India’s diesel sales fall 5 per cent in early November -industry data
India’s diesel sales dipped in the first half of November after briefly recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in October, raising concerns about industrial growth in Asia’s third largest economy. Diesel sales by the country’s state-run refiners fell 5% during the first fifteen days of November compared with the year earlier period, to 2.86 million tonnes, according to provisional data compiled by Indian Oil Corp (IOC). India’s diesel consumption, which accounts for about 40% of overall refined fuel sales in the country and is a key parameter linked to its economic growth, had risen for the first time in eight months in October. IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum own about 90% of India’s retail fuel outlets. Lower diesel sales in the world’s third largest crude importer could be bad news for oil producers and refineries as the fuel accounts for the bulk of refiners’ output. However, industry officials say diesel demand typically picks up before the festival season, which runs from mid-october until early November, and slows down during and after it. Sales of gasoline rose marginally to 1.03 million tonnes, the industry data showed, while sales of jet fuel were down 53% and liquefied petroleum gas sales fell 2%. Activity in India’s dominant services industry also expanded for the first time in eight months in October. Indian government officials have cited higher power consumption and tax collections as indicators of demand returning to pre-COVID levels. India’s daily COVID-19 case count has steadily declined since September, although it has the second highest total number of cases in the world.
Finally, Gail completes Kochi-Mangalore pipeline
The much-delayed Kochi-Mangalore natural gas pipeline project is finally ready for commissioning any day from now as the national energy major Gail India has completed the final 540-metre treacherous stretch across the Chandragiri river in northern Kerala, according to a senior company official. The 444-km long natural gas pipeline was launched in 2009 at an estimated cost of Rs 2,915 crore and was to be commissioned in 2014. But opposition on safety and commercial grounds wherein the land price was the main hurdle, both from political parties and the public, ensured that the project lingered on. This led to the project cost nearly doubling to over Rs 5,750 crore. “We have completed the most difficult stretch across the Chandragiri river in Kasargod district in northern Kerala, on Saturday. Now the testing is on and this will be completed in the next two days. Within this week itself gas will reach Mangalore through the 444-km pipeline,” P Murugesan, the executive director and head of Southern region, Gail, told PTI over phone from Bengaluru on Monday. A formal commissioning will be done later, according to the availability of the minister, he added. The pipeline is charged up to Kannur now, and is live up to Kuttanand in Palakkad district, 90 km north of Kochi since June 2019 and of the remaining 354 km the line is ready up to Kannur. Kuttanad is the main junction of the project as from here the line bifurcates to Managalore and Bengaluru. The first phase of the project was commissioned in August 2013 in the Kochi metropolitan area with industrial supplies and domestic supplies from February 2016 by Adani Gas. Today the pipeline supplies 3.8 million cubic metres of gas every day to industrial and residential customers in Kochi and is set to cross 4 million cubic metres soon in the city itself, while Mangalore has a potential of 2.5 million cubic metres per day, Murugesan said. With the commissioning the pipeline, gas demand in the state will touch 80-90 million cubic metres per annum from 60 million cubic metres now. The pipeline is a big boost to the struggling Kochi LNT Terminal of Petronet which has a capacity of 5 million tonne annually but 90 per cent capacity has been idling due to the delay in completing the Kochi-Mangalore pipeline and Murugesan said with the commissioning the capacity utilisation of the LNG terminal will go up to 25-30 per cent. Apart from huge environmental gains, the state can also gain monetarily as it can get up to Rs 1,000 crore by way of taxes alone. Supplying to the Kochi region alone helps the state earn over Rs 340 crore annually in tax revenue. The authorities were ready to complete the project this August but a 540-metre stretch across the Chandragiri river became a nightmare for them. So as a way out they reduced the diameter of the pipe to a fourth — from 24 inches to just 6 inches now. But Murugesan said this is a temporary arrangement and the work to lay 24 inch pipe will resume soon after commissioning of the project and once ready the switch-over will not disrupt gas supply. He also said the pipeline will supply has to all the seven districts it passes through in the state — Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod — as well as the hilly Wayanad district. Of these already city gas distribution is on in Kochi where its supplies 3.8 million cubic metres of gas every day. The company was working on the 540-metre river stretch since late April but got inordinately delayed as this stretch goes up to 8 metres deep in the river bed at some places and has an elevation difference of 148 metres, as the river flows down a deep valley, making it one of the rarest engineering projects for the entire pipeline network across the country. The project crosses as many as 96 water-bodies south of the Chandragiri river. The problem with this stretch is that the river flows down through a valley to the Arabian Sea, forcing them to drill horizontally from under the river bed. The EPC contractor for this stretch was awarded to NR Patel & Company.
BPCL disinvestment moves to next stage after receiving multiple expressions of interest
The strategic disinvestment of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited has moved to the second stage after it received multiple expressions of interest, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. “Strategic disinvestment of BPCL progresses: Now moves to the second stage after multiple expressions of interest have been received,” Sitharaman tweeted. Earlier, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had informed that multiple expressions of interest have been received by the Transaction Advisor for the strategic disinvestment of the BPCL. The transaction will move to the second stage after scrutiny by TA, officials had earlier said. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had earlier this month accorded in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment in five central public-sector enterprises (CPSEs) — Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India, Container Corporation of India, THDCIL, and NEEPCO. Sitharaman had said there will be strategic disinvestment of central government’s shareholding of 53.29 per cent in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (except its equity shareholding of 61.65 per cent in Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) and management control) along with transfer of management control to a strategic buyer. There will be strategic disinvestment of BPCL’s shareholding of 61.65 per cent in NRL along with transfer of management control to a CPSE operating in the oil and gas sector, she had said.
China adds two large LNG tanks at Shanghai gas terminal – media
China added two large storage tanks for liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Yangshan receiving terminal that boosted the import facility’s storage capacity by 80%, according to state media reports on Tuesday. Two tanks of 200,000 cubic meters each started operation on Monday at Yangshan terminal in Shanghai on the east coast, raising the terminal’s total storage space to 895,000 cubic meters, Liberation Daily reported. The terminal, built by local government-backed Shenergy Group and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), has an annual receiving capacity of 3 million tonnes of the super-chilled fuel, mainly supplying the financial hub of Shanghai. Demand for gas typically rises from mid-October through mid-March the following year as the northern parts of China enter winter heating season, boosting imports of natural gas which makes up more than 40% of China’s total gas consumption.