Talks on for gas pipeline from Chittagong to Tripura: Pradhan
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has taken up with Bangladesh for laying a pipeline for carrying natural gas from Chittagong to Tripura to meet the crisis of cooking gas (LPG) in the North-eastern region, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. “We are laying a pipeline for transportation of diesel from Siliguri in West Bengal to Parvatipur in Bangladesh. There is pipeline for carrying diesel from Numaligarh oil refinery in Assam to Siliguri. “In exchange, we have given the proposal for a gas pipeline from Chittagong to Tripura. We are pursuing the matter diplomatically and I would also visit Bangladesh soon,” Pradhan told reporters here. The pipeline if approved by the Bangladesh government would be laid by the side of the rail lines which pass near the Indo-Bangla international border, he said. Pradhan launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in Tripura here and distributed LPG connection to 20 below poverty line (BPL) families. In Tripura 0.922 million households are having LPG connections and efforts are on to bring 100 per cent coverage in the days to come. The Oil minister also laid the foundation for a new grassroots bottling plant here with 60 TMTPA capacity with an estimated cost of Rs 1.43 billion which would be completed by 2019. Pradhan said, now about 0.45 million households are covered by the existing bottling plant out of total 0.922 million households having LPG connection. With the completion of the new bottling plant the capacity of supplying LPG would be doubled and most of the households would be covered, he added. Dan Feeney Jersey
Indian Oil Corp approves buying up to 50% stake in GSPL LNG
Indian Oil Corp has approved buying up to 50 per cent stake in GSPL LNG. It has approved first stage expansion of its Gujarat refinery to 18 mmtpa of crude oil processing capacity at an estimated cost of Rs 150.34 billion. First stage approval for installation of a second catalytic de-waxing unit at Haldia refinery at an estimated cost of Rs 11.26 billion has also been received First stage approval for installation of ethanol plant using gas fermentation technology of Lanzatech USA at Panipat refinery for Rs 4.41 billion has also been received. Vadim Shipachyov Womens Jersey
GAIL seeks reworking of US LNG price deal
GAIL, India’s biggest gas transporter, has deals to buy 5.8 million tonnes of US LNG per annum for 20 years. “We need to be in sync with the market, whether it is buyer or seller. So, if market dynamics has changed and there is a glut of gas the world over with falling rates, the same should also reflect in our prices,” a source said requesting anonymity as the talks are private. GAIL, he said, is approaching US LNG sellers to reopen the contracts. It wants to renegotiate the 2011 sales and purchase agreement (SPA) with Cheniere Energy for import of 182.5 trillion British thermal units of LNG (equivalent to approximately 3.5 million tons) annually, with yearly fixed fees of USD 548 million and a term of 20 years. GAIL had agreed to pay Cheniere a price of USD 3 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) plus 115 per cent of the final settlement price for the New York Mercantile Exchange Henry Hub natural gas futures contract for the month in which the relevant cargo is scheduled. Also, 15 per cent of the fixed portion of the contract sales price will be subject to annual adjustment for inflation. The source said GAIL wants the fixed portion to be lowered to bring down landed cost of LNG to around USD 7-8 per mmBtu as against the present USD 9.7. LNG in the spot or current market is available for less than USD 6 per mmBtu. US supplies are scheduled to begin from the next year. Cheniere, currently the only US company exporting LNG, is reportedly not in favour of reopening the signed contracts as it expects the signed ‘take-or-pay’ agreements to be honoured. Besides the 3.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG from Houston-based Cheniere, GAIL has booked 2.3 mt a year capacity at Dominion’s Cove Point liquefaction facility. GAIL had previously sought reopening of the August 2009 deal for import of 1.44 mt per annum of LNG for 20 years from Australia’s Gorgon project. Gas from Gorgon is indexed at 14.5 per cent of prevailing oil rate. The indexation agreed was one of the highest in the world. Gorgon LNG at an oil price of USD 50 per barrel would cost USD 7.25 per mmBtu at the loading port. Added to that will be shipping cost and import duty as also the cost of converting the super-cooled liquid gas back into its gaseous state, taking the price to USD 9.5. ExxonMobil-led Gorgon has not accepted the demand so far. In 2015, India renegotiated price of the long-term deal to import 7.5 million tonnes per year of LNG from Qatar, helping save Rs 80 billion. The price of imported LNG under this agreement had been linked to crude oil (Japanese Customs Cleared Crude or JCC) and had a concept of floor and ceiling indexed to last 5-year average. The rate thus arrived was higher than spot LNG. A renegotiation of the deal was sought and RasGas of Qatar agreed to modify the pricing formula to link it with last 3-month average rate of Brent crude oil, the source said. Gerald Everett Jersey
ONGC Videsh to pump $150 million in Colombia, Kazakhstan & Bangladesh
ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp, plans to invest $150 million in exploration this fiscal year to drill more wells in Colombia, where it just made a commercial discovery, as well as in Kazakhstan and Bangladesh. ONGC Videsh, which operates the CPO-5 block of Colombia, has made a commercial discovery in its exploration well Mariposa-1, managing director Narendra Verma has said. The company is now drawing up plans for the development of the Mariposa-1well that has begun a test production of 4,500 barrels per day, he said. The success has also opened opportunity for further exploration in the block. “To chase this lead, we plan to drill two more wells,” Verma said. ONGC has 70% participating interest in CPO-5 block in which the remaing 30% stake in held by Amerisur Resources of UK. ONGC has participating interest in a total of six blocks in Colombia. This includes a producing block whose current output is 35,000 barrels per day. ONGC has also accelerated its exploratory efforts in Kazakhstan and Bangladesh. Drilling has begun in the Kazakhstan block in the Caspian Sea while preparations are on to drill the first well in Bangladesh. “We are hopeful Kazakhstan drilling will end up in success,” Verma said. In all, the exploratory effort would require $150 million of investment this year, Verma said. ONGC Videsh plans to make a total capital spending of $1 billion in 2017-18 in exploration, development and production across all its projects. ONGC Videsh’s production jumped 40% in 2016-17 mainly on 26% stake acquisition in Russia’s prolific Vankor fields. The output is expected to rise further 15% in the current fiscal year to 14.35 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe). “We are actively working towards meeting our target of 20 mtoe by 2020,” said Verma. The company has also entered Namibia’s oil and gas sector with a purchase of 30% interest from Tullow Oil in the African country’s three oil blocks. ONGC Videsh’s investment in the Imperial fields of Russia will likely get some production boost after an associated gas processing plant comes up. The tender for the plant has been awarded and it would be ready in about 18 months, Verma said. This would help push up oil production from the field by 4000 barrels/day from the current 7000 barrels/day. Claudio Reyna Authentic Jersey