Will HPCL be on par with ‘parent’ ONGC?
A bumper profit of over ?60 billion for the second straight year has helped State-run oil refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) stake its claim for the coveted ‘maharatna’ status. However, the ‘maharatna’ status will also put HPCL and its holding company ONGC (already a ‘maharatna’) on a par on decision-making powers. This would further complicate a disinvestment deal from earlier this year when the State-run oil and gas explorer acquired 51.11 per cent of the government’s stake in HPCL for ?369.15 billion. HPCL is yet to recognise ONGC as its promoter. ONGC is shown to be a public shareholder with 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL, in its most recent share-holding pattern submitted to the Bombay Stock Exchange. ONGC has only one member on HPCL’s board. For HPCL, a ‘maharatna’ status will potentially curtail ONGC’s powers to take business decisions for the oil marketing company, in which the explorer holds a controlling stake, say oil industry sources. The ‘maharatna’ status bestows greater freedom from government control for the PSU to incur capital expenditure on purchase of new items, or for replacement, without any monetary ceiling, and to forge technology joint ventures (JVs) or strategic alliances. The status also allows the PSU to make equity investment to establish financial JVs and wholly-owned subsidiaries, undertake mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in India or abroad, subject to a ceiling of 15 per cent of the net worth of the PSU, and limited to ?50 billion in one project. The board of directors of a ‘maharatna’ PSU will also have powers for mergers and acquisitions, subject to the conditions that it should be as per the growth plan and in the core area of functioning of the PSU and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) is informed in case of investments abroad. Mumbai-based HPCL posted a net profit of ?63.5707 billion for the financial year 2017-18. In fiscal years FY17 and FY16, it had net profits of ?62.0880 billion and ?37.2616 billion, respectively, thereby enabling the firm to show an average annual net profit of more than ?50 billion for the last three years, one of the six criteria required to become a ‘maharatna’ central public sector enterprise. The lack of an average annual net profit of more than ?50 billion for the last three years was the only qualification criteria holding up its pursuit of a ‘maharatna’ status. “HPCL has applied for maharatna status,” a company official said. HPCL is already a ‘navratna’ PSU with an annual average turnover and net worth for the last three years way above the limit set for ‘maharatna’ companies. In fiscal years 2016, 2017 and 2018, HPCL’s turnover from operations was ?1970 billion, ?2130 billion and ?2430 billion, respectively. To become eligible for ‘maharatna’ status, a PSU must have an average annual turnover of more than ?250 billion for 3 years. The oil refiner also meets the criteria for having an average annual net worth of more than ?150 billion for the last 3 years, besides having significant global presence. HPCL’s imminent anointment as a ‘maharatna’ PSU will put it in an elite PSU club that includes oil and gas sector compatriots such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Gas Authority of India Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Coal India Ltd and Steel Authority of India Ltd are the other ‘maharatna’ companies. J.R. Richard Jersey
Government notifies incentives to state-owned oil firms in pre-NELP blocks; new rule applies to 11 fields
The government has notified a new policy requiring state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) to pay royalty and cess tax only to the extent of their equity holding in certain pre-1999 oil and gas fields. The ‘Policy Framework for Streamlining the Working of Production Sharing Contracts in respect of Pre-NELP and NELP Blocks’ was notified in the Gazette of India on Tuesday. Till now, ONGC and OIL had to pay a 100 percent royalty and a cess tax on 11 pre-New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) fields that were given to private firms prior to 1999. The government had awarded some discovered oil and gas fields to private firms in the 1990s with a view to attracting investments in the country. To incentivise such investments, the liability of payment of statutory levies like royalty and cess was put on state-owned firms, who were made licensees of the blocks. ONGC and Oil India Ltd were allowed right to back in or take an interest of 30-40 percent in the fields, but were liable to pay 100 percent of the statutory levies. The new rule, approved by the Cabinet last month, will apply to 11 fields like the Dholka field in Gujarat that is operated by Joshi Oil and Gas. It will also apply to the Hindustan Oil Exploration Company (HOEC)-operated PY-1 field in the Cauvery basin. “In pre-NELP exploration blocks, the National Oil Companies, as Licensee are liable for payment of royalty, cess and other statutory charges on entire production of oil and gas. “To facilitate further investments, the Government has decided that the contractors in pre-NELP exploration blocks will be allowed to share the liability of the statutory levies including royalty, cess and any other charges in proportion to their respective participating interests (PIs) in the block,” the notification said. All the constituents of the blocks would become licensees and payments made towards such statutory levies shall be eligible for cost recovery. It means that like capital and operating expense, the statutory levies can now be first recovered from the sale of hydrocarbons before sharing the profits with the government. These are the same conditions that ONGC had insisted upon in 2010 when Vedanta bought Cairn Energy Plc’s 70 percent stake in the prolific Barmer basin oil block in Rajasthan. ONGC, which held a 30 percent stake in the block, gave approval to the deal only when Vedanta agreed to pay a royalty and cess on its 70 percent share. Royalty for an on-land block is presently 20 percent. An equivalent amount of cess is also levied. Also, the notification extended the time period given to oil and gas companies to develop hydrocarbon blocks in the northeast. Production from these blocks will be linked to market prices of natural gas. It also extended tax benefits under Section 42 of Income Tax, 1961 prospectively to operational blocks under pre-NELP discovered fields for the extended period of the contract. Section 42 of Income Tax allows the companies to claim 100 per cent of expenditure incurred under a production sharing contract (PSC) as tax deductible for computing taxable income in the same year. While signing PSC of pre-NELP discovered fields, 13 contracts out of 28 contracts did not have provision for tax benefit under Section 42 of Income-tax Act. Now, this will bring uniformity and consistency in PSCs and provide an incentive to the contractor to make an additional investment during the extended period of PSC, it said. The approvals given are expected to help in ensuring the expeditious development of hydrocarbon resources. Matt Moulson Jersey
BP Bets On India’s Gas Demand
BP plc is smart to increase its presence in the global upstream gas space, as these are the types of investments that make growing a ~5.7% yield possible. BP plc has been increasingly shifting its investments towards natural gas in a bid to make its upstream production base gassier. The general idea is that natural gas demand is set to grow at a faster pace worldwide than oil over the coming decades, and the logistical constraints placed on the natural gas industry are significantly more onerous than the logistical constraints facing the oil industry. It is relatively easy to pick up a barrel of crude oil and send it across the world via a marine crude carrier, but relatively hard to do so with natural gas due to the need to cool the gas down so it becomes liquefied. This is primarily why LNG supplies tend to trade at material premium to gas supplies moved through pipeline systems, and why major LNG importers are always looking for ways to diversify their gas supplies via domestic investments. BP plc partnered up with India’s Reliance Industries (OTC:RLNIY) to help address this issue. Let’s dig in. Macro overview For starters, let’s take a look at the size of the opportunity BP plc is targeting. In BP’s 2018 Energy Outlook report, the firm notes that India consumed 5 Bcf/d of natural gas per day in 2016. India only produced 3 Bcf/d of natural gas that year, with the remainder filled primarily via LNG imports. Looking out to 2040, BP expects India will consume 14 Bcf/d of natural gas, a trajectory-based largely on what one’s assumptions for the nation’s GDP growth rate are. That seems quite reasonable based on India’s current economic trajectory; if anything, it very well might consume a lot more natural gas than that by 2040. In BP’s press release, the firm noted that India “aspires to double gas consumption by 2022.” That implies a goal of consuming 10 Bcf/d by the early 2020s. Vinny Curry Womens Jersey
EIL to invest Rs 700 crore for LPG terminal at Okha
Energy Infrastructure (India) Ltd (EIL), a 100% subsidiary of the Netherlands-based Energy Infrastructure Butano (Asia) BV has been recently selected by Gujarat government to set up a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) terminal project at Okha for an investment of Rs700 crore, according to two senior state government officials. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has given the much needed boost to revive the project in Gujarat that was stuck for some time, they said. The Okha LPG project has been held for about two decades due to various reasons including technical challenges and site related issues and unfavourable market condition for private companies. EIL in its bid has proposed to set up permanently moored LPG Floating Storage & Off-loading (FSO), Single Point Mooring (SPM) and necessary pipeline infrastructure. “Presently, the LPG import terminals in the country are less than what is needed to cater to the demand that is growing at a fast pace. To enhance the import capacity of LPG, Gujarat Maritime Board had invited bids from private investors to develop port facilities to handle petroleum products near Okha,” said Mukesh Kumar, vice-chairman and CEO of Gujarat Maritime Board – the regulator for ports and shipping activity in the state. After evaluation of bids, the state government has recently approved the bid of EIL for setting up an LPG terminal project within 3 years at Okha in Gujarat for a licence period of 15 years, he said while adding that the project will go a long way in fulfilling the LPG requirements of India. India is the world’s second largest importer of LPG after China and remains ahead of Japan. In FY17, India imported close to 12 million tonnes while China imported about 18.5 MT. India’s LPG demand is expected to grow by 3 MT in FY19 and reach 27 MT. In Gujarat, LPG is imported at Sikka, Porbandar, Dahej and Kandla. EIL has been awarded on build operate and transfer (BOT) basis. The company has said in its projects to GMB that it aims to tap the LPG-deficient north Indian market by importing close to 800,000 tonnes a year at Okha. A senior executive of EIL did not respond to calls and text message sent to his phone. An established supplier of LPG in North and North-West India since 2002, EIL under the brand name Maxgas EIIL offers bulk supply and installation for industrial consumers and cylinders with LPG capacity of 4kg, 12kg, 17kg and 33kg to suit domestic, commercial and industrial consumers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to citizens to give up LPG subsidy that was followed by a countrywide door-to-door campaign launched by the oil marketers has seen lakhs of people giving up LPG subsidy. Launched in 2016, the Rs 8,000-crore PMUY aims to provide 5 crore LPG connections to families living below poverty line (BPL) with a support of Rs 1600 per connection over the next 3 years. The scheme is likely to generate additional employment of around 1 lakh and provide business opportunities of at least Rs 10,000 crore over the next 3 years to Indian industries. EIL had conceptualized the LPG project way back in 1997-98 but had to change the site a couple of times due to its proximity to an eco-sensitive zone. Also, the company, which has already invested close to Rs 150 crore in the project, had earlier planned to set up a LPG jetty but due to technical challenges it changed its plans to set up an FSO. In mid-2009, EIL had approached the government and sought extension till 2010. The company had told the regulator that an economic slowdown and extension of subsidy by the UPA led Centre were the reasons for the delay. Among several reasons cited over the years, land acquisition problem is something the company has faced for many years. LPG is produced from natural gas or refining of petroleum. Once at a terminal, LPG is transferred to a bulk transport truck or rail car for short-haul transport to a retail plant. From there, it is distributed in cylinders or bulk trucks for delivery to the retail customer. The Okha Port lies on the main maritime trade route on the northwest coast of Saurashtra at the mouth of the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat. The port is located about 500km from Ahmedabad, the principal city of Gujarat. Sidney Jones Womens Jersey
Kerala GAIL Gas Limited likely to be wound up
The state government is likely to wind up the Kerala GAIL Gas Ltd (KGGL), floated towards the end of 2011 to execute ‘city gas’ projects in different parts of the state. The move comes following the company’s failure to secure contracts for city gas network development project anywhere in the state. According to latest reports, the Indian Oil-Adani Gas Private Ltd (IOAGPL) has won the contracts for most of the projects announced so far. KGGL is a joint venture between GAIL and Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) that aims at accelerating the delivery of compressed natural gas (CNG) for the transport sector and piped natural gas (PNG) for domestic consumers and hotels. The company had also planned extraction of natural gas. The authorized share capital of KGGL is Rs 30 crore and its paid up capital is Rs 23.86 crore. “In fact, the director boards of both GAIL and KSIDC had given the go-ahead for the dissolution of the company, after it failed to get the city gas project in Kochi in 2015. That project was awarded to IOAGPL. However, we slowed down the process hoping that the company might get contracts for projects in other districts,” said a top KSIDC official. Meanwhile, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) on Friday decided to issue the letter of intent (LOI) for the city gas distribution network development projects in Kozhikode, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram and Wayanad districts also to IOAGPL. This came a few days after the board decided to award similar contracts in Kannur, Kasaragod and Mahe to IOAGPL. KSIDC officials conceded that the prospects of KGGL’s survival have thinned further with the latest awarding of the contracts to IOAGPL. Interestingly, public sector restructuring and internal audit board (RIAB) officials are upset at the tardy progress made in the execution of the city gas network development project in Kochi. According to official sources, only less than 1,000 piped natural gas connections have been given in Kochi so far. RIAB officials said they are planning to take up the delays in the project with the IOAGPL representatives. Russell Okung Authentic Jersey
Adani walks away with gas rights for 21 cities; BPCL bags 11 cities
Billionaire Gautam Adani’s group has bagged licences to retail gas in 21 cities in the latest city gas distribution bid round that saw state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd’s unit and Torrent Gas emerging as the other big winners. Adani Gas won rights to retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households and industries in 13 cities on its own and another nine, including Allahabad, in joint venture with state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC), according to results of 78 out of the 86 cities that were bid out in the country’s biggest city gas distribution (CGD) bid round. According to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), IOC on its own won rights to seven cities, including Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu and Guna in Madhya Pradesh. Bharat Gas Resources Ltd, a unit of state-owned BPCL, won licence for 11 cities like Amethi and Rai Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, while Torrent Gas Pvt Ltd made nine winning bids that included ones for Alwar in Rajasthan, Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and Karaikal in Puducherry. State gas utility GAIL’s retailing arm, GAIL Gas, managed rights for four cities, including Dehradun. Indraprastha Gas Ltd, the firm that retails CNG in the national capital, won city gas rights for Meerut and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. “As per the commitment made by the various entities in the 78 Geographical Areas (GAs) approved for issuance of Letter of Intent (LoI) in 9th CGD Bidding Round, 1.53 crore domestic piped natural gas connections and 3,627 CNG (compressed natural gas) stations for transport sector would be installed largely during a period of 8 years up to September 30, 2026,” PNGRB said. When the bid round closed last month, IOC, BPCL and Adani Gas Ltd were the top bidders. Of the 86 cities offered for retailing of CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in the 9th CGD bid round, IOC bid for 34 cities on its own and another 20 in partnership with Adani Gas Ltd. Adani Gas on its own bid for 32 cities. Bharat Gas Resources Ltd bid for as many as 53 cities while GAIL Gas Ltd put in offers for 34 cities. Gujarat-based Torrent Gas Pvt Ltd bid for 31 cities while Gujarat Gas Ltd put in offers for 21 areas. Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer, sought to foray into CGD business by bidding for licence in seven cities. Indraprastha Gas Ltd had put in bids for 11 cities. In a statement, PNGRB said the 9th CGD Bidding Round was launched on April 12 for development of city gas networks for the 86 Geographical Areas (GAs) which includes 174 districts (156 complete and 18 part), spread over 22 states and Union Territories (UTs) in India. “Based upon the bids evaluations PNGRB approved issue of Letters of Intent (LoI) to the successful bidders for 78 GAs,” it said. The regulator said bids for remaining GAs are being evaluated and outcome of the same will be announced shortly. “At present, CGD authorisation has been given by PNGRB for 92 GAs covering 124 districts spread over 23 States and UTs. These cover 20 per cent of India’s population and 11 per cent of its geographical area. In addition, CGD operations are being carried out in 5 districts, authorisation for which is either under consideration of PNGRB or is sub-judice. “With the completion of 9th CGD Bidding Round, CGD would be available in 178 GAs comprising 280 districts spread over 26 States and UTs covering more than 50 per cent of India’s population and 35 per cent of its geographical area,” PNGRB added. Greg Luzinski Womens Jersey
IOC says will invest Rs 20,000 crore in city gas projects in 5-8 years
Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation’s largest oil company, plans to invest Rs 20,000 crore in city gas distribution projects in next 5-8 years as it bets big on gas business to complement its traditional oil refining and marketing business, its chairman Sanjiv Singh said today. The firm, which owns a third of India’s oil refining capacity and has 44 per cent market share of fuel business, sees compressed natural gas (CNG) replacing a some of the petrol and diesel consumed in vehicles today and LPG getting replaced by piped cooking gas in households. It wants to be in these businesses to maintain its market leadership position. IOC, which among all PSUs bid most aggressively in the latest city gas distribution (CGD) licences, is hoping to net licences to retail CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to households and industries in about 20 cities, he told reporters here. These will be in addition to nearly 10 licences it already has. “We put in bids for 57 out of the 86 Geographical Areas (or cities) put on offer in the 9th CGD bid round. Out of this, we expect to net 20 GAs, plus or minus one or two,” he said. Singh said the investment in these 20 GAs would be at least Rs 20,000 crore spread over five to eight years. These numbers include investments in setting up of CNG dispensing stations as well as laying pipelines in cities to transport gas to households for cooking purposes and industries for commercial use. IOC, which has 80.7 million tonnes per annum of refining capacity (33 per cent of the total in India), is looking to commission a 5 million tonnes a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Ennore in Tamil Nadu before the year-end and has booked capacity on similar planned terminals on both east and west coast. “We see piped natural gas (PNG) replacing LPG and CNG finding a way into vehicles on a bigger scale in near future and we want to be there,” he said adding the LPG can be an excellent feedstock for manufacturing petrochemicals. The shift towards natural gas is also driven by environmental consideration as it is much cleaner than petrol and diesel. IOC currently operates city gas distribution (CGD) networks in Agra and Lucknow through Green Gas Ltd, its joint venture with GAIL (India) Ltd. It is also implementing CGD projects in Chandigarh, Allahabad, Panipat, Ernakulam, Daman, Udhamsingh Nagar and Dharwad through a joint venture with Adani Gas Ltd (IndianOil-Adani Gas Pvt Ltd). In the 9th CGD bid round, IOC has out of the 78 GAs, results for which have been declared, won IOC has won rights to seven, including Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu and Guna in Madhya Pradesh, on its own and another nine, including Allahabad, in joint venture with Adani Gas Ltd. IOC also has a 49 per cent share of the country’s crude and product pipeline (by length) and 44 per cent share in petroleum products with over 48,170 customer touch points. Vonn Bell Jersey
CGD: Adani Gas wins bids for 22 geographical areas
Adani Gas emerged as the leader by winning bids for 22 geographical areas (GAs) out of the 78 announced as on Friday under the ninth round of city gas distribution (CGD) licensing. While the company has won 13 GAs as an individual company, the maximum by any firm, its consortium Indian Oil-Adani Gas has been awarded nine GAs. The other top winners so far include Bharat Gas Resources (an arm of BPCL) with 11 GAs, followed by Torrent Gas with 9 GAs and Indian Oil with 7 GAs. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) had offered 86 GAs under the 9th round of CGD which cover 174 districts in 22 states and Union Territories i.e. 24% of India’s area and 29% of population. The government aims to connect 1 crore households with piped gas by 2020, which is in line with increasing the share of natural gas in the primary energy basket to 15% from 6% over the next few years. The 9th bid round was held on changed parameters after one-paisa bids spoilt the initial auction rounds. Bidders have been asked to quote the number of CNG stations to be set up and the number of domestic cooking gas connections to be given in the first eight years of operation. On August 3, 2018, the PNGRB approved issuance of letters of intent (LOIs) to 18 successful bidders for 48 GAs out of the 86 GAs put up for auction to provide licences to sell compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped cooking gas. On Friday, it released the second list for another 30 GAs which were awarded to 10 companies or consortia. The remaining seven GAs are being evaluated and one is sub-judice, outcome of these will be announced in due course, the regulator said in a release. DK Sarraf, chairperson of the PNGRB, told FE that issuance of LOIs for the rest of the GAs will be considered on August 16, 2018. A total of 406 bids from 38 entities were received by the PNGRB for the 86 GAs put up for auction. Of these, 37 bids were not considered on various grounds, including being unreasonably low or high, the release said. Matt Carpenter Authentic Jersey
New wave of mega LNG projects is approaching
A new race to build multi-billion dollar liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants is gaining momentum after a long hiatus in investments as energy giants sense a widening supply gap within five years. Spending on new, complex facilities that super-chill gas into liquid in order to allow its transportation dried up following the collapse in energy prices in 2014. Appetite was further dampened by fears that a plethora of LNG plants built since the late 2000s would lead to a large supply glut until early in the next decade. But sentiment has radically changed over the past year. Buoyed by rising oil prices and exceptionally strong demand from rapidly growing economies such as China and India, executives are increasingly confident conditions are once again ripe for new projects. Qatar, the world’s largest LNG producer, is preparing to expand its facilities by around one third to produce 100-108 million tonnes per year (mtpa) by 2023-2024. “The glut that people see I don’t see … If you just count on being pessimistic about the market, and don’t build expansions, you will never catch that upside when the market is up,” Saad al-Kaabi, the head of Qatar Petroleum, told Reuters in May. The state-owned company expects long-standing partners Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and ConocoPhillips to help build and fund the new expansion phases as well as possibly new entrants, he said. A major change in the outlook happened after China strongly boosted imports of LNG in recent years to reduce coal burn in its fight against pollution. “The supply-demand balance definitely looks more favorable towards producers these days,” said Philippe Sauquet, the head of gas at France’s Total, the world’s second largest LNG trader after Shell. “China will continue to make the real difference in demand. I don’t see them slowing down. They are shifting attention to building more and more infrastructure,” Sauquet told Reuters. GAS GAP The LNG market will require over 200 million tonnes per year of new supply through to 2030, or roughly 25-30 mtpa per year in new capacity additions to 2025, according to Bernstein. “We believe 60 mtpa needs to be sanctioned by 2020 and a further 100+ mtpa between 2020-2025 to ensure markets are adequately supplied,” Bernstein said. Liquefaction capacity additions are expected to fall sharply by the end of 2019 as newly commissioned plants reach their maximum capacity, according to Bernstein. The main source of growth is expected to come from the United States, where supplies rose sharply and prices plummeted with the expansion of shale drilling. Investors were highly critical of oil and gas companies earlier this decade as costs ballooned for many LNG projects under development such as Chevron’s $54 billion Gorgon project in western Australia, the most expensive in history, or Shell’s $14 billion Prelude LNG, the world’s largest floating structure. But with services costs still languishing in the wake of the 2014 slump and new technologies helping to simplify and improve designs, new projects are able to compete for capital. Executives also say they have learnt from past mistakes. NEW PROJECTS The renewed confidence in the outlook for LNG and the recovery in oil prices that has led to a surge in revenue for energy companies, boards are getting ready to invest. Exxon last year bought for $2.8 billion a 25 percent stake in Eni’s Rovuma development in Mozambique, which holds a massive estimated resource of 85 trillion cubic feet. Speaking to Reuters, Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi said partners in the project, Exxon, Korea Gas Corp and China National Petroleum Corporation [CNPET.UL], will take a final investment decision next year so it could be operational by 2023-2024. The project will produce 15 million tonnes of LNG per year, or 5 percent of global output. Shell, which acquired BG Group in 2016 for $54 billion to boost its gas output, is nearing a decision on the development of LNG Canada. It would be its first new LNG project since 2011. “We expect a supply gap in the gas market in the early 2020s … LNG Canada looks very promising,” Shell Chief Financial Officer Jessica Uhl said last month. Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said the Anglo-Dutch company expects the partners in the Nigeria LNG processing plant, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Shell, Total and Eni, to consider its expansion by the end of the year to increase its capacity to 30 mtpa. Shell’s British rival BP and its partner Kosmos Energy will decide on the development of the Tortue field off the coast of Senegal and Mauritania by next year. Global demand for LNG surged by 12 percent in 2017, far exceeding forecasts, and is expected to grow by up to 10 percent in 2018, according to analysts at Bernstein. Oil and gas companies have heralded LNG as the fossil fuel of the future thanks to its relatively low carbon emissions. Natural gas, the least polluting fossil fuel, is a key growth area for energy companies which see it playing a pivotal role in the world’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to fight global warming. For companies like Shell and BP, the share of gas production has surpassed that of oil in recent years. Jabaal Sheard Authentic Jersey
Ethanol blending to help India save Rs 12,000 crore on oil imports over four years
India will triple production of ethanol to 450 crore litres under its ethanol lending programme over the next four years leading to savings of Rs 12,000 crore worth of costly crude oil imports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. “We will produce 450 crore litre of ethanol in next four years from existing 141 crore litre. It will result in import savings of Rs 12,000 crore,” Modi said, addressing an event here to mark the World Biofuel Day. He also said that the country was able to save Rs 4,000 crore last financial year as a result of the programme. “The Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are spending Rs 10,000 crore to set up 12 second-generation ethanol plants aross the country. Each refinery will employ around 1,000-1,500 people,” the PM said. Modi as also said the government is trying to achieve ethanol blending ratio of 10 per cent by 2020 and 20 per cent by 2030. “The new biofuel policy will help farmers increase their income. The use of bio-fuel is the bridge between economic development and environment protection,” the PM said. He added the government is already in the process of setting up 700 biomass plants for energy generation under the Gobar Dhan Scheme. The PM also launched a web portal ‘Parivesh’ for speedy environment clearance of projects.