Undue enrichment to Reliance Industries in KG D-6 field at $3 billion, say govt sources
The value of Reliance Industries’ (RIL) alleged “undue enrichment”, owing to migration of gas from state-run ONGC block to its KG D-6 field off the Andhra coast, has doubled to $3 billion from $1.5 billion estimated in March 2015, according to government sources. With much at stake, the government has asked attorney general K K Venugopal to personally monitor its challenge to an arbitration award in favour of RIL. India’s largest private sector oil company had initiated the arbitration proceedings after the government had slapped a recovery notice for $1.5 billion. The government is set to move the court, seeking refund of the undue benefit seen to have been derived by RIL. RIL declined to comment on the issue. “The order by the arbitration tribunal in favour of RIL has negated Indian laws, which will be the main focus of the A-G’s contention in the appeal,” a source said. The government is also relying on the fact that RIL-led consortium of RIL-Niko-BP was aware that extraction of gas from its KG D-6 will lead to migration of gas from ONGC’s block and that it failed to bring this to the notice of the authorities. This was also highlighted by the Justice A P Shah Commission, which was set up by the government in December 2015 after ONGC moved the Delhi High Court in 2014 on the gas migration issue. RIL’s partner in the venture Niko had obtained a report from the US-based oilfield consultancy firm DeGolyer MacNaughton (D&M) in 2003, where the latter had said that if they extract gas from KG-D6 field, gas from ONGC’s block will migrate as well, the source said. ONGC had in 2014 dragged RIL and the government to the Delhi high court, seeking appointment of an independent agency to verify its claims as RIL wells were too close to ONGC’s block and that migration of its gas had taken place. D&M again gave its report in 2015, confirming what it had said earlier.
GAIL’s Chief B C Tripathi seeks review of merit order dispatch
State gas utility GAIL India Ltd chief B C Tripathi on Monday called for a review of the merit order purchases made of electricity saying the practice promotes pollution as it just looks at cheapest power and not the source of generation. Speaking at The Energy Forum, he said there is a need to define what constitute “merit” as cost of power alone is not a sufficient factor. Under merit order rating (MOR) or merit order dispatch (MOD), sources of energy, especially electrical generation, are ranked based on ascending order of price with the cheapest getting priority. Usually, power generated by polluting coal gets the highest priority as the cost of generation is the cheapest. Tripathi said merit order should be calculated in wholesome by considering the pollution caused by the source, efficiency, and availability of power. “There is a need to review the merit order dispatches,” he said. “We need to define what constitutes merit.” The effort currently, he said, is to curb pollution at the consuming end and not at the source. “We tend to look at only tail of the pipe but not the origin,” he said. Tripathi emphasised that power generated from renewable sources like solar and wind as well as biomass and natural gas should get merit order priority as they are less polluting to the environment.
Petrol, diesel prices: No going back on fuel price deregulation, says Dharmendra Pradhan
In Delhi, petrol today is retailing at Rs 82.03 per litre and diesel at Rs 73.82. Even though public oil firms have been asked to subsidise prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 1 per litre, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said the government doesn’t plan to go back to deregulation of fuel prices. “This is not going back on deregulation. Fuel prices continue to be decided on a daily basis based on factors like benchmark international rate and foreign exchange rate,” PTI reported citing him. The fuel prices are surging parallel to the global crude oil rates that touched four-year high of $85 per barrel, he said at The Energy Forum. The government has also talked to Saudi Oil Minister Khalid A Al-Falih and “reminded him of the June commitment of Opec to increase production by 1 million barrels per day” to help stabilise prices, he added. It seems OPEC is not following its June decision, he said. The price of petrol on Monday was raised by 21 paise a litre and diesel by 28 paise. In Delhi, petrol today is retailing at Rs 82.03 per litre and diesel at Rs 73.82. The oil minister further said that the decision by the government to reduce excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each and ask oil PSUs to absorb another Re 1 per litre was aimed at “giving relief to consumers”. The latest decision by the government related to cutting fuel prices was taken in interest of the customers, he added. On being asked about the oil PSUs being asked to subsidise fuel, the oil minister said the companies have taken the decision to “shield” consumers from high prices.
We should look at alternative fuels as petrol import becomes difficult: Nitin Gadkari
Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday stressed on the use of alternative sources of energy including bio-ethanol amid rise in petroleum prices. “Import of petrol is becoming difficult for the country and so we should look at the alternative sources of energy …we should make full use of biofuel, methanol, and ethanol among others,” he said while addressing the closing function of the Indian International Science Festival (IISF) here. Gadkari said that under the supervision of ministry of Science and Technology, cheap and eco-friendly alternatives have been successfully tried adding that his ministry has earned a lot of revenue through alternative fuel. He added that in the forest areas of the country, there are such natural products through which different alternatives of fuel including ethanol can be prepared. The union government has prepared a policy to purchase to such natural products from tribals, he said . “We can remove our country’s poverty with the help of science and technology … the manner in which our scientists are working, India will definitely become economic super power, he said. The minister said that we can now assure the Prime Minister who has given the concept of “New India ” that we have people ready for making it a reality by 2022.
Gas pipeline blast: 6 dead, several injured in explosion at SAIL’s Bhilai plant
Six people have been killed and many injured in a gas pipeline explosion at Steel Authority of India’s plant in Bhilai, ANI reported. The blast happened in a pipeline near coke oven section of the plant in Bhilai town, PTI quoted a local official as saying. The injured have been admitted to a local hospital and rescue teams rushed to the spot.