Sweden offers alternatives to tackle stubble burning
What if all the paddy stubble that is causing Delhi’s air to turn so toxic due to burning is turned to something useful instead? Sweden is showing the way to turn the troublesome stubble into green coal or energy pellets that can be used as fuel instead. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf would through pressing of a button officially launch a pilot project in Mohali, Punjab, to produce green coal with paddy straw, with the collaboration of Swedish firm Bioendev. In January this year, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI), in Mohali, signed a Memorandum fo Understanding (MoU) with Bioendev AB, Sweden, to set up the pilot project. The government of India and Bioendev AB are in a 50-50 collaboration on the project. The Swedish firm, which specialises in turning forest waste into energy pellets, has “fine-tuned” its process to make it suitable for paddy and wheat straw, Swedish Ambassador Klas Molin told IANS. A huge plant has been set up in Mohali to convert paddy straw into the energy pellets, said the envoy. The plant uses the process of torrefaction – a thermal process to convert biomass into a coal-like material. The green coal leaves no carbon footprint. According to Bioendev’s website, energy from 35 million tons paddy is wasted every year in India. It can be converted to bio coal and replace 21 million tons of fossil coal a year. This would work out to 48 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent reduction, or equivalent to Green House Gas emissions from 10.2 million Indian cars. According to the website, the Bioendev process of turning biomass – in this case stubble — into green coal offers an effective alternative to fossil fuels like coal, and helps to significantly reduce the carbon footprint. Not just green pellets. Sweden has other things on offer to turn paddy stubble into useful alternatives – like table mats, decorative pieces, lamp shades etc. Swedish major Ikea, the world’s largest furniture retailer, has been collecting paddy stubble from farmers in Punjab and working on ways to turn it into attractive home decor. The stubble is mixed with textile material through a process. The end products, in blue and white, would be exhibited on Tuesday at a function in the Habitat centre to be graced by the Swedish Royal couple King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. Ikea has been working with farmers in Punjab for the past two years on this project, said the envoy Molin. The spike in air pollution in Delhi is mainly due to the burning of rice stubble and straw in the fields of Punjab and Haryana after the kharif crop is harvested. In order to plant the rabi crop in October, farmers clear their fields in a hurry, and stubble and straw burning is the fastest and cheapest way to do it, with other options being unaffordable. The smoke from the burning stubble blows into neighboring Delhi, and combined with the pollution from vehicles, causes heavy smog. The Swedish royals are visiting India from December 2-6 at the invitation of President Ram Nath Kovind. They will travel to New Delhi, Mumbai and the state of Uttarakhand.
Is This The Best Place In The World For Energy Investors?
BP’s 2019 energy outlook projects that big things are in store for India’s energy sector. The country’s energy demand is set to balloon by 156 percent by 2040, at which point BP has projected that the subcontinent will account for a whopping 11 percent of global energy consumption–double its current share. BP’s biggest takeaways for India’s role in the future of our global energy landscape are: – India accounts for more than a quarter of net global primary energy demand growth between 2017-2040. – 42 percent of this new energy demand is met through coal, meaning CO2 emissions roughly double by 2040. – Gas production grows but fails to keep pace with demand, implying a significant growth in gas imports. All this goes to say that India needs to be proactive about securing a greater and more diversified energy supply in the face of a demand that is not only going to grow, but is going to grow by a huge margin at a time that clean energy alternatives and cutting carbon emissions have never been more important. So far, however, India has been looking to ramp up their energy sector at all levels, including intensive investment in fossil fuels. Last year India achieved the distinction of being the third-largest importer of crude oil in the world, coming in just behind the United States and China. “Of late, few countries are being as proactive as India when it comes to courting foreign investment in the oil and gas sector,” reports Forbes. “It isn’t hard to guess why, as the Indian economy is largely driven by imported oil to the tune of over 80 percent of its headline requirements.” The report, titled “India Seeks Global Petrodollars To Cope With Burgeoning Energy Demand Through 2035” goes on to expand on this argument with the assertion that “with the consumption of petroleum products expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of ~5 percent to 2035, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to reduce energy import requirements below 70 percent of headline demand, the strategy appears to be one of being loud and proud in courting petrodollars.” This strategy was notably on display at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2019, where India was well-represented, with Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan heading a pavilion housing “nine of the country’s oil and gas companies from the upstream, midstream, downstream and engineering segments, along with Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), India Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).” Pradhan used this platform to tell the reporters gathered at the event that “India will be a driver of global energy demand in coming decades. There is no better place to invest if you are in the business of energy. More so, as we are working to make India a more natural gas-based economy.” Later, in his keynote speech, Pradhan went on to say that India will need to secure around $100 billion of foreign investment in its oil and gas sector (including pipelines, gas terminals, and other infrastructure for transport and refining) by 2024. At the same time that it courts petrodollars, however, India is also busy at work developing other energy sectors, both clean and carbon-intensive. This is extremely important on a global scale, as the route India will choose to take and which sectors they continue to invest in hold major implications for the planet as a whole. In a Reuters op-ed titled “China, India are both the problem and solution for coal, climate change,” columnist Clyde Russell writes that “in practical terms, the future of coal is largely in the hands of just two countries, China and India, which currently account for 60.2 percent of global electricity generated by the polluting fuel, according to data from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).” India may be appealing for petro-dollars now, but we can only hope that this is not the nation’s primary energy strategy.
Numaligarh Refinery to venture into exploration and production
Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) would soon venture into the upstream business of exploration and production, following the nod from Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to acquire participatory interest in two blocks in Assam. The Ministry of Petroleum and Gas has formally approved that NRL could acquire participatory interest in the two exploration blocks of Namrup in Dibrugarh district and West Mechaki block in Tinsukia district, an official release said on Thursday. The exploration blocks were earlier awarded to Oil India Limited (OIL) on October 1, 2018 after nationwide bidding under open acreage licensing policy (OALP) round-I. Namrup Block covers an area of 125 sq km and West Mechaki Block covers an area of 489 sq km. OIL would be the operator in both the blocks as the farmout agreements for both the blocks were earlier signed with it. This would be NRL’s first investment in exploration and production. With this development, NRL would have a holistic presence across all sectors of the oil industry–upstream, midstream and downstream, the release added.
Drought trims Australia greenhouse gas emissions, offsets jump from gas trade
Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions were roughly unchanged in the 12 months ended June as a long-running drought hit cattle and sheep farming, shrivelling emissions from agriculture and offsetting sharp increases from the natural gas industry. Overall emissions edged down 0.1 percent to 532.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-e) in the year to June 30, the Department of Environment and Energy said in a quarterly update. That leaves Australia just under half-way towards its Paris Accord target of cutting emissions by between 26 percent and 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. It needs to cut emissions to around 446 Mt CO2-e to meet the goal. Emissions from the farm sector dropped by 4.2 Mt CO2-e, or 5.9 percent, over the year, while emissions from electricity generation fell 2.1 Mt CO2-e, or 1.2 percent, thanks to declining coal consumption and increased wind and solar power. “The 5.9 percent decline in emissions from the agriculture sector reflects the effects of drought which has led to a decline in livestock populations as well as fertiliser use,” the report said. Environment watchers welcomed the overall cap on emissions. “This suffering of our farmers who are destocking in the face of drought, and the hard work of the renewables sector have meant that Australia’s emissions have stalled,” Climate Council researcher Tim Baxter said in a statement. In contrast, the report flagged a 5.9 Mt CO2-e rise in emissions from stationary sources, which includes aluminum smelters, and fugitive emissions, both mostly from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, including flaring and leakage of methane and carbon dioxide among other things. Australia’s rapidly growing LNG export sector, where the biggest undeveloped gas source, Browse off Western Australia, is due to start producing around 2026, poses a challenge for Australia to meet its Paris commitment. “Growth in global demand, together with the changes from globalization, is making Australia’s exports an increasingly important driver of Australia’s emissions profile,” the report said.
Government appoints Deloitte as advisor for BPCL stake sale
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management has appointed Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd as advisor for the strategic sale of Bharat Petroleum Corporation, a senior banker associated with the process said. Completion of the stake sale in India’s second-largest state-owned oil refiner by March 2020 could help the government mobilise more than Rs 60,000 crore, or $8.4 billion, and narrow the fiscal deficit. At the closing price of Rs 509.95 on the BSE on Thursday, BPCL’s market cap was Rs 1,10,621 crore, valuing the government’s 53.29% stake at a tad below Rs 59,000 crore. The government approved the strategic disinvestment in BPCL last week, along with transfer of management control, but excluding the stake in Numaligarh Refinery, which will be carved out of BPCL before privatisation. “The transaction is expected to be at a significant premium to the underlying price as the buyer will have to pay the control premium. Besides the fact that the replaceable value of the BPCL’s asset is much more than the current market price, the successful acquirer will also have to give control premium,” the banker said. The government has set a divestment target of Rs 1,05,000 crore for 2019-20. Some global petrochemical giants have expressed interest in the assets of BPCL and are expected to bid, people aware of the matter said. Unlike the sale of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. to Oil and Natural Gas Corp. in 2017-18, the acquirer of BPCL will have to offer to buy an additional 25% of the company’s shares from the market.
CCI approves 37.4 pc stake-buy, joint control of Adani Gas by Total Group
The Competition Commission on Thursday said it has given approval to the acquisition of 37.4 per cent shareholding and joint control by Total Group in Adani Gas. The proposed combination represents an investment opportunity for Total along with its subsidiaries and affiliates (Total Group) given the future of natural gas business in India. “Total Group believes in the initiatives taken by the Government of India to increase the reliance on natural gas instead of petroleum-based products,” the Competition Commission of India (CCI) noted. It further noted that the deal would contribute towards bridging the energy deficit and augment supply of natural gas in India and further enable Total Group to provide services in a cost-efficient manner and meet the country’s long-term need for cleaner energy. Total Holdings is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Total S.A. The Total Group is engaged in every sector of the oil and gas industry, including upstream and downstream. Besides, it is also involved in the renewable energy and power generation sectors, CCI said. “Adani Gas Ltd is engaged in the wholesale supply of natural gas and downstream (retail) supply of natural gas through city gas distribution networks to industrial, commercial, domestic and automotive customers in India,” it added. In a separate release, the fair trade regulator announced approving the acquisition of Primetals Technologies by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). Currently, MHI holds 51 per cent shareholding in Primetals Technologies (PT) through its solely controlled subsidiary Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machiner Thee deal involves acquisition of remaining 49 per cent stake from Siemens AG . “Accordingly, MHI will own 100 per cent of the registered share capital of Primetals Technologies and PT would be solely owned and controlled by MHI (as opposed to the existing joint control exercised by both MHI and Siemens AG).” Additionally, as per another media release, a deal involving acquisition of 49 per cent of the voting and non-voting equity shares of Future Coupons Pvt Ltd by Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC has also received the regulator’s approval. “The proposed combination consists of certain other constituent steps involving Future Coupons Pvt Ltd, Future Corporate Resources Pvt Ltd, and Future Retail Ltd,” it noted.