Exxon may decide on FEED for Russian Far East LNG project in 2019
Exxon Mobil’s Russian unit may take a decision this year on the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for its Far East Liquefied Natural Gas project with Rosneft, Alexander Popov, vice president at Exxon Neftegaz, said on Wednesday. The company is continuing to hold talks on gas supplies from the Sakhalin 1 oil and gas project to Sakhalin 2, a project which needs gas in order to expand its LNG production, Popov said at an LNG conference organised by Vostock Capital.
Qatar to launch largest energy bank with $10 billion
Qatar will launch the world’s largest energy bank with a capital of $10 billion in 2019, an official of the new bank said. The move comes in the context of a fast-growing energy sector in Qatar, which plans to expand the capacity of annual production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to 110 million tonnes by 2024, reported Xinhua news agency. Mohamed al-Marri, Chairman of the new bank’s media committee, told an Islamic finance conference in Doha on Tuesday that operations would begin in the fourth quarter, according to a statement. “The bank is going to be the largest Islamic energy-focused lender in the world and will target the private sector and government’s energy projects home and abroad,” Marri said. The bank would focus on financing oil, gas, petrochemicals, and renewable energy projects, he added.
GAIL (India) Limited to Equip its Gas Turbines with Siemens Remote Diagnostic Services
Siemens will install state-of-the-art Remote Diagnostic Services (RDS) for GAIL covering gas turbines installed across Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) pipeline and Vijaipur C2/C3 Plant. The scope includes supply of RDS hardware, site installation and commissioning, including three years’ remote Operational Service Desk (OSD) and Help-desk services. The 24/7, year-around accessible OSD will be equipped with machine learning tools and manned by technical experts to provide faster, higher quality troubleshooting and guidance for problem resolution. GAIL is India’s largest state-owned gas transmission and distribution company and plays a pivotal role in meeting the energy needs of the country. Reliable and efficient operations, specially of critical assets, are key to a profitable and sustainable business for gas transmission utilities. Siemens has an experience of monitoring over a thousand oil & gas and industrial rotating equipment across 80 countries through Remote Diagnostic Services. This partnership will enhance availability, reliability, and efficiency. Siemens’ RDS solution combines asset data with OEM industry expertise to deliver information that allows faster and accurate predictive analysis for effective decisions. This enables improved operational planning to increase availability, mitigate risks, and optimize operational costs. It comprises a suite of tools and processes that enables Siemens to remotely access and review real-time operational and diagnostics data from installed equipment, detect early changes in operational condition through data analysis, and provide recommendations.
Indian-Omani group strikes $3.85 bln deal to build Sri Lanka oil refinery
India’s Accord Group and Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas have signed a $3.85 billion deal to build an oil refinery in Sri Lanka, the biggest single pledge of foreign direct investment ever made in the country. Sri Lankan officials said the 200,000 barrel-per-day refinery will be built on 585 acres near the site of the new Hambantota international port and a related industrial zone on the nation’s southern coast. The refinery, construction of which is expected to begin on March 24 and be completed in 44 months, is expected to produce 9 million metric tonnes of refined products a year for export from the Hambantota port, which serves the busiest East-West shipping route. Privately owned Accord Group will control 70 percent of the joint venture and the Sultanate of Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas the rest. Accord’s ownership comes through a Singapore investment vehicle which is 90-percent owned by its Silver Park International Pvt Ltd operation. The deal represents a challenge to China, which had been on track to be the dominant foreign investor on the island. China Merchants Port Holdings, China Harbour Engineering Corp and other Chinese companies are investors in the port and industrial zone. China’s separate $1.4 billion financing of facilities on reclaimed land near the nation’s main Colombo port is currently the island’s biggest single foreign direct investment. New Delhi has been concerned about China muscling into Sri Lanka and other countries in the region where India is the traditional power. India fears Sri Lanka, just off its southern coast, could become a Chinese military outpost. Tensions between India and China are creating political turmoil in Sri Lanka. A bust-up between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over how far to accommodate Indian interests led to months of political chaos late last year. The refinery will be Chennai-based Accord’s first foray into oil refining. Its current interests include power generation, brewing and healthcare. The joint venture plans to invest $1.89 billion in share capital and $1.96 billion via loans, the project document seen by Reuters showed. “With this refinery, our exports will grow by $7 billion per year,” Nalin Bandara Jayamaha, Sri Lanka’s deputy minister of development strategies and international trade, told reporters at a news conference in Colombo. The industrial zone at Hambantota has been delayed by a land acquisition process which has been hit by protests by local residents. Mangala Yapa, an advisor to Sri Lanka’s development strategies ministry, said 200 acres to house the venture’s oil tanks were already available and another 385 acres are being acquired, while an environmental impact assessment is underway. “We are doing a site-specific EIA (environmental impact assessment). Since already there are oil tanks in Hambantota, we do not see any issues,” Yapa said. An official at Singapore-based Silver Park International Pte Ltd confirmed the refinery investment, but declined to comment further. The company has been registered in Singapore since June 2017. The Omani government entity was not immediately available for comment.
Now petrol pumps want an exemption on code of conduct
Public-sector oil marketing companies, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), have approached the petroleum ministry to seek an exemption from the election commission for going ahead with the allotment of at least 31,800 petrol pumps. The companies had opened bids for at least 78,493 petrol stations across the country, and advertisements for the same were issued in November. But only just over 31,000 could be finalised before the Election Commission announced the schedule for the general elections, thus triggering the model code of conduct. The Business Standard reports that the oil companies are seeking an exemption so that the bids that were finalised before the model code of conduct came into force can be processed. “OMCs are of the view that as the decision on clearing 31,800 outlets were taken prior to the elections and since it was a business decision by the companies, the election commission is unlikely to have an objection on it. The three companies put together had got over 400,000 applications for the total 74,608 or 95% of the areas that were on offer,” the report quotes an unnamed source as saying. The central government has no direct role in issuing bids for petrol pumps. But it does control the oil companies that issue the bid. Hence, early reports said the oil ministry officials and company executives wanted to play it safe and not go ahead with the process. But that has now changed. It is not that oil marketing companies have been unbiased on election campaigning. As reported in the March 13 newsletter, hoardings at petrol pumps have been a source of controversy for years. This year too, many petrol pumps have huge billboards advertising various government schemes, in violation of the model code of conduct. A consortium representing dealers had alleged last year that they had received “verbal advisory” from oil companies to put up posters of PM Modi at their retail outlets ahead of 2019 elections.
China plans national oil and gas pipeline company
* A top-level communist party body meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping approved guidelines on oil and gas pipeline operation mechanism reform on Tuesday, state television reported * China will form a state-controlled oil and gas pipeline company with diverse investors, it said * The national company, a highly anticipated reform announced by China’s state planner earlier this month, was put in place to guarantee secure and stable supplies of oil and gas, the state media said * Creating a central oil and gas operator will help China’s state-owned energy companies separate the cost of pipeline transportation from the sale of oil and gas.