Gas under GST will help sector and enhance consumption: Petroleum Secy
There’s a lot happening in the oil and gas sector to boost gas consumption and make India Atmanirbhar, even as the most tracked divestment of BPCL is underway. CNBC-TV18 spoke to the person crafting the many moves across the sector on the several pieces of the reform agenda, Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. “Crude price internationally has been going up and down, it has been fluctuating between USD 66 per barrel and USD 70 per barrel. Our price is depended on the product price which means that the price of petrol and diesel internationally and it has been fluctuating between USD 70 per barrel and USD 75 per barrel,” he said. The government doesn’t get into the pricing because the oil marketing companies (OMCs) take their own decision. “We don’t get into this pricing issue,” he mentioned. In terms of getting gas under goods and services tax (GST), he said, “In the ministry, we feel that it is important to get gas under GST because gas is moved in pipelines across the country. We are also in the process of setting up a complete trunk network for the entire country. So that gas would be available in every state through these piped networks. So GST would really help because different taxes in different states and some states imposing high taxes doesn’t open up the gas sector for the entire country. However, this is a decision which is to be taken by the GST council and we hope that something would happen soon.” “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very keen on building a gas-based economy for this country. He has mentioned this in his speeches several times,” he added. On Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) divestment, he pointed out, “That is a process which is with the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM). From our side, all I can say is that government is keen and we are moving ahead and the role of the ministry is to provide the information which is required to assist DIPAM in this massive exercise that is going on because BPCL is a huge company.” With regards to biofuel plants, he mentioned, “The first step is to get the companies to sign up to set up this plant. Our target for this financial year is that we will have a letter of intents for 1,500 plants. We have issued a letter of intents for over 1,000 and around 300 more applications are there which are being processed. Hopefully, in the next two-three days, they will be issued. Then we hope that we will reach the figure of 1,500.” “Besides these 1,500, we have also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoUs) for around 2,000 more plants which are broad MoUs, which means that the interest is there in the market. The scheme is new, so around 10 plants are commissioned right now,” Kapoor added.
Indian Oil Corporation enters into joint venture with Israeli company Phinergy
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Wednesday entered into a collaboration with Phinergy, an Israeli start-up company specialising in hybrid lithium-ion and aluminium-air/zinc-air battery systems, to form IOC Phinergy Private Limited. According to a press release, the collaboration took place in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Israel Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz. The joint venture will manufacture Aluminum-Air systems in India to boost India’s flagship programme – “Make in India” and recycle used Aluminum to strengthen India’s energy security. In a significant boost to India’s pursuit of e-mobility, two of the leading Automotive manufacturers in India- Maruti Suzuki and Ashok Leyland signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the newly incorporated JV IOC Phinergy Limited, said the release. Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said that the fruition of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, inter alia, resulted in this Joint Venture being launched today. He said that the joint venture will help India in its journey towards clean, sustainable, affordable, safe, and long-lasting energy options and facilitate much faster adoption of e-Vehicles in the country. “Our energy sector will be growth-centric, industry-friendly, and environment conscious. We have the onerous task of ensuring ample access to energy to improve the lives of Indians coupled with the need to have a smaller carbon footprint. In this scenario, this technology to develop indigenous batteries using locally available Aluminum fits into the energy vision of India as espoused by Prime Minister Modi, wherein he has given a clear call for increasing the contribution of electricity to decarbonise mobility,” he said. The minister further said that based on domestically available Aluminum, the joint venture plans to manufacture Aluminum-Air systems in India, which will provide a boost to India’s flagship programme – Make in India and at the same time, recycling of used Aluminum will help India in becoming “Aatmanirbhar” for energy requirements. He expressed the happiness that apart from Maruti Suzuki, leading automobile industry representatives such as Ashok Leyland and Mahindra Electric are part of the validation of the technology, while urging the Indian industry, primarily the automotive manufacturers, to extend all necessary support to the joint venture for commercializing the Aluminum-Air technology. Steinitz also lauded the initiative, saying that this is indicative of increasingly close cooperation between the two countries. Tarun Kapoor, Secretary, MoP&NG, said that India’s energy demand is going to increase at a faster pace compared to the world, and the country is looking for a breakthrough in storage technology-batteries that are compact, cheaper, lighter and have higher energy density. He described today’s initiative as pathbreaking, according to the release. “With one of the most extensive customer interfaces in the country, IndianOil has been working continuously to improve customer’s experience and provide solutions for all kinds of energy needs. The JV between IndianOil and Phinergy for commercializing Aluminum-Air technology is an important initiative towards technology-driven Energy Transition. Al-Air technology will help us overcome most of the current challenges for e-Vehicles and address most of the potential customers’ pain-points, including range anxiety, higher cost of purchase, and safety issues. This technology will also boost India’s existing aluminium industry and help the nation become Self-reliant in the energy field and promote the ‘Make in India’ drive,” said IndianOil chairman SM Vaidya. Dr SSV Ramakumar, Director (R&D) spoke about the game the changing technology of metal-air battery which would define a new e-mobility paradigm in the Indian context.
Nearing polls, softening crude keep Oilcos from hiking prices
Fuel prices in the country have remained steady for over a fortnight now as softening crude and upcoming elections in several states later this months has kept Oil companies from revising the retail prices. Accordingly, petrol continues to be priced at Rs 91.17 a litre and diesel Rs 81.47 a litre in the capital on Thursday. Fuel prices have not been revised now for 19 days. Across the country as well, the petrol and diesel price remain unchanged. But the pause has not helped in bringing down fuel prices that have crossed Rs 100 per litre (petrol) mark in several parts of the country. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said in Parliament on Tuesday that states and Centre should look at taxes on petroleum products to see if relief can be provided to consumers. Since the beginning of February crude has gained more than $7 per barrel that pushed OMCs to increase fuel prices on 14 occasions raising the prices by Rs 4.22 per litre for petrol and by Rs 4.34 a litre for diesel in Delhi. Crude is now sitting a tab lower around $68.5 a barrel. The petrol and diesel prices have increased 26 times in 2021 with the two auto fuels increasing by Rs 7.46 and Rs 7.60 per litre, respectively so far this year. Officials in public sector oil companies said that retail price may rise again once daily revision starts post elections in various states. The crude is expected to move up further on demand, rise and continue production cut by OPEC+ in April.
Brazil authorizes Shell, Gerdau to import LNG
The Brazilian government has authorized the local unit of energy company Royal Dutch Shell to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from several countries into the Brazilian market, according to a notice in the official gazette on Wednesday. The authorization was granted by the Mines and Energy Ministry for a total volume of up to 36.5 million cubic meters. The permit is valid through March 31, 2024 and limited to liquefied gas, the notice said. Royal Dutch Shell is expected to import LNG by sea and sell the product to operators of thermal power plants, gas distributors and consumers in the unregulated natural gas market. Other companies also received authorization to import LNG, including a unit of Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau SA.