Torrent Gas acquires Mathura CGD network from Sanwariya Gas
Torrent Gas annonced it has signed a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with the promoters of Sanwaria Gas for the takeover of the company to provide Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) service in the geographical area of Mathura. With this acquisition, it has now authorization to set up City Gas Distribution (CGD) network across 17 geographical areas spread over 33 Districts in seven states and one union territory. The transaction is subject to approval from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and fulfillment of other conditions. The company said it plans to invest over Rs 8,000 crore for development of CGD network in these districts over five years, of which Rs 1,500 crore has already been invested. “The Sanwariya Gas acquisition is our fourth acquisition in the CGD sector in three years and we are happy about that,” Jinal Mehta, Director, Torrent Gas said. Torrent Gas has been authorized to set up CGD infrastructure and sell CNG to vehicle users and PNG to industries and households in 33 districts across Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and Puducherry.
BPCL dealers seek exit window before privatisation
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) petrol pump owners have sought the provision of an exit window before India’s second-largest state-run oil refiner and fuel retailer is privatised. In a presentation to the parliamentary standing committee on petroleum earlier this month, the dealers have suggested a minimum lock-in period after privatisation to protect willing dealerships against cancellation by BPCL’s new owner. The All India Petroleum Dealers Association, an umbrella body of petrol pump owners, told the committee headed by BJP’s Lok Sabha MP Ramesh Bidhuri the petrol pump land should be de-leased immediately in case a dealer wants to exit the business or end association with BPCL. BPCL has 15,402 retail outlets, accounting for 29 per cent of petrol and diesel sold in the country. “Land lease of many sites have expired but the company refuses to let go,” one dealer said on condition of anonymity. There are 64,625 petrol pumps in the country. Only 669, or 1 per cent of these, are owned and operated by the retailing companies. The remaining pumps are categorised into ‘CODO’ (company-owned, dealer-operated), which forms the bulk of the pumps, and ‘DODO’ (dealer-owned, dealer-operated). In CODO, the dealer leases the land to the company, which makes the investment. In DODO, the dealer provides the land and also invests in infrastructure. CODOs make up the bulk of the pumps in the country. Refusal to let go of the land appeared to be a common grouse of petrol pump owners against all three state-run fuel retailers. “But for the fear of companies refusing to de-lease, many of us would today prefer to put the land to more profitable commercial use,” another dealer said. In case of LPG (household cooking gas) service, the government has decided to shift all seven crore consumers of BPCL to a proposed SBU (special business unit to be created by the company to ensure they continue to get the applicable subsidy. The government has three suitors for its 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL. The metals-to-mining Vedanta group, investments funds Appollo Global and I Squared Capital’s Indian arm Think Gas have submitted EoIs (expressions of interest). Due diligence is currently going on. Till now BPCL operated four refineries — in Mumbai (Maharashtra), Kochi (Kerala), Bina (Madhya Pradesh) and Numaligarh (Assam) with a combined capacity of 38 million tonnes per annum, or 15 per cent of India’s total refining capacity of 249 million tonnes. It recently the Numaligarh refinery stake to a consortium of EIL and Oil India as the unit was not part of the disinvestment process. The company also has 6,011 LPG distributorships and 51 LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) bottling plants and a fifth of the 250 aviation fuel stations in the country.
PipeChina to start operating gas lines, LNG terminal acquired from Kunlun Energy
PipeChina will start operating four major gas pipelines and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal from Thursday after acquiring the assets from Kunlun Energy. Officially known as China Oil and Gas Pipeline Network, PipeChina is seeking to consolidate China’s trunk oil and gas pipelines and broaden access to energy infrastructure previously controlled by state giants, it said on its official Wechat platform on Wednesday. Assets acquired from Kunlun Energy include four parallel gas trunk lines connecting China’s top gas fields in the Ordos basin in the north to Beijing, and branch lines such as the one that links to PetroChina-controlled Tangshan LNG terminal. The pipelines have a combined length of 5,378 kilometers (3,342 miles) and an annual transport capacity of 35 billion cubic meters, PipeChina said. That’s equivalent to roughly one tenth of China’s gas consumption. Also part of the acquisition was an LNG receiving terminal in Dalian of northeast Liaoning province, making it the seventh operating facility under PipeChina. Hong Kong-listed Kunlun Energy, a subsidiary of state energy giant PetroChina, said in late 2020 it would sell its 60% stake in PetroChina Beijing Pipeline Co Ltd and 75% stake in PetroChina Dalian LNG Co Ltd to PipeChina for 40.9 billion yuan ($6.2 billion).
HPCL acquires balance 50 per cent stake in Chhara LNG Terminal
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has acquired the balance 50 per cent equity stake in HPCL Shapoorji Energy Private Limited (HSEPL) from SP Ports Private limited company. Post acquisition, HPCL’s stake in HSEPL gets enhanced to 100 per cent, making HSEPL a wholly-owned subsidiary of HPCL. HSEPL is constructing a five million tonnes per annum (MTPA) LNG terminal (with provision for expansion to 10 MTPA) at Chhara in Gujarat’s Gir-Somnath district, at an estimated cost of about Rs 4,300 crores, which is likely to be completed by end of 2022. The terminal will have all facilities for receipt of LNG through ocean-going tankers, marine unloading, storage, LNG road tanker loading, regasification, and supply of regasified LNG to the gas grid. The acquisition is in line with the overall future strategy of HPCL to diversify its product portfolio and is an important step in the direction of having a strong presence in the total natural gas value chain. The percentage of natural gas in the overall energy basket of India is expected to grow from six per cent at present to 15 per cent by 2030 which makes it one of the important growth drivers in the future. HPCL, along with its joint venture companies, has a presence in CGD (City Gas Distribution) business in 20 Geographical Areas (GA) in 34 districts covering nine states in the country. HPCL, on its own, operates 674 CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) stations as of the date which it plans to expand further. It is also foraying into setting up LNG dispensing stations. These, together with the focus on enhanced use of natural gas in refineries of HPCL and its joint ventures/subsidiaries add to the strategic value of the acquisition.