New US flight rules: Indian authorities await official word
Indian aviation authorities will wait for official communication from the US before deciding on whether to issue any travel advisory following the American government’s ban on big electronic devices in cabin baggage on flights from select Middle East and African nations. In a new order, the American government has barred travellers going to the US on flights from select countries from carrying large electronic devices like cameras and laptops as cabin baggage. As per the restrictions, passengers would have to check-in any devices bigger than a smartphone — including iPads, Kindles and laptops — before clearing security or boarding. The latest decision of the US administration is “more of a security issue rather than a safety issue”, a senior DGCA official told PTI. There is no official communication so far from the US authorities in this regard, he added. Since the matter pertains more to security aspects, a decision on whether to issue any kind of travel advisory is likely to be taken by the BCAS after discussions, the DGCA official said. Only after getting an official communication from the US, any decision would be taken, he added. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is primarily responsible for the safety aspects while the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) deals with the security issues. The open-ended ban would affect more than 50 flights from 10 airports, including major global hubs like Dubai and Istanbul, according to senior administration officials. Many flights to the US transit through the airports which have been included in the restrictions list. There is a possibility that Indian travellers transiting through these airports would have to comply with the new US norms. The 10 international airports covered under the ban are in Cairo, Egypt; Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UAE; Istanbul, Turkey; Doha, Qatar; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City; Casablanca, Morocco; and Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Samuel Morin Womens Jersey
“Transparency, fair trade will boost aviation”
The global aviation market is booming. A strong growth in passenger traffic in 2016, especially in India, has prompted both domestic and foreign airlines to focus more on the Indian aviation sector. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), passenger traffic rose 6.3 per cent in 2016, which is above the 10-year average annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent. The fourth-largest carrier in terms of total passengers carried on international routes, as per IATA, Lufthansa, which is the largest foreign carrier group operating between India and Europe – with a market share of 15 per cent, recently made Delhi its first global destination to launch the commercial service of its most modern long-haul aircraft, Airbus A350-900. In a conversation with Business Today’s Rajeev Dubey and Manu Kaushik, Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, and Wolfgang Will, Senior Director, South Asia, Lufthansa Group Airlines, spoke about the emerging trends in international aviation markets and Lufthansa’s India plans. Edited excerpts: Do you think the worst is over for the globalaviation industry? Which way is it headed now in terms of profitability? What about theconsolidation happening all over the world? Carsten Spohr: Let us start with the global perspective. First of all, this industry has never been safer than it is today. This is always worth mentioning when we talk about aviation. Second, the industry has been able to return its cost of capital on a global scale last year, and has been growing faster than the GDP [gross domestic product] around the world. From the global perspective, we are seeing better years than we probably had seen for a long time. It is obvious where markets are as open as they are fair. The markets where consolidation is taking place show better results than those parts of the world where competition is distorted by government subsidies or lack of consolidation. We will hopefully see more consolidation, like in the US, and more level-playing field in parts of the world where we don’t have it yet. How do you see the Indian market in this context, especially the capping of fares at `2,500 fordomestic flights with duration of up to two hours? As a frequent visitor to India, I am glad to see how well the country has understood the importance of aviation for a healthy economy. Obviously, there are huge challenges. Infrastructure is always a challenge when you have fast growth. India needs to make sure that this is a healthy and competitive industry. Again, wherever in the world we are, and in whichever industry we are in, trade can only be as open as it is fair, and that’s what regulators have to provide. With that, and the dynamics we see in this market, which is bigger than anywhere else in the world, we definitely see a healthier development of the aviation sector in India than we have seen for a long time. How do you see capping of fares? To be honest, as someone who doesn’t operate domestically, I leave this to Indian experts, who know more about it than I do. It’s probably not an issue for a global European carrier to get involved with. When you talk about government subsidies, we assume you are referring to some Middle East airlines. How much of a disruption is that for the global aviation industry? I think it’s a huge element of disruption. I see airlines from Europe and Asia leaving routes between Europe and Asia. The WTO [principles] apply to industries all over the world but aviation. We may not be able to bring aviation under the WTO, but nothing keeps us from applying the WTO principles. That’s our expectation from governments around the world, including the European Union, which is now assuming a stronger role in negotiating aviation. Is it [subsidy] largely a Middle East problem or does it happen in other parts of the world too? When it comes to the network of Lufthansa, the biggest impact comes from the Gulf… It’s a global industry, so we should have a global agreement thatopenness and fairness are in stable relationship with each other. The biggest subsidies come in which form – capital funding or pricing? There are various forms of subsidies around the world. The US carriers talk about subsidies of 41 billion euros for one region – the Gulf. In the end, it doesn’t matter which form of subsidy is given. We need to have fairness for all players in one particular market, and that’s how other industries have worked. How will the rise in global fuel prices impact airlines? How are you gearing up for a crude price hike? We should not be too nervous because the recent increase in fuel prices takes us nowhere near the high we have seen before. This industry has always been able to react to changes, even disruptive changes. I think what we are seeing right now is not unhealthy but something in the range of what we have seen over many years. I am not at all pessimistic about 2017. Has fuel cost as a percentage of total cost gone down? You do hedging to take care of fuel prices. If oil prices keep rising, do you have some mechanism to keep your profits intact? The Lufthansa group has shown healthy profits over the past years with varying fuel prices. One way for us to stabilise ourselves is hedging. One very important answer to high fuel price is modernisation of Lufthansa. We are introducing 40 new aircraft this year; we introduced 46 last year. The A350, which brought me here, uses 25 per cent less fuel per seat, and generates 50 per cent less noise. That’s the answer of Lufthansa. Modernisation is the answer to challenges. Of course, you need to be healthy to be able to make those investments. We are spending more than€2 billion euros a year on new aircraft and modernising Lufthansa, which not only
Airfares in India among ‘lowest’ globally, says Jayant Sinha
India has one of the lowest and “most competitive” airfares in the world despite high cost of planes and fuel, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said on Wednesday. “These are the two most important costs for an airline. Our taxes are also quite high,” said the Minister of State for Civil Aviation. “But when you look at pricing in India, as far as Indian airlines are concerned, I can assure you that we are among the lowest and most competitive air fares in the world,” he added. In efforts to make air travel more affordable as well as connect unserved and under-served airports, the government has come out with the regional connectivity scheme. Under the scheme — UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) — fares are capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights. “Our effort is to provide air services at an affordable cost and the regional connectivity scheme UDAN is aimed at that only,” Sinha said. At an event organised by All India Management Association (AIMA), Sinha said the country’s economy is delivering high quality products and services at very affordable prices for the consumers. “We are frugal economy because we are poor country… So we have to deliver product and services at price points which are affordable. This forces us to really think about affordability and cost management at all the time,” he noted. In terms of purchasing power parity, India’s GDP is around $8 trillion while it is about $18 trillion for both the US and China. According to Sinha, India is growing at 7-8 per cent while the US is expanding at 2.5 per cent and in the case of China the growth rate is pegged at 6 per cent. “It effectively means that the contribution that the Indian economy is going to make in the next decade in terms of relative contribution of growth rate of the US economy, is 180 per cent,” he noted. Further, he said that India’s contribution to global GDP growth in PPP terms in the next decade would be almost twice what the US is going to add. “…It is 60 per cent of China, which is still going to be larger. But we are 60 per cent of China, which is a much larger piece of $18 trillion,” he added. Martin Hanzal Jersey
Ministry of Power Issued More Than 38 Lakhs Energy Savings Certificates To Industries
Ministry of Power has issued/entitled to purchase Energy Savings Certificates (ESCerts) to Designated Consumers (DCs) of Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) Cycle I on 16th February 2017 on verification of their performance with regard to energy savings, based on the recommendations of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The first cycle of PAT has been completed in March 2015. The DCs have contributed to the success of PAT cycle I and this cycle has witnessed an energy saving of 8.67 million tonne of oil equivalent (Mtoe) against the targeted energy saving of 6.886 Mtoe which is about 30% more than the target. This cycle also contributed in emission reduction of 31 million tonnes of CO2 and avoided generation of about 5,635 MW resulting in monetary savings of Rs. 37,685 crore. It has also contributed in investment of Rs. 24,517 crore for energy efficient technologies by DCs under PAT. PAT is a multi-cycle scheme aimed to cover most of the energy intensive sectors of the economy. In this regard currently in the PAT cycle II, 621 DCs from 11 sectors have been included in the scheme. Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under Ministry of Power is implementing Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme, a component under National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) in India. PAT is a market based mechanism to enhance cost effectiveness through certification of excess energy savings in energy intensive industries that can be traded. PAT scheme was launched in 2012 with first PAT cycle (2012-15) covering 478 Designated Consumers (DCs) from 8 energy-intensive sectors, namely Aluminium, Cement, Chlor-alkali, Fertilizer, Iron and Steel, Pulp and Paper, Textiles and Thermal power plant which roughly covered 33% of India’s total energy consumption. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is the Market Regulator and Bureau of Energy Efficiency is Administrator for the trading of ESCerts. POSOCO (Power System Operation Corporation limited) has been appointed as Registry for making DCs as eligible entities for trading of ESCerts and book-keeping of ESCerts. There are two power exchanges i.e. IEX and PXIL where trading of ESCerts shall take place. CERC has already approved the Procedure for Transaction of Energy Savings Certificates (ESCerts) on 14th Feb 2017. BEE shall soon inform the date of opening of Registration to all DCs along with the fee details, after the same is approved by CERC. Trading/transaction of ESCerts shall be done on continuous basis i.e. every Tuesday on weekly basis. Trading of ESCerts at power exchanges is expected to start from April 2017. Marshawn Lynch Jersey
Hyderabad:Transco & discoms want to continue with current tariff
Coming close on the heels of chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s statement in the assembly that he has rejected the tariff hike proposal, the Telangana Transco and discoms has written to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) seeking an extension of the existing power tariff. The discoms submitted that since the financial year is coming to an end and the new tariff has not yet been fixed, orders from the ERC are needed to continue the existing tariff.Discoms require a fresh order allowing the continuation of power tariff that was fixed in 2016 without which the collection of power bills would not be tenable. “We requested the ERC to give orders to continue the present tariff for at least three months starting from April, 2017. Basing on the ERC decision, we would move forward.The tariff fixation issue is still with the state government,” said a senior official in the energy department. In another letter, the Transco and discoms also requested the ERC to give time till April 15 to them to submit the tariff proposals. Even to continue the current tariff, the power utilities have to submit the proposal and get them approved by the ERC. It may be recalled that chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced on the floor of the assembly that he would not be game for a power tariff hike in the coming fiscal. Power experts pointed that there is nothing like `no tariff hike’ in the era of UDAY. The state government recently joined the Central scheme to divert 75 per cent of its `11,850 crore debt. “One of the condition to join the UDAY scheme is to agree for regular revision of power tariff based on the revenue and expenditure. After joining the UDAY scheme, no state can opt for a holiday for the tariff hike. If it does not want to increase the power tariff, it has to allot the revenue gap amount in the budget. In the present case, the state has allotted only `4,203 crore against a revenue gap of `8,500 crore,” explained an official. The Electricity Act of 2003 also made it mandatory to provide financial commitment by the state government if it does not want to raise the tariff. Meanwhile, ERC officials expedited the exercise to find out the actual revenue gap of the power utilities. They are burning the midnight oil to check the rationality in the figures submitted in the Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) by the Transco and discoms. Adrian Colbert Womens Jersey
Energy boost for Uttar Pradesh: Solar power park, panels in the offing
The district is fast emerging as a solar energy hub. As per the clearance given by UPNEDA (Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Agency), different institutions of the district have been picked up for installation of solar panels. The institutions would even be selling the surplus solar energy to the northern grid. Along the lines of a project at Gujarat, an area of 100 hectare has been identified at Kosada village of Meja tehsil on which a solar park is being constructed to produce 50 Megawatt of energy. The work for installing solar panels has already begun. With most of the work done, the park would become functional by August, said Mohammad Shahid, an engineer of NEDA. Besides, there are several institutions which have either started installing solar panels or have executed the work order for fixing them on rooftops. The terrace of Vikas Bhawan has solar panels through which 70KW of electricity is being produced. Funds worth around Rs 75 lakh have been sanctioned for installing solar panels at Police Lines which would produce 130KW of electricity in the coming days. The office of commissioner Allahabad division would be installed with the system for producing 50KW of electricity. Adding to the overall production of energy through solar power, the rooftops of the building of Allahabad high court will also have solar panels which would produce 300KW of electricity. The building of Allahabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) would produce 110KW of electricity. IIIT-A would be installing a 300 KW rooftop plant connected to the power grid at the boys’ hostel. Nearly 940 solar panels and 10 invertors will be installed on the roof of Fifth Boys Hostel of the institute that would start generation of power from May. Anthony Miller Authentic Jersey
Dharmendra Pradhan seeks to allay protests over oilfields development in Tamilnadu
Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan today met a delegation of villagers from Neduvasal in Tamilnadu protesting the recent award of oil and gas projects in the area. He was accompanied by commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Road transport, Highways and Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan. The villagers of Neduvasal have been up in arms since February over the recently approved oil and gas extraction contract given to Gem Laboratories under discovered small field bidding round. The protests started after the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) granted approval to projects to extract hydrocarbons in 31 contract areas across the country including two in the southern state. “Assured the delegation that the government will not unilaterally produce oil there without addressing their concerns in consultation with the TN government,” Pradhan said in a tweet after meeting the delegation from Neduvasal village. The minister also said in a separate statement in Parliament today the operator company has to obtain the requisite Mining Lease transferred from ONGC through the State Government for starting any petroleum activity. “After the grant or transfer of lease, to start any actual operations the operators will have to get requisite environmental clearances from State Government or Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change by following the prescribed process which may involve public hearing also,” he said in Lok Sabha. He informed that some local people and organizations have submitted representations and also filed two petitions in National Green Tribunal (NGT), Southern Zone, Chennai objecting the award of discovered small fields expressing apprehension regarding their possible environmental impact. The awarded projects will be taken up after following the requisite process including obtaining environmental clearances, Pradhan said. According to information available on the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) website, Gem Laboratory Pvt Ltd, a new entrant in the hydrocarbon sector, has been given in-principle approval to extract oil and gas from a contract area in the Neduvasal village containing 1,243 million standard cubic feet (MMSCF) of gas and 2,785 thousand barrels of oil. Also, Bharat Petro Resources Ltd (BPRL) has been given in-principle approval to extract oil and gas from Karaikal village in the same state. Adrian Amos Womens Jersey
Cabinet approves policy for extension of oilfields contracts to attract $5.4 billion investments
The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved a new policy that allows extension of Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) governing exploration blocks awarded in the pre-New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) regime before 1999. “During the extension period, the contractors are expected to make an additional investment of more than $5.4 billion,” said an official statement, adding the recoverable reserves from these blocks are estimated to be more than 426 million barrel of oil equivalent. The decision comes as a major positive for Vedanta-owned Cairn India Ltd that operates India’s largest onland block at Barmer in Rajasthan. The 25-year lease period for the block — RJ-ON-90/1—expires in May 2020. The contract provides for a mutually-agreed 10-year extension if gas is being produced commercially. Commercial production of gas from the field commenced in 2013. Cairn India holds a 70 per cent stake in the Rajasthan block while ONGC owns 30 per cent. The PSC extension of the block has the potential to add another 250 million barrels of oil equivalent into its reserves. The company had earlier approached the Delhi High Court seeking its intervention for an early decision on the extension of the PSC. The court has asked the government to come up with a decision soon. Based on the new policy, the government’s share of Profit Petroleum – proceeds from the sale of hydrocarbon that the company shares with government — during the extended period of contract would be 10 per cent higher for these fields, thus bringing additional revenues to government. In addition, the policy brings out detailed guidelines regarding grant of extension, criteria for evaluation of request, time-frame for consideration of request and the duration of extension. “This policy will enable the contractors to extract not only the remaining reserves but also plan to extract additional reserves by implementing new technologies. In certain fields, additional recovery of hydrocarbons can be obtained through Enhanced Oil Recovery or Improved Oil Recovery (EOR/IOR) Projects and as such the production would extend beyond the current duration of PSC,” the official statement read. Oil and gas blocks allotted in the pre-NELP regime produced around 55 million barrel of oil and 965 million standard cubic meter (mmscm) of natural gas in the current financial year between April 2016 and February 2017. Mark Messier Jersey
Petroleum Ministry seeks integration road map from state-run oil companies
The oil ministry has directed state oil firms to prepare a roadmap for creating integrated firms. Oil secretary Kapil Dev Tripathi held a short meeting with the chairmen of state oil firms last week and asked them to submit their respective plans for integration within weeks, according to the people present in the meeting. Top executives of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and GAIL attended. In their plan, companies have to indicate who they will prefer to combine with and what kind of synergy that will bring, a person privy to the meeting said. The ministry has undertaken this exercise as a follow up to finance minister Arun Jaitley’s budget speech where he announced the government’s intent of restructuring state oil firms to create an integrated oil major. Last month, media reports, citing unnamed top officials, said the government planned to sell its entire equity stake in HPCL to ONGC, helping build a company that will have a presence across the industry value chain. The reports also said all other state oil firms will remain untouched. The idea of merging state oil firms is more than a decade old and was resurrected in the middle of last year when the Cabinet Secretariat referred the matter to the oil ministry. But it made little progress until the budget announcement, which has prompted consultation with oil companies. The idea of creating an integrated oil major germinated outside the oil ministry, and so it is entirely possible that the key decisions regarding this will be made outside, officials familiar with the matter said. Therefore, its not necessary that the plans state oil companies present will actually get adhered to, and the government may just direct them according to what it thinks is the best way to create an integrated player, the officials said. Jalin Marshall Jersey
State-owned oil firms surpass combined annual capex targets
State-owned firms have beat their capex targets which had been set for the running financial year. These 11 state-owned firms expended over the target of Rs 876.03 billion. As shown in the data furnished by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, during the period of April-February, these firms disbursed Rs 917.81 billion as their capital expenditures, which is excessive on account of 2014-2015. The companies like ONGC, Oil India Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., Indian Oil, Videsh Ltd., Numaligarh Refinery Ltd., Balmer Lawrie Co. Ltd., and Oil India, have surpassed their capex targets. The GoI has taken a bold step in supporting PSU oil firms to upgrade the investments, while it is being noticed that there is a slowdown in private sector investment, and thus the powerful demand and certain policy plans have helped to raise the investment opportunities in the Oil and Gas sector. Michael Roberts Authentic Jersey