LMO from Singapore sourced by IndianOil unloaded at Vizag Port
IndianOil unloaded a consignment of 11 ISO tanks filled with Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO), carried from Singapore by Indian Navy’s INS Jalashwa, at Vishakhapatnam Port on Sunday. The same vessel also carried two more ISO tanks of LMO, sourced by GAIL and handled by IndianOil. The entire consignment has been sourced by IndianOil from BNF Singapore and filled at Linde at Singapore. The ISO tanks have been taken on lease by IndianOil to handle the supply and logistics of LMO in the fight against the Covid pandemic. This consignment has been earmarked to meet the pressing demand for medical oxygen in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, IndianOil said. In the face of a massive surge in demand for LMO and related logistic issues, IndianOil, under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has been importing ISO tanks suitable for transporting medical oxygen, the precious lifesaver, from across the globe. While over 75 per cent of the filled ISO tanks are brought in by the Indian Navy vessels, the empty containers are airlifted back by the Indian Air Force to the sources of oxygen supply. IndianOil sources LMO supplies from the countries including Singapore, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia from global suppliers including Linde, Air Life and Air Liquide. IndianOil has brought in several consignments of LMO into other southern cities including Mangalore and Bengaluru. The various imports of LMO, oxygen cylinders, and oxygen concentrators being done by ICRS (Indian Red Cross Society) are also being handled by IndianOil, in terms of unloading and transportation. As a responsible corporate citizen, IndianOil continues to leverage its expertise and resources to contribute to the national efforts to combat the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping the nation. Other initiatives of IndianOil in the management and logistics support of LMO in India include the Sanjeevani Express, a single window application which is equipped to enable real-time monitoring of LMO supply logistics to help all stakeholders, including the Central and state government agencies to monitor allocation, dispatch and receipt of medical oxygen.
‘Clean Data Room’ with sensitive info on BPCL to open for bidders signing additional pact
Bidders vying to buy government stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) will be given access to a ‘Clean Data Room’ containing commercially sensitive information on the firm subject to their signing an additional confidentiality agreement, sources said. A virtual data room, mostly containing financial information on BPCL, was opened in the second week of April and qualified bidders signing Confidentiality Undertaking (CU) have been given access, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Bidders which include mining-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta and private equity firms Apollo Global and I Squared Capital’s arm Think Gas will also be allowed physical inspection of assets such as refineries and depots in the coming weeks as part of the due diligence process. The government will seek financial bids once bidders complete due diligence and terms and conditions of the share purchase agreement (SPA) are negotiated. Sources said certain data which is commercially sensitive will be uploaded in a separate section of the data room referred to as ‘Clean Data Room’ and access shall be extended only to the designated team of lawyers of the qualified bidders in the interest of confidentiality and prevention of misuse of data. A separate agreement restricting use of the data and maintaining confidentiality will have to be signed by the bidders for accessing the ‘Clean Data Room’, they said. The data room access for due diligence is likely to be available for a period of around 8 weeks. As part of the due diligence process, the bidders want to undertake a physical visit to some of the major sites like refineries and depots/plants. While BPCL will facilitate such visits, an approval from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is required in case any foreign passport holder wants to visit sensitive locations like refineries, sources said. Also, representatives of bidders would be allowed to hold virtual meetings with management of BPCL once the silence period till the announcement of annual financial results of the company for 2020-21 are announced. All queries raised by the bidders during the due diligence are being collated by the transaction advisor, Deloitte and they will be answered by the company management or the concerned government department depending on the nature of the issue, sources said. The government’s 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL is valued at about Rs 53,000 crore based on Friday’s closing price of company shares on BPCL. The stake sale in India’s second-largest fuel retailer is crucial to plans to raise a record Rs 1.75 lakh crore from disinvestment proceeds in fiscal 2021-22 (April 2021 to March 2022). Sources said the recent Covid-19 outbreak could still slow down the sale process as physical visits may be hindered. A special purpose vehicle floated by the BSE-listed Vedanta Ltd and its London-based parent Vedanta Resources Plc submitted an expression of interest (EoI) for buying government stake in BPCL before the close of the deadline on November 16, 2020. While I Squared Capital is a private equity firm focusing on global infrastructure investments, New York-based Apollo Global Management, Inc is a global alternative investment manager firm. I Squared Capital invests in energy, utilities, transport and telecom projects in North America, Europe and select high growth economies such as India and China. Vedanta’s interest in BPCL stems from its USD 8.67 billion acquisition of oil producer Cairn India nearly a decade back. The company produces oil from oilfields in Rajasthan which are used in refineries such as those operated by BPCL to turn them into petrol, diesel and other fuels. BPCL will give the buyer ownership of around 15.33 per cent of India’s oil refining capacity and 22 per cent of the fuel marketing share. The buyer of the company will get 35.3 million tonnes of refining capacity — 12 million tonne Mumbai unit, 15.5 million tonne Kochi refinery and 7.8 million tonne Bina unit. BPCL also owns 18,639 petrol pumps, 6,166 LPG distributor agencies and 61 out of 260 aviation fuel stations in the country. The firm also has upstream presence with 26 assets in nine countries such as Russia, Brazil, Mozambique, the UAE, Indonesia, Australia, East Timor, Israel and India. It is also making a foray into city gas distribution and has licences for 37 geographical areas (GAs)
Reliance-BP ‘bubble’ delivers two deep water gas fields despite massive COVID-19 challenge
Just four months in a year are available for construction in Bay of Bengal. Even that window got complicated with constantly changing restrictions on movement of people and material across the globe because of the pandemic. But work bubbles for over 4,000 persons at peak of the project alongside navigating restrictions to source material and people globally helped deliver two deep sea gas fields. Since 2017, Reliance Industries Ltd along with its JV Partner bp had embarked on concurrent development of three deepwater fields in the Krishna Godavari basin block, KG-D6, to monetise 3 trillion cubic feet of resources with an overall capital investment of Rs 35,000 crore. But the outbreak of pandemic early last year disrupted global supply chains and impaired movement of personnel who are essential for executing a complex project that involved installing equipment and pipelines in water depths of almost 2 km. An RIL official said that to execute these complex deepwater projects, teams have been working across 34 countries and at peak more than 4,000 persons were deployed offshore and onshore. Those working on the project were organised into cohorts that interacted only with each other to minimise contact with outside people. Cohorts were organised on the principles that work bubbles should include the least number of people required to do the job and strictly separated from other bubbles in time and/or space to prevent virus transmission between groups. Also, this involved navigating through different and constantly changing restrictions on movement of people and material across the globe, the official said adding the narrow four month in a year offshore construction and installation window on the east coast of India added to these challenges. “Despite the unprecedented challenge, the joint venture successfully commissioned two out of the three deepwater fields: R Cluster field – India’s first ultra-deepwater gas field and Asia’s deepest offshore gas field, in December 2020 and Satellite Cluster in April this year,” he said. “These fields are currently contributing about 20 per cent of India’s domestic gas production.” The third deepwater field – KG D6 MJ field is expected to come onstream in the last Quarter of 2022. The official said until March 2020, all was well on course for commissioning the R Cluster field by mid-2020. But the outbreak of the pandemic, changed it all, affecting all work sites across the globe. There was a nationwide lockdown in the country while air travel from almost all countries stopped. “At RIL and bp, we overcame the challenges and commissioned the field in December 2020,” the official said, adding the duo managed to commission the Satellite Cluster field a couple of months ahead of schedule. “This was possible due to the proactive project management and ‘bubble’ operations that had been implemented prior to the R Cluster field commissioning,” he said. RIL is on course towards reaching 30 million standard cubic meters per day of gas production by 2023 catering to 20 per cent of India’s gas demand. This will position the company as a significant contributor to India’s gas-based economy. Amidst all this, RIL deployed resources to set up a 10 kilolitre oxygen storage plant with a vaporizer unit on a fast track basis at Kakinada General Hospital. Kakinada is the landfall point of the gas that is piped from wells in the Bay of Bengal. The official said RIL is the first industry in East Godavari district to have provided the oxygen plant at a very critical time, responding to the SOS call of the government. The unit assists approximately 1,700 patients requiring oxygen support every day at the Government General Hospital. The oxygen plant can supply to about 200 patients for about 48 hrs continuously.