Eni confirms production at Libya’s El Feel oilfield partially reduced
Italian energy group Eni said on Monday oil production at the El Feel oilfield in Libya had been partially reduced due to a valve closure. “Eni confirms that at the moment El Feel oil production has been partially reduced, following the forced closure of one of the valve stations adjacent to Hamada Station along the El Feel-Mellitah Complex pipeline,” the spokesman said. El Feel is operated by Mellitah Oil and Gas, a joint venture between Libya’s National Oil Corporation and Eni.
LNG pumps likely to fuel green mobility across Golden Quadrilateral
Industry stakeholders, government authorities, oil and gas companies, technical experts estimate that about 350 LNG pumps at the cost of around Rs 30-35 billion are required for covering the entire project. In comparison, CNG which is used primarily by vehicles for within city travelling currently has a network of over 1815 retail stations. The plan by the ministry of Oil & Gas is now to take it further to 10,000 by the end of next decade. LNG for automotive usage is still at a very nascent state almost non existent though it is used in other industries such as fertilisers, power, City Gas among others. Most of the companies involved in its automotive usage are just in pilot-stage though there are some big plans for its usage by the end of next decade. As per SIAM recommendation, a proper LNG supply infrastructure is necessary before the vehicles make the shift. Some plans have been announced like Petronet is setting up 20 LNG stations at petrol pumps on highways along the country’s western coast that connects Delhi with Thiruvananthapuram covering a total distance of 4,500 km via Mumbai and Bangalore. Likewise, there are plans to commission stations along the Mumbai-Delhi corridor and also along National Highways to connecting Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Mundra, Chennai, Bangalore, Salem and Coimbatore. India is the fourth largest importer of LNG and demand is expected to rise as its usage gets more mainstream for long haul trucks. Push towards developing gas hub According to the blueprint set up by oil and gas ministry, around 20 companies comprising of State run and private companies are looking to lay 156,000 inch-kilometer of pipeline by the end of next decade. This, according to the stakeholders is to make natural gas more accessible across the length and breadth of the country. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the ‘Review of guidelines for granting authorisation to market transportation fuels’. The revised guidelines see a much lower entry barrier for private players – the entities seeking authorisation would need to have a minimum net worth of Rs 2.50 billion compared to the current requirement of Rs 20 billion prior investment. The analysts claim that the announcement is likely to have a positive impact on push towards alternative fuels as it has been made part of the guidelines. What is LNG? LNG, which is a colourless and non-toxic liquid gets formed when the natural gas is cooled at -162ºC, thereby shrinking its volume by 600 times. The cooling process makes it safer for storage and shipping. When, LNG reaches its destination, it is brought back into gaseous form through regasification process before being supplied for residential and industrial usage including for vehicle mobility.
Budget 2020 Wishlist: Here are the key challenges for oil and gas sector
Resolving gas transmission and distribution infrastructure constraints are one of the industry’s key demands Sector snapshot India is the largest crude oil consumer in the world after China and the US. India consumed 213 MMT of petroleum products and 61 BCM of natural gas in the year 2018-19 Domestic crude oil production declined to 34.2 mmt in FY19 from 35.7 mmt in FY18. While natural gas production increased marginally to 32 bcm in FY19 as compared to 31.7 bcm in FY18 India’s import dependency on crude oil and natural gas reached 83% and 46%, respectively, during 2018-19 PNGRB granted Letters of Intent to 12 entities for 50 GAs under 10th CGD bidding round LPG coverage in the country increased to 96.5% primarily due to Ujjwala Yojana Key challenges E&P business appearing lacklustre to investors: Multiple Open Acreage Licence Policy (OALP) rounds conducted recently have seen limited interest from private and international oil & Gas Companies CGD sector needs improved ecosystem: City Gas Distribution Geographical Area (GA) licences have been allotted although gas availability, third-party access, swap operationalisation, contractual sustenance, and financing constraints seem to bottleneck take-off New retail regulations need other regulation support: To take advantage of long-awaited liberalisation of bulk and retail fuel marketing, investors are finding out how to succeed with restricted access to products and infrastructure Inadequate biofuel production capacity: Majority of biofuel projects in India are being carried out by PSUs. However, private sector participation is essential for the cost to service to come down to meet blending targets Gas transmission and distribution infrastructure constraints: India is missing the opportunity to benefit from low LNG prices due to delayed commissioning of LNG terminals and limited pipeline network Industry ask Permitting gas trading to allow sale and purchase of gas easily and transparently. Affordable buyers would help some domestic discoveries to become commercial Bringing natural gas under the ambit of classical GST Building a road map for gas-based economy in order to achieve the vision of increasing the share of natural gas to 15% by 2030 from the existing 6% of the primary energy mix Promote the diversification of crude oil sources and take up the issue of Asian premium with Opec PWC point of view “India’s oil demand is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4% till 2030 requiring significant infrastructure augmentation. Removing any restrictions to increase utilisation of existing infrastructure is essential to reduce the high costs of servicing customers. Transportation fuels from biomass deserve impetus to tap the potential our country so uniquely possesses and resultantly achieve emission reduction targets pledged at COP 21 in Paris” Industry voice “In Pre-NELP contracts, cess & profit petroleum have increased significantly — cess from $3 per barrel to $13 per barrel, and profit petroleum from 20% to 50% — causing financial strain. Cess should be abolished from pre-NELP contracts, as the government will get back most of this revenue as profit petroleum. Further, this will make many projects viable and with increased production, any balance revenue gap will be more than compensated”