Oil find at Ashoknagar on Centre s radar
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmenda Pradhan Thursday said he will soon visit Ashoknagar in West Bengal, the site of oil and gas discovery and review the project. Oil and gas was discovered at Ashoknagar in North 24 Parganas district two years ago. Pradhan said he was briefed by ONGC that the site holds potential for commerical exploitation. ONGC in one of the exploratory fields at Ashoknagar found a prolific reserve. In their presentation they informed me that it holds good potential for oil and it may also have some gas. “On a pilot basis we have even sent the oil to Haldia Refinery and also reviewed it. I will be visiting soon to look into this, Pradhan said at the annual general meeting of Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI). To a question by MCCI president Vivek Gupta, he said that ONGC has finally found oil and gas at Ashoknagar in the Gangetic belt after two decades of failure and is hopeful that it will be the first of its kind in West Bengal. According to some experts, commercial production from the block could start as early as the end of this fiscal. In 2018 ONGC had said it found one lakh cubic meters per day of gas flowing from one well at Ashoknagar. In the past there had been offshore gas finds off West Bengal coast but finally those proved to be unviable.
Hoegh LNG signs deal with India’s H-Energy to supply FSRU from 2021
Norway’s Hoegh LNG Holdings, a provider of specialised vessels for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), said on Thursday it had entered a binding commitment to supply India’s H-Energy with a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). This will be the first FSRU to start operations in India, which has six land-based LNG import terminals. Hoegh will supply the Indian natural gas company with the FSRU in Jaigarh, south of Mumbai in Maharashtra state, from as early as first quarter 2021, the company said. The final agreement will be for 10 years with annual termination options after the fifth year, Hoegh added in a statement. Hoegh said it will allocate one of its available FSRUs currently trading in the LNG carrier market for the project. “The construction of H-Energy’s LNG import project is near to completion, positioning it as a timely gateway to one of the world’s highest growing LNG markets,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Sveinung Stohle. The FSRU terminal, which has been delayed on several occasions, is planned to be capable of handing 4 million tonnes per year. H-Energy’s trading office in Dubai signed a sale and purchase agreement with Malaysia’s Petronas in 2018 for the delivery of LNG to the Jaigarh terminal.
India reassessing future oil demand projections and refinery capacity due to pandemic
India is reassessing its future oil demand projections and refinery capacity needs in the wake of the pandemic that severely hurt fuel demand, shook many industry assumptions and triggered calls for accelerated transition to cleaner energy. “The demand in the country is growing and some energy transition is also taking place. The Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) is preparing a report on the country’s future oil demand and refinery capacity needs,” petroleum secretary Tarun Kapoor told ET. The PPAC, an arm of the oil ministry, is responsible for regular industry analysis and forecasts. An oil ministry panel, comprising PPAC officials and industry executives, had undertaken a similar exercise in 2016 and spent nearly two years to ready a report that forecast that diesel demand would rise threefold and petrol three-and-a-half times by 2040 in the country. The panel considered multiple scenarios and offered different projections for oil demand growth in each case. The forecast assumed 8.2 per cent of compounded annual economic growth and 0.8 per cent per year growth in population up to 2040 for the country. The pandemic has tossed out these assumptions, driving policymakers back to the drawing board. Globally, analysts are now predicting faster transition to cleaner energy and a plateauing of oil demand quicker than that thought possible before the pandemic. Many analysts believe oil demand has already peaked and it would never return to the 2019 level. The oil ministry panel had also said the country’s refining capacity was set to rise to 439 million tonnes per annum by 2030 from the then 245 million tonnes, an 80 per cent rise. The refining capacity was expected to reach 259 million tonnes by 2020, and 415 million tonnes by 2025. As of October 2020, India’s capacity is 250 million tonnes, already reflecting the deviation from projections. The projection was based on “firm plans and the projects already conceptualised and accepted in principle till year 2030 only”, the report had said. Since India is a major exporter of refined fuels, the planned refinery expansion to 439 million tonnes was way higher than the capacity of 363 million tonnes needed to meet the local needs in 2030. The pandemic has forced a rethink among oil companies globally about owning refineries. Super majors like BP and Shell want to produce and process less oil and have set themselves a roadmap for that. Lower oil prices and demand uncertainty have also translated into capex cuts by oil companies.
India aims to reduce diesel use with $1.35-bln LNG retail push
Indian companies will spend 100 billion rupees ($1.35 billion) over three years on 1,000 liquefied natural gas (LNG) stations along main roads and industrial corridors and in mining areas, the oil minister said on Thursday, to cut diesel consumption. Diesel, which accounts for about two-fifth of India’s refined fuels consumption, is widely used by buses, truck and in the mining sector. “Even if the LNG vehicle segment achieves 10% market share in a fleet of 10 million trucks, it will have a positive impact on reducing emissions and substituting crude,” Dharmendra Pradhan said at a foundation-laying ceremony for 50 LNG stations. Use of LNG in heavy vehicles will cut fuel costs by 40% compared with diesel and help contain inflation, he said, and urged automobile makers to look at producing LNG-compatible vehicles. LNG is suitable for long-haul trucks and buses as its higher energy density can help vehicles travel 700-900 km with one fill compared with about 300 km for a diesel vehicle, said V.K. Mishra, head of finance of Petronet LNG. Companies will set up LNG fuelling stations along a 6,000-km network of highways linking the four main metropolitan areas, he said, adding transport sector can utilise up to 25 million cubic meters a day equivalent LNG in the initial phase. Indian companies are spending billions of dollars to build gas infrastructure including pipelines and import terminals to raise share of gas in energy mix to 15% by 2030 from the current 6.2%. Use of LNG will also help India in meeting its commitment made under the Paris accord to cut greenhouse gas emission intensity of its gross domestic product by 33% to 35% below 2005 levels by 2030, he said.