Ukraine has in principle deal with International Monetary Fund on gas: Reports
Ukraine has reached an agreement in principle with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on gradually bringing gas prices to market levels by 2020, Interfax Ukraine said on Tuesday, citing the head of state firm Naftogaz. No other details were immediately available. The IMF has not commented publicly on any breakthrough in talks with the Ukrainian authorities on providing more aid to the country. Talks are ongoing in Ukraine this week. Atlanta Braves Jersey
Germany’s Uniper says in talks on Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal
German utility Uniper is ready to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the country and distribute it should a terminal be built at Wilhelmshaven, close to its storage facilities, board member Keith Martin told Reuters in an interview. Martin said the company is in talks with a number of parties including those from the United States and that more concrete news should be announced before the end of the year. Such plans put Uniper in competition with RWE which said earlier this month it had secured capacity to import LNG at a planned terminal in Brunsbuettel, for which a final investment decision would be made next year. “We are in talks with interested parties in building a floating liquefied natural gas import terminal at Wilhelmshaven,” Martin said told Reuters. “We are talking to a wide range of people, including the U.S.” He said he was “confident” that there would be further news about the project in the fourth quarter but that for now, details and third parties were commercially sensitive. Martin’s comments come a week after Uniper first said it favoured the deepwater port on the North Sea coast compared to RWE’s Brunsbuettel project on the Kiel canal. His remarks amount to a hardening of an earlier commitment, and will give suppliers, logistics firms and consumers important clues on where to position themselves. The terminal, a Floating Regasification and Storage Unit (FSRU), would have a throughput capacity of around 10 billion cubic metres a year, or 7.3 million tonnes a year, and accept Q-Max 265,000 cubic metre LNG carriers, Martin said. Uniper would not invest in the terminal itself but it would become the buyer and distributor of the gas, Martin said. Ordering FSRUs rather than building onshore LNG facilities is cheaper, quicker and more flexible as the vessel can be moved to a different location when not needed. New FSRUs cost around $200 to $400 million but tankers converted into FSRUs are even cheaper. Uniper says it favours Wilhelmshaven due to its access to the continental pipeline system and storage facilities such as its own plant at Etzel, giving it advantage over other projects, including another on the inland Elbe river port of Stade. Wilhelmshaven LNG could also offer low-carbon bunker fuel for ships in the German Bay, ahead of limits on heavily polluting ship fuels imposed by the IMO from 2020. The debate about German LNG has flared up recently as the government wants to diversify away from pipeline gas arriving from Russia, Norway and the Netherlands. LNG suppliers including Qatar and the United States have said they are keen on opportunities. Global gas prices have risen sharply and Europe faces a decline in indigenous production. Alex Goligoski Womens Jersey
Calls to bring fuel under GST gets louder as prices soar
Anger is brewing over the rising fuel prices. Farmers and industrialists, who have to bear the brunt of the price rise, have urged the government to take immediate steps to curb the soaring rates. Petrol prices touched a record Rs 90.48 per litre on Monday in Jalgaon city, while diesel prices recorded all-time high of Rs 78.13 per litre. In Nashik city, petrol prices touched Rs 89.87 per litre on Monday, while diesel was selling at Rs 77.54 per litre on the same day. Petrol prices in Jalgaon have increased by 21 per cent in past 15 months from Rs 74.40 per litre in July last year to Rs 90.48 on Monday. Similarly, diesel prices in Jalgaon increased by 33.28 per cent in the same period from Rs 58.62 per litre in July last year to Rs 78.13 per litre on Monday. “The rain have disappeared for the past one month and my cotton crop is at stake. We are getting electricity for eight hours for agricultural pumps, but with frequent cuts. We have no option but to run water pumps on diesel generators. This is proving costly due to rise in fuel prices,” said Sonu Pawar, a farmer. Nivrutti Nyaharkar, another farmer, said that one hand the government is promoting mechanical farming, but all farming equipment is run on diesel. “Using farming machineries has become costlier,” he rued. Vijay Thakre, state co-ordinator of federation of all Maharashtra petrol dealers association said that falling value of rupee ratio, crude oil prices, state and central government’s taxes and daily fuel price revision were playing an important role in the rise. “The dollar and rupee valuation and crude oil prices are not in government’s hand, but it can reduce taxes and cess on fuel,” he said. “The fuel prices are continuously rising and it cannot be brought down unless it is brought under goods and services tax. The GST council can take the decision in this connection,” said Santosh Mandlecha, state president of Maharashtra chamber of commerce, industry & agriculture. Bhuvaneshwar Singh, president Jalgaon Industries Association, alleged that the government is deliberately ignoring the rising fuel prices. “The government seems to be mobilising funds which the Centre and state government need to fill up the deficit created due to farm loan waivers,” he alleged. He claimed that the government will definitely bring fuel under GST a month or two before Lok Sabha elections are declared next year so that the fuel prices will suddenly become cheaper by Rs 25-30 per litre. “The memory of common man is short lived. They forget everything after a few days. Hence, I think this is the government strategy,” said Singh. Joshua Garnett Authentic Jersey
Fuels Must Be Brought Under GST Ambit, Council Should Take Decision, Says Petroleum Minister
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan spoke to the media on fuel prices, reiterating his stand on bringing the fuels under the GST ambit. He said, “I want petrol and diesel to come under the ambit of GST. The GST Council should take a decision on this.” The minister clearly shifted the onus for bringing about the change on the state governments, Pradhan said, “The state governments are more powerful than the Centre in GST Council meeting. He also called out the Odisha government to follow suit of the other state governments and reduce VAT on both petrol and diesel. He said, “I request Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik to reduce VAT on petrol & diesel like other state governments. The Central Government had already deducted excise duty on petrol and diesel a few months ago.” Pradhan has, all this while, maintained that the Government was concerned about the fuel prices and was working on a long-term solution. He has also repeatedly asked the state governments to tax petrol and diesel within a reasonable and responsible band and not “continue to reap a bonanza from rising oil prices”. Glenn Robinson Authentic Jersey
Niti Aayog halts Oil India’s CGD plans
The Niti Aayog has denied ‘permission’ to state-run Oil India (OIL) to venture into the country’s reinvigorated city gas distribution (CGD) business, arguing that exploration companies must focus on their core activities given the country’s stagnant oil production. An OIL-HPCL consortium had won bids for two geographical areas (GAs) — Ambala and Kurukshetra in Haryana, and Kolhapur in Maharashtra — during the eighth round of CGD bidding in 2017. Under the guidelines issued by department of public enterprises in 2016, a PSU looking to create a JV with other companies needs to obtain approval from the Niti Aayog. The move by the think-tank is at odds with the government’s policy of encouraging integrated oil and gas businesses in the public sector via mergers of PSUs to create world-class entities. Last year, ONGC, the country’s largest explorer, acquired 51% in downstream company HPCL under a government directive. Also, oil marketing companies like IOC and BPCL have interests in domestic and overseas exploration blocks and crude and product pipelines. The hurdle put by the public-sector think-tank would mean means that residents of the two GAs would have to wait longer to get piped gas connections in their houses and run their cars on compressed natural gas (CNG). OIL had also won CGD rights for two other GAs (Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj; Kamrup and Kamrup Metropolitan) in Assam in consortium with Assam Gas Company and GAIL (India) in the recently concluded ninth round of CGD. According to an OIL executive, the firm is apprehensive that these JVs may also hit the Niti Aayog wall. An official from the ministry of petroleum and natural gas said: “These (upstream) companies want to expand in the downstream sector and share risk as the returns in the CGD business comes over a period of time.” The OIL official said certain queries were raised by Niti Aayog and though OIL replied to them, the JV application hasn’t yet been cleared. “We will take up the issue with the petroleum ministry,” added the official. An HPCL executive said the queries raised by the think-tank are not directed at HPCL. Apart from winning one GA in the ninth round of CGD, HPCL already has three gas distribution JVs—Aavantika Gas and Bhagyanagar Gas with GAIL, and Godavari Gas with Andhra Pradesh Gas Development Corp which again is a JV between GAIL and the state government. The HPCL executive, however, expressed optimism that the issue would likely be sorted and said the combined entity was going ahead with the plan. Firms winning CGD licences for a particular GA are allowed to sell CNG and piped cooking gas in that area. In the latest ninth round, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) offered 86 GAs covering 174 districts in 22 states and union territories i.e. 24% of India’s area and 29% of population. The government aims to connect 10 million households with piped gas by 2020, which is in line with increasing the share of natural gas in the primary energy basket of the country to 15% from 6% over the next few years. The existing CGD operators include Indraprastha Gas and GAIL Gas which serve a population of 240 million through 4.2 million domestic connections and 3.1 million CNG vehicles. Barry Church Jersey