Russia Tells U.S. Not To Lecture Saudi Arabia On Oil
The United States should not tell Saudi Arabia how to manage its crude oil production, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. “Saudi Arabia is a sovereign state, a responsible state, and a very important player in the international energy markets. Of course, this sovereign state is capable of making decisions that concern its own economy. Hardly anyone, even the US, should lecture (Saudi Arabia) on how to be in this or that case,” Peskov said in a Moscow press briefing on Friday. Saudi Arabia voluntarily agreed over the weekend to cut the country’s crude oil production targets for the month of July by an additional 1 million barrels per day. President Biden did not make any noteworthy response to the decision, with oil prices only briefly rallying in response to the oil production curtailments. Peskov’s rebuke, then, does not follow any new backlash from U.S. President Joe Biden. A rather way back response to OPEC’s oil cuts came in October 2022, when President Biden threatened “consequences.” In the same press briefing, Peskov also said that its Russian atomic energy sector would continue developing despite the US and UK forming a new economic alliance that looks to box out Russia from the international nuclear energy markets. Peskov referred to the situation as “unfair competition.” President Biden and PM Sunak signed a declaration on Thursday on the new pact “for a new age”, referred to as the New Atlantic Declaration, Sunak said of the deal that it was a deal “of a kind that has never been agreed before,” adding that it included $17.5 billion in new U.S. investments that were promised to the UK. A UK government document providing details about the deal says in part, “We face new challenges to international stability — from authoritarian states such as Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC); disruptive technologies; non-state actors; and transnational challenges like climate change.”
Kerala can save Rs 90 billion by switching to renewable energy, says study
The state can save up to Rs 90 billion in five years if coal power purchases are replaced with renewable energy contracts, according to a recent study. The study gains significance in the backdrop of a recent decision by the state government to move to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2040. The report has suggested a transition pathway that proposes phasing out of the central power sector, saving the state Rs 45.05 billion in five years. According to the report, the state can replace its scheduled purchases of coal power from central plants with new renewable energy and can save around Rs 9.69 billion per annum. The total replacement of coal power contracts with renewable energy can save the state an estimated Rs 18.43 billion annually. The report brought out by the think-tank Climate Risk Horizons, was released on Friday in the state capital. Additional chief secretary power, Forest and general Administration K R Jyothilal released the report at a Round-table on Energy Transition in Kerala’s Electricity Sector, jointly organised by Asar, Equinoct and SEEM. The state has immense capacity to generate green power and become India’s green energy exporting hub, said KR Jyothilal. “Kerala imports close to 70 % of its power. Now it’s time to move on to energy independence. We are set on harnessing wind power in the state and developing green hydrogen,” he said.
IndianOil top bidder for Reliance’s KG gas for 2nd auction in a row
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation’s largest oil firm, has walked away with half of the natural gas that Reliance Industries Ltd and its partner bp of the UK offered in the latest auction of the fuel used to generate power, produce fertilizer, turned into CNG and used for cooking purposes. IOC got 2.5 million standard cubic meters per day out of the 5 mmscmd of gas auctioned last month, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The oil refining and marketing company, which was the top bidder even in the previous auction of gas from the eastern offshore KG-D6 block of Reliance-bp, bid the volumes on behalf of seven fertilizer plants. City gas companies including GAIL Gas Ltd, Mahanagar Gas Ltd, Torrent Gas, Indian Oil Adani Gas Ltd, and Haryana City Gas secured a total of 0.5 mmscmd of gas for turning into CNG for sale to automobiles and piped to household kitchens for cooking purposes.