Punjab Cong to hold protest on Feb 11 against fuel price hike
The Punjab unit of the Congress will hold a state-wide protest on February 11 against the fuel and LPG price hike by the Centre. Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sunil Jakhar on Monday said protests will be held across the state from 11 am till 1 pm. “Due to oppressive policies of the Centre, each segment of the society is distressed. On one side, the Centre’s ego is forcing farmers to protest and on the other hand, it is putting undue financial burden on common man by hiking prices of petrol, diesel and gas,” he alleged in a statement here. He said a gas cylinder used to cost Rs 438 in 2014 when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister. The same cylinder now costs over Rs 750, he said, adding that this too when prices of crude oil is almost half than what it used to be in 2014. “The prices of oil and gas should have come down as a result of decrease in crude oil prices but the Centre is deliberately increasing prices each time to break the back of the common man,” alleged Jakhar.
Petrol, diesel prices at new highs; petrol crosses Rs 87 mark in Delhi
Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday climbed to fresh highs in the country as rates were hiked after a three-day hiatus. Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 35 paise per litre each, according to price notifications of state-owned fuel retailers. The increase took petrol prices to a fresh high of Rs 87.30 a litre in Delhi and to Rs 93.83 in Mumbai. Diesel rates rose to Rs 77.48 per litre in the national capital and to an all-time high of Rs 84.36 in Mumbai. Prices were last hiked by 30 paise on February 5. Rates have risen by Rs 3.59 per litre in case of petrol and by Rs 3.61 on diesel in 2021. Brent crude oil price on Monday rose above USD 60 per barrel for the first time in more than a year on improving demand outlook amid the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Last week, Mukesh Kumar Surana, head of India’s third-largest fuel retailer Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), said that a sudden spike in international oil prices because of a perception of mismatch in demand and supply as well as a cut in production by Saudi was fuelling the retail price hikes. He had said that only 25-30 per cent of the retail pump rates are dependent on cost and the rest are central and state taxes. “We probably have no choice but to pass on the variation (in benchmark cost) to the consumer,” he had said. “The government has taxation handle.” Also last week, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question that excise duty levied by the central government makes up for Rs 32.98 per litre of the price of petrol in Delhi and sales tax or VAT of the state government constitutes Rs 19.55. For diesel, the central excise adds up to Rs 31.83 and VAT to Rs 10.99, he had said. Besides, the price includes a dealer commission of a minimum Rs 2.6 per litre on petrol and Rs 2 on diesel. Retail petrol rates have risen by Rs 17.71 per litre since mid-March 2020 after the government raised taxes by a record margin to mop up gains arising from fall in international oil prices. Diesel rates have gone up by Rs 15.19.
Iraq resumes transporting oil derivatives by train
The Iraqi Republic Railway Company (IRR) announced that it has resumed limited transportation of oil derivatives from the country’s central region to the south in an attempt to revive the railway sector. On Sunday, the government-owned corporation also announced the rehabilitation of 100 of its rail tank cars by the company’s workers, who also rebuilt many of the company’s damaged buildings and equipment, Xinhua news agency quoted the local al-Sabah newspaper as saying in a report. Under a contract signed with the Ministry of Oil, the IRR is currently transporting 1,000 cubic metres of oil derivatives a day from the Baiji oil refinery in Salahudin province in the north of Baghdad to Umm Qasr Port in the southern province of Basra, said Talib al-Husseiny, head of the IRR. Al-Husseiny pointed out that the contract will turn the railway company to be one of the profitable companies. Moreover, “the company has a contract to import 250 new rail tank cars, of which 39 have arrived in Iraq, and some 150 others will arrive in the coming days, while the remaining 61 rail tank cars will arrive later”, al-Husseiny added. Iraq seeks to support and revive its companies, which were negatively affected by years of wars and conflicts, to give a push to the country’s economy by reducing dependence on the export of crude oil. Currently, Iraqi economy relies heavily on crude oil exports, which represent more than 90 per cent of the country’s revenues.
Core group of secretaries to discuss National Monetisation Pipeline in today’s high-level meeting
Taking forward Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement on Disinvestment during Union Budget 2021-2022, Sources tell ET Now that Cabinet secretary will be chairing a high-level meet at 3:30 pm in the afternoon with the core group of secretaries on Asset Monetization. Secretaries from Infrastructure sectors along with Niti Aayog officials will be part of this meeting. The core group of secretaries(CGoS) will be discussing monetization plans of oil and gas pipelines of Indian oil corporation(IOC), gas utility GAIL Ltd, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) CGoS is also going to discuss privatization plans of six new airports in today’s meeting. The central government is looking to sell 12 more airports in the coming year through a new privatization clubbing scheme where loss-making airports will be clubbed with profitable ones in order to derive demand and to relieve Airports Authority of India off debt to operate the less profitable ones. FM Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 also announced the launch of a “National Monetisation Pipeline” of potential brownfield infrastructure assets, stating that monetising operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction. The core group of secretaries today may also discuss this and review the asset monetisation dashboard. “An asset monetisation dashboard will be created for tracking the progress and to provide visibility to investors, she said. Listing measures in this direction, she said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) each have sponsored one InvIT that will attract international and domestic institutional investors,” as said by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman. The government is also banking on asset monetisation to help bring its fiscal deficit to below 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26. The finance minister pegged India’s fiscal deficit at 9.5 per cent in 2020-21 and 6.8 per cent in 2021-22.
Oil climbs to 13-mth highs, as supply cuts, demand optimism support
Oil prices edged up on Tuesday to their highest in 13 months as supply cuts by major producers and optimism over fuel demand recovery support energy markets. Brent crude futures for April gained 29 cents, or 0.5%, to $60.85 a barrel by 0246 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) for March was at $58.25 a barrel, up 28 cents, or 0.5%. Both Brent and WTI are at their highest since January 2020. Front-month prices for both contracts are up for the seventh session on Tuesday, the longest win streak since January 2019. Additional supply reductions by top exporter Saudi Arabia in February and March, on top of cuts by producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, are tightening supplies and balancing global markets. Investors are also pinning hopes on oil demand recovery when COVID-19 vaccines take effect. A weak dollar has also helped shored up prices of commodities. “Progress on U.S. stimulus and optimism around the roll-out and effect of vaccines across the remainder of 2021 and a slightly weaker USD help the view (for a recovery) albeit there was mixed news on the impact of the current vaccines formulated on the emerging South African variant,” Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at brokerage Axi. He cautioned, however, that both Brent and WTI are in overbought territory on technical charts. “While I remain a bit cautious at current levels, the medium and longer-term outlook for demand is healthy, and one can understand a willingness to look through some of the near-term uncertainty that remains for oil,” he said.
Nord Stream 2’s construction in Danish waters could be finished by end-April
Construction of Nord Stream 2 undersea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany in Danish waters is scheduled for completion by the end of April, Danish Maritime Authority said on Monday. Construction had been suspended in December 2019 after the United States announced its sanctions against the project, but the German government stood by it and work has resumed. The pipeline is mostly complete but around 120 km is left to be laid in Danish waters as well as almost 30 km in German waters, before it makes landfall at the northern German coastal town of Lubmin, near Greifswald. In its publication, the regulator said the pipe-laying work south and south-west of Bornholm island is being carried out from the pipe-laying vessel Fortuna, assisted by the construction vessels Baltiyskiy Issledovatel, Murman and other supply vessels. Nord Stream 2 said it will inform about its further actions in due course. On Saturday, the consortium behind the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline said it had resumed laying pipes in Danish waters despite mounting pressure on the project from Washington.