Leg-up to LPG infra: OMCs receive nod for pipeline between Kandla & Gorakhpur
The LPG infrastructure of the country is set to get a major leg-up as the oil marketing companies (OMCs) will soon have 60 new bottling plants to be set up and operated by private players. At present, there are a total of 189 bottling plants in the country. A joint venture of the state-owned firms has recently got authorisation to lay the Rs 100 billion Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline. The OMCs are in the process of evaluating tenders for 60 small-capacity bottling plants, said Sanjiv Singh, chairman of Indian Oil Corp. Of the 60, 21 will be operating for Indian Oil, 20 for BPCL and 19 for HPCL. Private firms-operated plants will pay tolling charges to the OMCs. While a bottling plant operated by OMCs of larger capacity typically has production capacity of 120,000 ton a year, new bottling plants will have a maximum capacity of 30,000 ton each. The total investment envisaged across these plants is Rs 4 billion. While some of the plants will produce 7,000 LPG cylinders a day, a few will have capacity of 3,000 cylinders a day. There are a few private bottling plants already in the country which operate on a tolling basis, but are insignificant in terms of contributing to the total LPG demand. The bottling capacity addition is in line with the increase in the number of households using the cleaner fuel because of the Pradhan MantriUjjwalaYojana (PMUY). From around 62% in May 2016 when the flagship scheme was launched, households having access to LPG at present is 90% with 59 million PMUY beneficiaries apart from general consumers. The government earlier this week expanded the scope of the PMUY to include “all poor households” under the scheme. With this move, the government expects the LPG coverage to be near 100% soon. “There is a lot of work going on behind the scene in terms of improving LPG distribution infrastructure,” said Singh, adding that the OMCs are also increasing production from the existing plants. While most of the bottling plants utilise 100% capacity, OMCs have increased the number of hours the plants operate including night shifts and enhancing capacity of existing carousels. In what will help to feed LPG to bottling plants, the OMCs after much delay have got authorisation to lay the LPG pipeline from Kandla to Gorakhpur. “It will be laid by a JV between IOC, HPCL and BPCL. The pipeline will link 22 bottling plants apart from Gujarat refinery and Bina refinery,” said Singh. The plan to lay the 2,000-km pipeline from the coast in Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh was floated in 2016 by Indian Oil. The pipeline will cross Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Ujjain, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh). “We are moving towards safer and faster transportation of LPG,” said Singh. Indian Oil has already commissioned an LPG pipeline from Paradip (Odisha) to Haldia (West Bengal) and extended up to Durgapur (West Bengal). This will also be extended up to Gorakhpur. Singh said not only will this pipeline transport LPG from Paradip and Haldia refineries, it will also carry imported LPG from Haldia to the interiors of the country. India imports 50% of its LPG requirement, and Singh expects the overall consumption in the country to grow by 6-8% every year. Total LPG consumption recorded a negative growth of 7.8% in November 2018 and a cumulative growth of 4.9% for the period of April-November 2018, according to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Russia’s Gazprom Neft says its plans are resistant to low oil prices
Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft’s strategic plans are sustainable even at low oil prices, the company’s chief executive officer Alexander Dyukov said on Thursday. In an interview with Rossiya-24 TV, Dyukov also said that Gazprom Neft’s has used an oil price of $50 per barrel in its plans for 2019 and company’s new strategy sees production rising faster than the market average.
Leg-up to LPG infra: OMCs receive nod for pipeline between Kandla & Gorakhpur
The LPG infrastructure of the country is set to get a major leg-up as the oil marketing companies (OMCs) will soon have 60 new bottling plants to be set up and operated by private players. At present, there are a total of 189 bottling plants in the country. A joint venture of the state-owned firms has recently got authorisation to lay the Rs 100 billion Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline. The OMCs are in the process of evaluating tenders for 60 small-capacity bottling plants, said Sanjiv Singh, chairman of Indian Oil Corp. Of the 60, 21 will be operating for Indian Oil, 20 for BPCL and 19 for HPCL. Private firms-operated plants will pay tolling charges to the OMCs. While a bottling plant operated by OMCs of larger capacity typically has production capacity of 120,000 ton a year, new bottling plants will have a maximum capacity of 30,000 ton each. The total investment envisaged across these plants is Rs 4 billion. While some of the plants will produce 7,000 LPG cylinders a day, a few will have capacity of 3,000 cylinders a day. There are a few private bottling plants already in the country which operate on a tolling basis, but are insignificant in terms of contributing to the total LPG demand. The bottling capacity addition is in line with the increase in the number of households using the cleaner fuel because of the Pradhan MantriUjjwalaYojana (PMUY). From around 62% in May 2016 when the flagship scheme was launched, households having access to LPG at present is 90% with 59 million PMUY beneficiaries apart from general consumers. The government earlier this week expanded the scope of the PMUY to include “all poor households” under the scheme. With this move, the government expects the LPG coverage to be near 100% soon. “There is a lot of work going on behind the scene in terms of improving LPG distribution infrastructure,” said Singh, adding that the OMCs are also increasing production from the existing plants. While most of the bottling plants utilise 100% capacity, OMCs have increased the number of hours the plants operate including night shifts and enhancing capacity of existing carousels. In what will help to feed LPG to bottling plants, the OMCs after much delay have got authorisation to lay the LPG pipeline from Kandla to Gorakhpur. “It will be laid by a JV between IOC, HPCL and BPCL. The pipeline will link 22 bottling plants apart from Gujarat refinery and Bina refinery,” said Singh. The plan to lay the 2,000-km pipeline from the coast in Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh was floated in 2016 by Indian Oil. The pipeline will cross Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Ujjain, Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh). “We are moving towards safer and faster transportation of LPG,” said Singh. Indian Oil has already commissioned an LPG pipeline from Paradip (Odisha) to Haldia (West Bengal) and extended up to Durgapur (West Bengal). This will also be extended up to Gorakhpur. Singh said not only will this pipeline transport LPG from Paradip and Haldia refineries, it will also carry imported LPG from Haldia to the interiors of the country. India imports 50% of its LPG requirement, and Singh expects the overall consumption in the country to grow by 6-8% every year. Total LPG consumption recorded a negative growth of 7.8% in November 2018 and a cumulative growth of 4.9% for the period of April-November 2018, according to the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.
Shell completes sale of New Zealand entities to OMV for $578 million
British-Dutch multinational oil and gas giant Royal Dutch Shell plc today announced it has completed the sale of its shares in Shell entities in New Zealand, to OMV for $578 million. This includes the Māui, Pohokura, and Tank Farm assets, and the sale of Shell’s interest in (and operatorship of) the Great South Basin venture, which was subject to a separate agreement. The company said in a statement the sale is consistent with Shell’s global drive to simplify the upstream portfolio and re-shape the company into a world-class investment. “We are proud of having worked in New Zealand for more than 100 years and completion of the sale to OMV marks an important milestone in the company’s history. Shell staff in New Zealand, past and present, have been key to building a successful New Zealand business. I wish our colleagues all the very best as OMV takes the business forward,” said Zoe Yujnovich EVP, Australia and New Zealand. Employees of Shell Taranaki Limited and Shell NZ 2011 Limited are now part of OMV New Zealand.
Mohali and Chandigarh to get more gas distribution stations
Chandigarh, Mohali to get fully-developed City Gas Distribution (CGD) stations networks. This was declared during the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) road show for promoting 10th city gas distribution (CGD) bidding round in Chandigarh on Thursday. Mohali already has one such operational CGD and by January 19, two more CGD will be made operational. Similarly, in Chandigarh one CGD is already operational and city will get one more by February 19. Whereas by March 19, the remaining CGD will be made functional in Mohali and Chandigarh. Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is the nodal agency for facilitating economic activities in natural gas distribution with the objective to promote competitive markets, create infrastructure and increase share of natural gas in country’s energy mix. PNGRB has so far concluded 9 CGD bidding rounds for selection of authorised entities for development of CGD networks in their geographical areas (GAs). The recently concluded ninth bidding round for 86 GA’s covering 174 districts in 21 states/ UTs was a huge success attracting interest from investors in all offered GAs. “At present, CGD authorisation has been given by PNGRB in 10 GAs in state of Punjab covering 13 districts namely Mohali, Patiala, Sangrur, Ludhiana, Barnala, Moga, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, SBS Nagar, Amritsar, Bhatinda, Rupnagar, and Fatehgarh Sahib. In the 10th CGD bidding round, 3 GAs covering 6 districts- Mansa, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur, Faridkot, Sri Muktsar Sahib and Gurdaspur are being offered”. CGD authorisation has been given by PNGRB in 13 GAs in state of Haryana covering 16 districts namely Sonipat, Panipat, Yamunanagar, Rewari, Rohtak, Karnal, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Mahendragarh, Hisar, Jind, Nuh and Palwal. In the 10th CGD bidding round, 2 GAs covering 3 districts of Sirsa, Fatehabad and Kaithal are being offered. It may be noted that a total of 4 GAs are on offer for both the state combined with Sirsa, Fatehabad (Haryana) and Mansa (Punjab) Districts grouped in 1 GA. After the 10th round, Punjab and Haryana and Chandigarh would be fully authorised for the development of CGD Networks.