 billion in the financial year ended 31 March, 2017. This was more than the Rs. 179 billion net profit ONGC posted in the 2016-17 fiscal, making IOC the most profitable PSU, according to earning statements of the companies. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries retained the crown of being India’s most profitable company for the third year in a row, posting a net Rs. 299.01 billion in financial year 2016-17. Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest software services exporter, with a net profit of Rs. 263.57 billion was the second most profitable company in the country. ONGC was long India’s most profitable company but lost the crown to private sector Reliance and TCS a couple of years back. It has now been unseated as the most profitable PSU by IOC. In the previous 2015-16 fiscal, IOC had a net profit of Rs. 112.4223 billion as compared to ONGC’s Rs. 161.40 billion. While IOC Chairman B Ashok attributed the profit growth to higher refining margins, inventory gains and operational efficiencies, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Dinesh K Sarraf said the company lost Rs. 30 billion in net profit due to government’s natural gas pricing policy that has made the business economically unviable. The BJP-led government had in October 2014 evolved a new pricing formula using rates prevalent in gas surplus nations like the US, Canada and Russia to determine rates in a net importing country. Prices have halved to $2.48 per million British thermal unit since the formula was implemented. Sarraf said the company lost Rs. 50.10 billion in revenue on natural gas business from 35% drop in gas prices in last one year. “Our profit would have been about Rs. 30 billion higher if we got remunerative gas price,” he said. “Natural gas is no more profitable business because cost of production is very very significantly higher than current gas prices,” he said. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on March 20 had stated that the cost of production of natural gas in the prolific Krishna Godavari basin is between $4.99 per mmBtu and $7.30 per mmBtu. The same for other basins is in the range of $3.80 per mmBtu to $6.59 per mmBtu, he had said, adding the production costs of companies vary from field to field depending upon size of the reservoir, location, logistics and availability of surface facilities. ONGC is the country’s biggest gas producer, accounting for some 80% of the 70 million standard cubic meters per day current output. Demaryius Thomas Authentic Jersey