Australia faces “precarious” gas supply in 2022, watchdog warns
Australia’s southern states could face a gas shortfall in 2022 unless liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters offer more gas into the domestic market, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said on Tuesday. The report paints a more dire picture than the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) gave in March, when it said plans by billionaire Andrew Forrest to have an LNG import terminal ready by 2022 would stave off any gas shortfall until 2026. The ACCC said on Tuesday proposed LNG import terminals would not be ready until 2023 at the earliest.
Have to repay oil bonds, can’t cut excise duty on fuel: FM
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday ruled out a cut in excise duty on petrol and diesel to ease prices, which have touched an all-time high, saying payments in lieu of past subsidised fuel pose limitations. Petrol and diesel as well as cooking gas and kerosene were sold at subsidised rates during the previous Congress-led UPA government. Instead of paying for the subsidy to bring parity between the artificially suppressed retail selling price and the cost that had soared because of international rates crossing $100 per barrel, the then government issued oil bonds totalling Rs 1.34 lakh crore to the state-fuel retailers. “If I did not have the burden to service the oil bonds, I would have been in a position to reduce excise duty on fuel,” she told reporters Sitharaman, who had raised excise duty on petrol and diesel to record high to shore up revenue collections last year, said the interest on oil bonds paid in the last seven years totalled Rs 70,195.72 crore. Of the Rs 1.34 lakh crore of oil bonds, only Rs 3,500 crore of principal has been paid and the remaining Rs 1.3 lakh crore is due for repayment between this fiscal and 2025-26, she said.
No proposal to cut petrol prices in state: Karnataka CM
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday said there was no proposal before the government to cut petrol prices in the state on the lines of neighboring Tamil Nadu. “There is no such proposal,” Bommai said in response to a question by reporters, about any proposal to cut petrol prices like in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, presenting his maiden budget to the Assembly on Friday had said that the government has decided to cut tax on petrol by Rs three per litre. Following this Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Karnataka assembly Siddaramaiah had urged Chief Minister Bommai to cut the price of both petrol and diesel in the state. Responding to a question on reports that COVID negative certificates are being issued in exchange for money at testing camps, the CM said, “It has come to my notice, I will give directions to officials whether it is in railway stations or bus stands who ever is doing it- to take action against them and stop such things.” He said, those who have been given such negative certificates, will be made to undergo tests once again. Noting that he is reviewing the work of Higher Education, PWD and Housing departments today, Bommai said accelerating the development of the state is his main objective. “Infrastructure development will give a push to economic activities, also social and economic life of poor has to get improved, keeping this in mind I have begun my work,” he said pointing out at various programmes announced by him on the Independence Day. The Chief Secretary has been given directions to ensure speedy implementation of programmes, he said, adding that officials have been asked to function in a way that government’s initiatives reach the people in a shortest time.
India’s Petronet aims to extend long-term LNG buy deal with Qatar
India’s top gas importer Petronet LNG hopes to extend its long-term deal to purchase liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar to beyond 2028, the company’s head of finance V.K. Mishra said on Monday. Petronet has a deal to buy 7.5 million tonnes per year (mtpa) of LNG from Qatar under a long-term deal expiring in 2028. “It is a good contract and perhaps we will be able to negotiate with them,” Mishra told an analyst conference after the June quarter earnings of the company. He said negotiations for the extension of the contract under new terms and conditions will begin in 2023. India’s gas demand is set to rise as Prime Minister Narendra Modi targets raising the share of the cleaner fuel in the country’s energy mix to 15% by 2030 from the current 6.2%. Indian companies are investing billions of dollars to build infrastructure including pipelines and gas import terminals. Petronet, which operates two LNG import terminals in the country, plans to build a third such facility on the east coast. Mishra said his firm is conducting gas demand assessment ahead of placing construction orders for the project next year.