Japanese company may bring to India bio-diesel run mining machines
Japanese mining and construction equipment maker, Komatsu is considering introduction of bio-diesel run machines in India. Komatsu operates here through its arm Komatsu India Private Limited with L&T as the dealer for its products. On Wednesday, an oil checking lab was inaugurated at the company’s facility in the city. Located over 20km from the city off Nagpur-Amravati Road, the lab would test the oil used in the equipment as an indicator of its condition. Arvind Garg, executive vice-president of L&T’s construction and mining machinery division, said that they may try marketing Komatsu’s small and mid-sized machines running on bio-diesel in the Indian market too. Garg further said that Komatsu is already running bio-diesel machinery in Indonesia. “A blend of as much as 20% of bio-diesel is already running successfully in Indonesia, and there have been favourable results on trying 30% blending also. The model may be adopted in India too depending on the availability of the fuel stations for bio-diesel in the country,” said Garg. The company is keen on bringing machinery that work on alternate fuel. Recently, a meeting was held with Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari who stressed the use of alternate fuels like ethanol, LNG and CNG. “Ethanol blends well with petrol, however, for diesel run vehicles, bio-diesel has to be used. CNG can be tried for construction and mining sector vehicles. The company has already supplied electric-run mining vehicles to the South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL). This was in the large machinery segment. The presence of electric-run vehicles can increase depending on the coming up of charging stations throughout the country,” said Garg. Yasunori Fuji, managing director of Komatsu India Private Limited, said that the demand had taken a major hit after the second wave of Covid. However, it is hoped that the demand would grow in the coming financial year. The company also sees a major demand due to the ongoing road construction work taken up by the ministry of transport. “Apart from the PSU mining companies which include the subsidiaries of Coal India Limited, opening up of commercial mining through coal blocks auction is also expected to spur the demand for equipment like earthmover and dumpers,” said Garg.
BHP, Woodside investors jittery over $29 billion petroleum merger
Shares in BHP Group and Woodside Petroleum fell on Wednesday as investors on both sides raised questions about the value of the Perth-based oil and gas group’s proposed $29 billion merger with BHP’s petroleum arm. While a 6per cent fall in BHP’s share price was linked to a decision to end its UK dual listing, where its shares have traditionally traded at a large discount, a fall of up to 4per cent in Woodside reflected concerns about the expansion, they said. “Woodside is one of the worst-performing companies within the energy sector globally post-COVID; the company doesn’t yet have a strong mandate to enter a deal of such questionable value and this could further drag on Woodside’s shares,” said Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments at Van Eck Australia, a shareholder in both companies. BHP agreed to hive off its petroleum business to Woodside in a nil-premium merger, in return for new Woodside shares which will go to BHP shareholders, who will own 48per cent of the enlarged group. The deal will make Woodside a top 10 global independent oil and gas producer, giving it oil assets in the Gulf of Mexico, gas in Trinidad and Tobago and ageing assets in Australia’s Bass Strait, while doubling its stake in North West Shelf LNG. However, it raised concerns about the strategic sense of expanding in oil and taking on ageing gas assets with big decommissioning costs. Investors said the fall in Woodside shares was also partly due to worries about an overhang of stock as BHP investors who want to get out of fossil fuels would look to dump the shares. The stock was down 1.2per cent in afternoon trade, underperforming a 1per cent rise in local rivals Santos and Oil Search . Woodside’s new chief executive, Meg O’Neill, said while investors were very familiar with BHP’s Australian oil and gas assets, they did not appreciate the value of its Gulf of Mexico oil stakes – Mad Dog, Atlantis and Shenzi. “Those are just first-class top-tier assets that will be very cash accretive to the merged company,” O’Neill told Reuters.
Govt ‘sensitive’ towards prices of petroleum products, says Puri
The government is “sensitive” towards the prices of petroleum products and is taking all possible steps to address the issue, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday and blamed the Congress for the trend of hike in petrol and diesel prices. If state governments want they can lower the prices of petrol and diesel, as a state did so recently, he said in a press conference at the Delhi BJP office. “We are sensitive towards it and are taking possible steps like doing blending of 10 per cent which we are going to raise to 20 per cent. So, we are taking many steps,” Puri said when asked about the rising prices of petroleum products including cooking gas. The Congress government in 2010 deregulated prices of petrol and diesel, meaning there would be a local impact of international rates, he said. “The Centre imposes excise tax on petrol and diesel, while states impose VAT on it. We use this excise money to fund schemes like PM Garib Kalyan Yojna under which 80 crore people received free foodgrains, PM Awas Yojna, Ujjwala scheme,” he said. Puri said that the Congress government, before 2014, issued oil bonds of INR 1.34 lakh crore to control prices of petrol and “passed on their problem to us. They emptied the chest. We have to pay INR 20,000 crore this year for the oil bonds that have a maturity period of 15 years.” The minister also hit at the Congress saying the figures on oil bonds presented by it were “flawed” and challenged the party to ask states ruled by it to reduce VAT on petrol and diesel.
Oil extends losses on pandemic fears and rise in U.S. gasoline stockpiles
Crude prices extended their losses into a sixth day on Thursday, hovering near 3-month lows, hurt by growing fears over slower fuel demand amid a spike in COVID-19 cases worldwide while an unexpected rise in U.S. gasoline inventories added to pressure. Brent crude was down 85 cents or 1.3% at $67.38 a barrel by 0019 GMT, having fallen 1.2% on Wednesday. U.S. West Intermediate crude (WTI) lost 93 cents or 1.4% to $64.53 a barrel after tumbling 1.7% in the previous session. Both benchmarks have lost more than 5% over the past six sessions, trading near their lowest level since May 24 in the previous session. The slide continued as investors remained worried over the increase in infections caused by the Delta variant of the coronavirus worldwide. “Crude prices continue to look vulnerable around those mid to late summer support levels – $65 in WTI and $67 in Brent,” Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA Europe, said in a note. Slower growth in China as it imposes further restrictions in response to rising COVID-19 cases and some weakness in a few U.S. data points this past week has driven the softness in oil prices, he cited. “A move below $65 in WTI, for example, could see prices drop back into Q2 trading ranges between $57 and $65. This would be quite a drop from the levels we’ve seen the last couple of months and surely reflect growing concerns about the spread of delta and the implications for fourth quarter growth,” he added. The surprise build in U.S. gasoline inventories also fuelled concerns over slowing demand. U.S. crude inventories fell 3.2 million barrels last week to 435.5 million barrels, their lowest since January 2020, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. But gasoline stocks rose by 696,000 barrels to 228.2 million barrels, against analysts’ expectations for a 1.7 million-barrel drop.