India plans to set up LNG terminal in Myanmar
India is planning to set up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Myanmar as it looks to expand energy diplomacy in its neighbourhood, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today. The terminal to import super-cooled natural gas will be in addition to the similar facilities planned by Indian firms in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as part of larger plan of energy connectivity in the South Asian neighbourhood, he said. Pradhan said Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) in Assam is exploring supply of diesel to Myanmar and is looking at options to build fuel storage and distribution sector in that country. “Indian Oil Corp (IOC) is also working with Myanmar companies in setting up LPG storage facilities and Petronet LNG is working on setting up an LNG terminal there,” he said. He, however, did not give details. “India is working with Bangladesh in interconnecting gas grids and supplying diesel through pipelines,” he said. Currently, Indian firms supply diesel through rail rake from Siliguri in Assam to Parbatipur in Bangladesh and are in the process of constructing a 130-km long product pipeline for uninterrupted supply. “Also, Indian companies are working on connecting India’s gas grid with that of Bangladesh and supply gas for power generation at Khulna Power Plant,” he said. “This will be an exemplary display of regional cooperation.” Bangladesh is setting up an 800-megawatt (MW) power plant in the country’s Khulna region, for which it has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a $500 million funding. Pradhan said Petronet is also looking at building a 7.5 million tonne a year LNG import terminal in Bangladesh to feed that country’s energy needs using imported gas. “In view of providing energy access to the north-eastern part of India, there are plans to import LPG in Bangladesh and transport through road/pipeline to the region while catering to the demand of Bangladesh,” he said. In Sri Lanka, India is jointly developing Trincomalee oil storage tank farm and is also working on setting up an LNG terminal and a 500 MW LNG-fired power plant near Colombo. Also, there is a proposal to develop city gas distribution (CGD) and CNG market and infrastructure in Sri Lanka, he said. IOC Lanka, which is a subsidiary of IOC, has 43.5 per cent of the total fuel market share. “India is working with Sri Lanka on a proposal to set up a solar power plant at Sampur, which would be of 50 MW to begin with,” he said. To Nepal, India presently supplies all of its petroleum product requirements through trucks. A pipeline for supply of petroleum products is under construction, which will ensure uninterrupted supply. “There are also discussions with Nepal on an LPG and Natural gas pipeline,” he said adding Nepal has expressed interest in implementing free cooking gas (LPG) connection scheme for poor women on lines of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna (PMUY) to expand the coverage of LPG. “The Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for North East India envisages a natural gas pipeline from Numaligarh towards Sittwe (in Myanmar) in different phases. The gas pipeline will open future possibilities of gas exchange and grid connectivity,” he said. India supplies all of petroleum product needs of Bhutan, which too is planning to extend LPG coverage to 100 per cent of the population by sourcing supplies from the refineries in Assam, he said. To Mauritius, India supplies all its energy products. “Our (neighbouring) countries are considering the construction of a bunkering facility along with a jetty,” he said adding Indian firms are working with Vietnam, the UAE and Oman for presence in upstream sector to produce oil and gas. “Regional integration through connectivity across all modes – physical, utilities-based and digital – among our countries in the immediate neighbourhood is one of the top priorities of our government. It is imperative that we, together as a group, address the weak links and overcome challenges,” he said. The BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) region is abundant in energy resources such as hydropower, hydrocarbons, and renewables. “Since the region enjoys high insolation, it is appropriate that we consider the development of a common Solar Grid here,” he said. Also, Bangladesh and Myanmar have large gas reserves which can be explored as alternate sources of gas supply. Similarly, Nepal and Bhutan have immense potential of hydropower, which is untapped due to the absence of a market that can create demand of this magnitude. On the other hand, India and Sri Lanka are net importers of energy like many other developing countries, he said. “The energy demand-supply sectors in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, SriLanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan offer a potential for regional resource cooperation, which could go beyond export-import trade relations and link the region in a Bay of Bengal Energy Community and thus contribute to the process of regional integration. “The key to developing such a community lies in identifying complementary conditions and the combination of inter related production characteristics among energy supply and demand sectors of these countries,” he said. Pradhan called for reform and restructuring of the energy sector in each of these nations in such a way that the bloc becomes more competitive and efficient. The national energy systems — gas and electricity networks — in the South Asian countries are largely isolated from each other. Currently only India, Bhutan and Nepal trade electricity. In addition, India supplies some amount of power to Bangladesh. Demand for electricity in South Asia and particularly in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal is growing rapidly which call for cooperation and trade that should eventually create one of the world’s largest integrated energy market, he added. Jimmy Vesey Jersey
How DBT can improve subsidy payout and remove fake transactions
Over the past year, at least 12 citizens in Jharkhand have reportedly succumbed to hunger caused by a denial of direct benefit transfer (DBT)-linked public distribution system (PDS) rations, social security pensions and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) payments. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently cautioned states from shifting to a DBT mechanism for food subsidies. The drive for efficiency in subsidy disbursement is a benign concept. But poorly implemented, it can have fatal consequences. Subsidy, With a Grain of Salt India’s subsidy disbursement system has historically been flawed, leakages in PDS being a key example. Almost 54% of PDS grains were diverted in 2005. Five years later, the figure was 41%. The lowest diversions were in Tamil Nadu (7%) and highest in Bihar (85%) in 2005. DBT is a newly embraced method for disbursing subsidies in a manner that could potentially eliminate spurious transactions, while cutting red tape and increasing efficiency. Coupled with Jan Dhan accounts, it can be an efficient way for providing benefits directly to beneficiaries while leaving a paper trail. As of March 2018, DBT is estimated to have helped save Rs 82,985 crore, while the number of beneficiaries has risen to 118.3 crore, with overRs 12,792 crore of savings coming from bringing the PDS system under its ambit. In addition, the estimated savings under DBT for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy have been pegged atRs 38,877 crore. However, for a DBT implementation to succeed, there must be focus on three critical areas: proper identification of beneficiaries, timely transfer of money to beneficiaries, and their ability to access these benefits with relative ease. While Aadhaar, reaching over 89% of India’s population, can solve the identification problem, the transfer of money (about 15% households don’t have a banking account) and access issues pose additional challenges. Mobile penetration could substitute for some banking tasks. But last-mile physical connectivity to financial centres will be needed. There must be due care in choosing which sectors to roll out DBT in. Implementing it for farm sector remains particularly difficult, given a variety of subsidies. Meanwhile, DBT solutions are mostly focused on income support. The tyranny of distance in the hinterland, with the rural bank branches still far and few, along with poor village road infrastructure will make access to this subsidy difficult. The potential for expanding the utilisation of DBT in fertiliser allocation, for instance, holds significant promise. However, the DBT subsidy on fertilisers is currently given to the farmer whose name appears on the land title. Given that land settlements happen infrequently, and most farmers don’t tend to undertake mutations on land titles usually associated with their forefathers, this could lead to significant downstream implementation issues. Farmers who are sharecroppers could lose out. The source of subsidy will also add to complexity in disbursements. Some subsidies are administered by the Centre (e.g., fertilisers), some by state governments (e.g., electricity), while others are covered by both (e.g., seeds). The trifecta of Aadhaar, Jan Dhan and mobile phone connectivity can help the scale-up of DBT quickly when the subsidy is offered in a universal manner, with limited administrative coordination required between the Centre and the states. Gas, That Doesn’t Leak Consider how PAHAL (Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh) has yielded impressive results in reducing LPG subsidies by about Rs 2,000 crore. Similarly, with MNREGA payments in Bihar, DBT has reduced leakages by 14% and disbursals by 38% through real-time individual payments, while reducing payment delays. However, any targeted subsidy schemes that have identification risks and seek to allocate subsidies across a family may not be suitable. Administrative ease also matters. Complex interfaces between institutions along with intermediary inertia can hamper rollouts. While cash transfers for food subsidies have been explored in pilots, surveys have highlighted a number of pertinent issues. Over 20% of those surveyed have claimed to have not received cash in lieu of market-linked prices, while those who received payments were aggrieved by lack of communication on bank transfers and inadequate grievance redressal mechanisms. RBI, in its latest report on state finances, has expressed the need for greater robustness in delivering benefits through cash transfer route. Finally, one must not give up on existing systems. Reforming the PDS, as Chhattisgarh did recently, may be a better way to improve delivery and access. The Chhattisgarh government de-privatised ration shops and increased commission on sales, while it issued fresh ration cards to weed out bogus ones. It broke the rice miller-ration shop nexus by taking control of logistics and procurement, leading to 90% of the domiciled population having food and nutrition security. Similar reforms in Odisha have increased coverage from 6.4% in 1993-94 to 58% in 2011-12, while reducing calorie deficiency by 31.4%, and prevented over 14 million from going hungry. Increasing density of PDS shops, enrolling larger population especially in rural areas, and advancements in supply chain, can further improve PDS delivery. One would hope that in our rush to push DBT, we don’t simply replace the (admittedly tyrannical) discretion of the local land records officer and village council chief with that of the database analyst.Over the past year, at least 12 citizens in Jharkhand have reportedly succumbed to hunger caused by a denial of direct benefit transfer (DBT)-linked public distribution system (PDS) rations, social security pensions and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) payments. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently cautioned states from shifting to a DBT mechanism for food subsidies. The drive for efficiency in subsidy disbursement is a benign concept. But poorly implemented, it can have fatal consequences. Subsidy, With a Grain of Salt India’s subsidy disbursement system has historically been flawed, leakages in PDS being a key example. Almost 54% of PDS grains were diverted in 2005. Five years later, the figure was 41%. The lowest diversions were in Tamil Nadu (7%) and highest in Bihar (85%) in 2005. DBT is a newly embraced method for disbursing subsidies in a manner that could potentially eliminate spurious transactions, while cutting
India’s Cairn Drilled Two Oil Wells could collectively generate 2.6 GW Power for 40 years for Sri Lanka
Now Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal controlled Vedanta group owned Cairn India drilled two oil wells that had been identified to holding over several billions of cubic feet of Natural Gas could collectively generate over 2.6 GW (Giga Watt) Power for 40 years for Sri Lanka, reveals the latest annual review of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development that was recently released to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Accordingly the report highlights that the development initiatives taken by the government during the recent past years from 2008 have laid the foundation for oil and gas exploration sector in Sri Lanka. “Sri Lanka has already discovered her own gas depositories in Mannar basin. It has been revealed that the smaller “ Dorado” reservoir has 300 BCF (Billion Cubic Feet) of Natural Gas (NG) that can fire 630 MW (Mega Watt) power plant for about 10 years” the report notes. “The more complex larger “Barracuda” discovery exceeds 1.8 TCF (Trillion Cubic Feet) of NG that can fire 2,000 MW power plant for 30 years” the review notes adding that at present, the actions are being taken to commercialize already discovered oil and gas deposits through International Competitive Bidding. The report also highlights that in addition, oil and gas exploration activities are being carried out through foreign investors on multi-client basis. Natural Gas is being used worldwide at present as a clean source of energy. “It has become an important fuel for Sri Lanka as well both in terms of energy and diversity of use” the report said adding that therefore, there is potential for Natural Gas (NG) to be used in power, industrial, transportation, household and commerce sectors in Sri Lanka as a fuel or a feedstock. The sectorial NG demand is expected to be met by exploitation of indigenous NG resources or imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) which depend on the availability, market conditions and policy. “Currently, the government is keen on using Natural Gas initially for power generation of the country and the interests of other parties such as industrialists, transporters on usage of Natural Gas for their purposes are also being discussed” the report added. The report said that in the above context, the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) under the guidance of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development in collaboration with Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has formulated a Draft National Policy on Natural Gas which is timely. “Currently, the policy is being reviewed by the Ministry, PRDS, CPC and CPSTL and once it is finished, stakeholder consultation workshops will be organized for further development of the said draft policy” the report noted. Cairn India’s 100% owned subsidiary – Cairn Lanka that had a 100% participating interest in the Block M2 of Mannar Basin in Sri Lanka, and the block contains two natural gas and condensate discoveries (Dorado and Barracuda) both of which were discovered by exploration activities carried out by Cairn Lanka in 2011. Earlier reports highlight that the volumetric analysis of these two discoveries has indicated a combined potential reservoir capacity in excess of 2 TCF (Trillion Cubic feet) of natural gas and 10 million BBL (barrels) of condensate. PRDS in their earlier statements had said that the economic analysis of these two discoveries indicates a very competitive gas price and about 11 oil and gas companies including few major exploration companies have already expressed their interest for this block and the Government expects to license this block by early 2018. According to reports during 2008 – 2015 a sum of US $ 26 million has been spent on petroleum exploration activities for local capacity building and procurement of local goods and services by the Operator of block M2 in Mannar (ex-Cairn SL 2007-01-001). Nearly 17 local suppliers transacted US $ 18 million services during this period demonstrating a slow emergence of a new industry. Four local universities had been assisted and guided to establish upstream petroleum related course modules. The M2 block exploration program itself is a US$ 240 million worth of a petroleum data asset, conclusive of two gas discoveries, as per an earlier report of PRDS. Thus far PRDS has made Rs. 700 million data sales and the owner of valuable petroleum data that may lead to massive production sharing contracts in the immediate future. Nolan Cromwell Authentic Jersey
Egypt sets tariff of $0.38 for use of national gas grid
Egypt has set a tariff of $0.38 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) for firms seeking to use its national gas network, the Gas Regulatory Authority said on its website. The tariff, which will be applied nationwide, allows companies to tap into the national gas grid and use it for private imports. The price is set for one year, the regulator said. Egypt in February issued long-awaited executive regulations to allow the private sector to import natural gas directly, hoping to attract greater private sector participation in the country’s rapidly expanding gas sector. It aims to be a regional hub for the trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after a string of major discoveries which are expected to make Egypt self-sufficient in gas by the end of 2018. Ryan Fitzpatrick Womens Jersey
Bangladesh sees stalled floating LNG terminal starting operations in days
A vessel that arrived in Bangladesh in April to offload its maiden cargo of liquefied natural gas and moor permanently as an import terminal should begin operations “within a week” after bad weather hampered its start-up, an official said on Thursday. The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) will allow Bangladesh to import LNG for the first time as its domestic gas production falls and will boost several power projects in a nation where 30 per cent go without electricity. Since its arrival at Moheshkhali, near Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh, bad weather has hampered the FSRU’s efforts to dock properly, connect to the import infrastructure and offload its first cargo of Qatari LNG, officials have said. “The delay was basically the rough sea. It (the project) will succeed very soon … hopefully within a week,” a director at state-run energy firm Petrobangla’s LNG division said. The Excellence FSRU is operated by privately owned U.S. company Excelerate, which launched the first FSRU in the world in 2005 and still dominates the industry alongside Golar LNG, Hoegh and BW Group’s LNG arm. Two senior Petrobangla officials said the state-run firm would contest Excelerate’s declaration of force majeure on the project due to the weather-related delays. Declaring force majeure absolves a company from responsibility for delays to fulfilling contracts due to circumstances beyond its control. “They have claimed force majeure for bad weather but we haven’t accepted it,” one of the officials said. “Petrobangla doesn’t have any obligation to pay any money before the gas flow starts. Excelerate will pay demurrage as per contract.” That official said technical experts from International Finance Corp, an arm of the World Bank which lent to the $180 million project, were on site monitoring progress. The country of 165 million people relies on its gas resources for 70 per cent of its energy production but as demand has risen its falling supply has struggled to keep up, prompting it to consider a host of LNG projects. Aside from the Moheshkhali project, several others are being considered, usually combining LNG imports with onshore power plants that would use the regasified fuel as feedstock or with fertiliser complexes that are heavily gas-reliant. Most recently, two projects costing a combined $5.8 billion were announced involving US firm General Electric. Energy trading houses Gunvor, Vitol and Trafigura have also chased projects in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is seen as an ideal LNG importer because it has the legacy of using gas and therefore much of the onshore infrastructure already, unlike some other countries that have struggled to get LNG projects off the ground. Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, said the Moheshkhali project would help Bangladesh import 81 million cubic metres of gas a day by 2025. “We have a robust internal gas supply system, which has historically transmitted our local gas. This grid will carry the LNG internally. This is an advantage for us,” he said. Jordan Wilkins Womens Jersey
UK GAS-Prices rise ahead of Forties pipeline outage
Prompt British wholesale gas prices rose on Thursday as domestic production ramped down in anticipation of a planned outage at the Forties pipeline on Friday, leaving the system slightly undersupplied. Day-ahead gas up 0.50 pence at 58.25 p/therm at 0830 GMT Within-day contract up 0.73 pence at 58.53 p/therm British offshore gas production is seen at 68 million cubic metres (mcm) on Thursday but is expected to drop to 46 mcm on Friday, when the Forties oil and gas pipeline system is due to shut down for maintenance. Additionally, Shell said a planned outage at its SEAL pipeline system from the Elgin and Franklin fields had been moved forward to start on Thursday rather than Friday. Maintenance at the SEAL pipeline system is due to end on Aug. 7 According to National Grid data, demand is expected at 156.2 mcm and flows at 154.0 mcm Exports to continental Europe through the InterconnectorUK are seen lower at 34 mcm and there may be withdrawals from storage on Friday in reaction to the Forties shutdown, Thomson Reuters analysts said in a daily note. Wind generation is expected to halve on Friday, which could raise gas-for-power demand Wind generation is expected to peak at 5.4 gigawatts (GW) on Thursday and drop to 2.0 GW on Friday, according to Exelon data. The Boris Vilkitsky liquefied natural gas tanker is expected to arrive at Isle of Grain on Friday but there is enough storage space at the import terminal for sendout to remain flat. Further along the curve, the September contract fell 0.2 pence to 57.60 p/therm Winter 2018 contract edged higher by 0.25 pence to 63.45 p/therm Day-ahead gas price at the Dutch TTF hub down 0.15 euro at 21.98 euros per megawatt-hour Benchmark Dec-18 EU carbon contract slipped by 0.13 euro to 17.65 euros per tonne Breno Giacomini Womens Jersey
Free LPG to 50 million poor homes: PM Modi’s pet scheme beats target
The government will complete the task of giving LPG connections free of cost to five crore poor households across 715 districts under the ‘Ujjwala’ programme on Friday, achieving the target originally set for one of PM Narendra Modi’s signature social schemes nearly eight months ahead of schedule. Sources said Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is expected to hand over the ‘Ujjwala Connection No. 5 Crore’ to the selected beneficiary at a function in Parliament in the presence of oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the main driver behind the scheme’s blistering pace. Ujjwala aims at bringing clean cooking fuel to poor households, identified according to the Socio-Economic Caste Consensus (SECC), and has proven to be one of the Modi government’s key platforms for political outreach. The scheme, together with the Centre’s village electrification plan, fuelled BJP’s rise in the run-up to the 2017 UP polls. The scheme was launched by the PM on May 1, 2016, in Ballia district in UP with a target of providing free LPG connections to five crore poor households by March 31, 2019, and a budgetary allocation of Rs 8,000 crore. Right from the word go, the scheme consistently progressed ahead of schedule. Encouraged by the rapid progress, the government in February raised the target to eight crore poor households by 2020 with an additional outlay of Rs 4,800 crore. This was done with the aim of going beyond the SECC to expand the list of Ujjwala beneficiaries, a move that will help widen the ruling party’s political reach as it heads for 2019 general elections. The expanded list now includes all SC/ST households, PM Awaas Yojana (Gramin), Antodaya Anna Yojana beneficiaries, forest dwellers, Most Backwards Classes, tea garden workers and island dwellers. Beyond politics, the scheme is yielding a social dividend by safeguarding the health of women and children in poor households. More than 44% of Ujjwala beneficiaries are currently are from SC/ST communities. Women from such households no longer have to suffer the drudgery of collecting firewood or dried dung-cakes, neither do they have to inhale smoke from such fuels — identified by the World Heath Organisation as a major cause of respiratory diseases and untimely deaths. India is home to more than 24 crore households, 10 crore of which are still deprived of LPG as a cooking fuel and have to rely on firewood, coal, dung-cakes etc as primary cooking fuel. Wayne Gallman Authentic Jersey