Pawan Kumar takes over as director (commercial) of IGL
Mr. Pawan Kumar has taken over as Director (Commercial) of Indraprastha Gas Limited. A graduate in Industrial Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee, and postgraduate in management from S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. Mr. Kumar is a senior leader in hydrocarbon space having a rich experience of over 33 years across multiple regions in various roles during his tenure in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). He has worked across the entire value chain in the LPG sector, including Marketing, Operations, Maintenance, Safety, Training, Strategy, Network Expansion, Distribution Channel Management, Logistics, etc. Before joining the current assignment, he was the Regional LPG Head for the Northern Region of BPCL comprising seven states & three Union Territories servicing 2.5 crore customers & 2000 distributors. He has been the pioneer in the implementation of the Ujjwala Scheme across states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and Chandigarh.
Not satisfied why petroleum products can’t be brought under GST: Kerala HC
A division bench of Kerala High Court on Wednesday said it was not satisfied with the reasons pointed out by the Centre and the GST Council on why petroleum products could not be brought under the GST regime. One of the reasons cited by the Council was that during the pandemic, it would be difficult to bring petroleum products under the GST regime. Last month, while hearing a petition of Kerala Pradesh Gandhi Darshanavedi, challenging the decision of the GST Council not to include petroleum products under GST, the High Court had directed the Council to file a statement. On Wednesday, the standing counsel for the GST Council handed over the statement to the bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly. After perusing the statement filed on behalf of the Director of Goods and Services Tax Council, the bench observed, “Even though the matter was taken in the 45th GST Council meeting, three issues seemed to have been considered by the Council for bringing the petroleum products under the GST regime, i.e., (i) the matter involves high revenue implications, (ii) requires larger deliberations and (iii) during pandemic times, it would be difficult to bring petroleum products under the GST regime.” The court observed, “We are not satisfied with the reasons. There should be some discussion and genuine reasons as to why petroleum products cannot be brought under the GST regime. Further, the pandemic period cannot be cited as a reason. It is well known that even during the pandemic, several decisions were taken involving revenue, after deliberations.” Subsequently, the court directed the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs to file a detailed statement with reference to the observations made above and the prayers sought for. The court posted the matter in the second week of December.
India’s November oil product exports, crude imports up
Preliminary data from Vortexa show that product shipments totalled 1.41mn b/d last month, up from October’s 1.36mn b/d. Exports of clean petroleum products — including gasoil, gasoline, naphtha and jet fuel — were at 1.4mn b/d, up from 1.32mn b/d in October, while shipments of dirty products such as bitumen and fuel oil decreased to 13,400 b/d from 45,900 b/d. Of the total, the major share of the exports were of diesel/gasoil at 650,000 b/d in November, up from 636,000 b/d in October. Diesel demand of 1.43mn b/d in November grew by 7pc on the month, lower than the 16pc month-on-month increase seen in October. Consumption of the motor fuel surpassed pre-pandemic levels in October as the festival season supported the demand for goods and boosted trucking and heavy motor vehicle activity. Fuel demand fell by 14pc last month from November 2019, according to data from state-controlled refiners that account for around 90pc of the country’s fuel sales. Finished gasoline shipments rose last month to 248,000 b/d from 188,000 b/d in October, even though demand was up by 5pc on the month and by 4pc compared with November 2019, on increased preference for personal vehicles over public transport. Average driving activity across India in November was 118pc above a 13 January 2020 baseline, according to data from US technology firm Apple, up from October’s 92pc above the baseline activity. India’s exports of jet fuel rose to 137,000 b/d in November from 110,000 b/d in October, despite an increase in domestic air traffic, airlines being allowed to operate at max capacity and a lower fob Singapore prices. Jet fuel use last month rose by 12pc from October and by 29pc on the year. About 66pc of the total oil product exports were from Sikka on India’s west coast, where private-sector refiner Reliance Industries operates the 1.24mn b/d Jamnagar refinery complex, data showed. Meanwhile, imports of crude oil slightly increased as state-run refiners were operating at higher capacity on expectations of higher demand. Crude and condensate ship-ins rose to 4.08mn b/d from 3.96mn b/d in October, data showed. Government figures for last month are not yet available, but the oil ministry placed October’s imports at around 4mn b/d. The country imports nearly 84pc of its crude needs and most of it comes from the Middle East. Shipments from the region rose to 2.83mn b/d in November from 2.48mn b/d in October. Imports from the Americas fell to 696,000 b/d from 735,000 b/d in October. Sikka port also saw the single-largest quantity of crude discharge last month at 1.35mn b/d, data showed, while the second-largest quantity of about 780,000 b/d was delivered to Vadinar port, where Russian-owned Nayara Energy operates a 400,000 b/d refinery. The most imported crude grade last month was Iraqi Basrah Heavy at 639,000 b/d, up from 498,000 b/d in October. Imports of Saudi Arabia’s Arab Extra Light were 444,000 b/d, down from 491,000 b/d.
L&T, ReNew partner for $2 bn green hydrogen biz in 2 years
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and ReNew Power on Thursday signed an agreement to tap $2 billion green hydrogen business opportunities in two years in India and the neighbouring countries, S N Subrahmanyan, CEO and MD of Larsen & Toubro said. Under this agreement, L&T and ReNew will jointly develop, own, execute and operate green hydrogen projects in India and adjoining nations. “The partnership brings together the track record of L&T in designing, executing, and delivering EPC projects and the expertise of ReNew in developing utility-scale renewable energy projects,” Subrahmanyan said. The partnership between ReNew and L&T, will allow both companies to pool their knowledge, expertise and resources to take maximum advantage of this transition, ReNew Power chairman and CEO Sumant Sinha said. The companies are already exploring opportunities in the Indian market for green hydrogen, Subramanian Sarma, whole-time director and senior executive vice president (energy), Larsen & Toubro said. Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen in electrolyser by using renewable-powered electricity. India has announced the National Hydrogen Mission to push green hydrogen. It is anticipated that green hydrogen demand in India for applications such as oil, refineries, steel and fertiliser units and city gas grids will grow up to 2 million metric tonnes per annum by 2030 in line with the nation’s green hydrogen mission. This would call for investments upward of $60 billion, a joint statement said. Sinha said a number of opportunities are coming up in green hydrogen and the partnership will not be constrained by capital availability. He said the partnership will put together a special entity for each opportunity and put in a bid based on the combined strength of the companies. The partnership dynamics will vary depending on the clients and will be worked out on a case-to-case basis, Subrahmanyan said. L&T will separately be also pursuing other aspects of green hydrogen like electrolyzers and grid stationary batteries, he said.
ONGC inks MoU with SECI to develop renewable, ESG projects
To realize its green energy objectives, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI). The MoU was signed by ONGC CMD Subhash Kumar and SECI MD Suman Sharma on behalf of the two national energy companies today, 2 December 2021, in New Delhi. The MoU provides a broad, overarching framework for ONGC and SECI to collaborate and cooperate for undertaking renewable energy projects including solar, wind, solar parks, EV value chain, green hydrogen, storage, etc. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Subhash Kumar said: “While we appreciate the magnitude and urgency of the climate change challenge, we also understand our commitment towards energy security of the country and are committed to carrying out our business in a sustainable manner. ONGC has a multipronged strategy to make its green energy portfolio richer and has plans to progressively move towards carbon neutrality by effective carbon management and adding Renewable Energy Capacity”. Ms Suman Sharma said: “SECI is happy to associate with ONGC in this path-breaking initiative that will open new avenues of sustainable development and promises to take India to new frontiers of technology and scale. We are dedicated towards fulfilling India’s climate commitments and look forward to a continuing partnership.” ONGC, India’s leading oil & gas company, has been pursuing green energy agenda through various alternatives and renewable sources of energy. It has set a target of producing a minimum of 10 GW of renewable power by 2040 while continuing its focus on the core E&P business. Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a PSU under Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), is engaged in promotion and development of various renewable energy resources, especially solar/wind energy, RE-based storage systems, trading of power, R&D as well as RE-based products like green hydrogen, green ammonia, RE-powered EV, etc. SECI is also the designated implementing agency for many RE schemes of the Government like VGF schemes, solar park schemes, ISTS projects for solar and wind, CPSU schemes, etc.