Congress to stage nationwide ‘symbolic protest’ on June 11 against fuel price hike
Congress will hold a nationwide “symbolic protest” in front of petrol pumps on June 11 across the country against rising fuel prices. The opposition party has decided to hit the streets after the fuel prices have crossed the hundred rupees mark in several states. Party has instructed all the state units and frontal organisation to hold protest and demand for a rollback the price rise. Congress General Secretary Organisation KC Venugopal has asked the state units to hold “symbolic protest” against the public loot and urgent demand to roll back the price rise. He has further communicated that there should a visible public campaign against the unchecked rise in prices of petrol and diesel and its impact on the people who are battling an unprecedented economic slowdown, widespread unemployment, wage reductions and job losses. The protest will also involve the senior leaders of the party too. KC Venugopal has said in a letter to state units that the whole country is witnessing a spiralling rise in the price of petrol and diesel even amidst the pandemic. The rise in petrol prices will ultimately lead to an unprecedented hike in the price of all household items and essential commodities.Petrol rpices have breached the 100 rupees mark in many states. In the last 13 months, petrol and diesel prices have been rising, which is at a record high currently.
Videocon to give Anil Agarwal’s group majority stake in Ravva oilfield
Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s metals-to-oil group on Wednesday said it will make an upfront payment of almost $40 million (about Rs 2.92 billion) for the acquisition of Videocon Industries Ltd, which will help it become the largest shareholder in the Ravva oil and gas fields in KG basin. The National Company Law Tribunal’s Mumbai bench on Tuesday approved the acquisition of bankrupt Videocon Industries by Vedanta group firm Twin Star Technologies, with the lenders set to take a haircut of about 90 per cent. In a filing to the London Stock Exchange, Agarwal’s Volcan Investments Ltd said its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, Twin Star Technologies India Ltd (TSTIL), had submitted a resolution plan for Videocon Group companies, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India. “The bid for the Videocon asset consists of an upfront payment of almost $40 million, which is less than 10 per cent of the total bid value, and the remaining deferred payments shall begin post completion of 2 years from the acquisition date,” it said. Agarwal made a fortune buying state companies and fixing them up, building a metals and mining powerhouse. His group acquired state-owned Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (BALCO) in 2001 and Hindustan Zinc in 2002 and bankrupt assets such as Electrosteel and Ferro Alloys Corporation Limited. It acquired Sesa Goa in 2007 and VS Dempo in 2010. It acquired Cairn India in 2012. Its 22.5 per cent stake in Ravva oil and gas field came from the Cairn acquisition. Ravva field produced 22,000 barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas per day. “Mr Anil Agarwal’s visionary leadership has successfully turned around various stressed assets in the past. The Videocon acquisition shall be no different and we are really excited to nurture the asset for overall value creation for our employees, customers, and stakeholders,” the filing said. Globally, Volcan’s business interest ranges from zinc, iron ore, steel, copper, aluminum, power, oil and gas. “We are excited with this acquisition mainly for Videocon’s 25 per cent participating interest in Ravva oil field. This acquisition shall therefore consolidate the overall interest of Volcan Group at 47.5 per cent,” it said. Other shareholders in the fields that lies in shallow waters of Bay of Bengal are ONGC (40 per cent) and Ravva Oil Singapore (12.5 per cent). “Apart from the oil assets, Videocon Group Companies has a diversified asset base in real estate and electronics segment which shall further bring synergies with our growing electronics and LCD business,” it said. Videocon, a consumer durables company manufacturing air-conditioners to washing machines, was among the first 12 companies pushed into bankruptcy after directions from the Reserve Bank of India in 2017. It had unpaid loans of Rs 594.5187 billion as of November 12, 2018, according to bankruptcy case-related disclosures on the company’s website. Of this, Rs 574.4362 billion due to over three dozen banks and other financial institutions, was admitted for settlement. Another Rs 255.53 billion claims were made by operational creditors.
Petronet LNG to invest $2.6 bln for local expansion over 5 years
India’s top gas importer Petronet LNG will invest $2.6 billion over five years to expand local infrastructure as investing in overseas projects is ‘not lucrative’ in the current liquefied natural gas (LNG) surplus market, its head of finance said. “Right now, investment in LNG terminals anywhere outside India is not very lucrative because LNG is available at very low prices it is only recently that prices have increased… availability of LNG is plenty,” Vinod K Mishra said during an analyst call after the company reported its March quarter earnings. He said at the moment, there was no financial incentive to invest in overseas projects to lock in LNG supplies. The company was earlier planning to invest in projects in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Qatar and Tellurian’s Driftwood LNG project. India wants to raise the share of gas in its energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6.2% and is raising its local output. Mishra said higher domestic supplies could hit costly spot LNG imports in the short term, but would not impact imports in the long term as India’s gas consumption is expected to jump. Petronet plans to invest 66.9 billion rupees to expand its 17.5-million-tonne per annum (mtpa) Dahej terminal in the West coast to 22.5 mtpa, build a new terminal in the east coast and building new jetty and LNG tanks at Dahej and Kochi, he said. Mishra said in the first phase, the Dahej terminal will be expanded to 20 mtpa by mid-2023, while a new 5-mtpa Gopalpur terminal in the east coast is expected to be ready by 2025. Petronet, which was previously planning to sell gas to fuel station owners, will invest 80 billion rupees to set up its own 1000 LNG fuel stations, he said. It will invest 40 billion rupees to set up 100 compressed bio gas generation plants over 3 years. Earlier in the day, Chief Executive A.K. Singh said the company was talking to various sellers, including Qatar, to buy gas at reasonable rates for the price-sensitive Indian market.
Indian oil refiners shut for work before likely demand pickup
Indian oil refiners are taking advantage of weak demand due to the virus resurgence to carry out maintenance in anticipation of a revival in fuel consumption in the coming months. Bharat Petroleum has lined up work at its plants across India, while Hindustan Petroleum Corp. is completing pending repairs and an expansion of its Mumbai refinery. There’s no set season for maintenance in India, although processors often do it around March and April. Fuels sales plunged about 30 per cent in May from pre-virus levels in 2019 as a spike in infections forced people to stay at home and savaged consumption. That led to swelling fuel stockpiles at refineries and storage facilities, forcing plants to cut crude processing by about 15 per cent last month. Indian oil refiners shut for work before likely demand pickup With a steady decline in Covid-19 infections from a peak in early May and a relaxation of restrictions on movement, refiners are expecting fuel demand to start improving. Consumption will be higher in June than last month and should recover to around 90 per cent of pre-virus levels in July, a BPCL executive said Monday. India’s economy is likely to see an improvement in activity due to an accelerated pace of vaccination from next quarter, according to UBS Securities. New Delhi and Mumbai, India’s political and financial capitals and two major fuel demand centers, began to ease their lockdowns on Monday. Both cities have seen a sharp rise in traffic levels. “As I was hurrying to head to the office today, I encountered a lot of traffic,” HPCL Chairman Mukesh Kumar Surana said in Mumbai on Monday. “That, for me, is a clear sign that demand will pick up as restrictions are relaxed further.”