Panel begins work on preparing blueprint for refinery exports
An expert panel has begun work on drafting blueprint for raising India’s oil refining capacity by 2040 with a view not just meeting demands of the fast expanding economy but also to capture export market. The 12-member Working Group for preparing Approach Paper for enhancing refining capacity by 2040 held it first meeting on June 27, officials said. The panel began work by asking public and private sector refiners to present their plans for capacity expansion and asked for domestic demand assessments to be made. The panel headed by Additional Secretary in the Oil Ministry and include directors of refineries at Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL). It would also comprise of representatives of private sector Reliance Industries and Essar Oil besides managing directors of Numaligarh Refineries Ltd, Mangalore Refineries Ltd and Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL), officials said. India has a refining capacity of 232.066 million tons, which exceeded the demand of 183.5 MT in the 2015-16 fiscal. According to International Energy Agency (EA), this demand is forecast to reach 458 MT by 2040. Considering a modest fuel demand growth of 4 per cent, the present capacity will be insufficient in next few years. “India is one of the fastest developing countries in the world and simultaneously, the world energy demand is expected to double in the next 30 years with energy portfolio undergoing a transition to one that includes a wide range of sources,” said an oil ministry order constituting the Group. Officials said expansions underway will raise the refining capacity to about 260 MT by 2018. The rise in projected demand, the order said, paves the way for gradual shift towards renewable and cleaner fuels richer in hydrogen or to neat hydrogen. “It has been envisioned that the energy mix in 2040 could be entirely different from what it is today. Also, new capacities in petroleum refining will depend upon aggregation of demand from different petroleum derived products, which itself depends upon substitution by other forms of energy and government policies,” it said. It was felt that an approach paper for refinery capacity expansion of PSU refineries by the year 2040 needs to be prepared for meeting the growing demand of petroleum products in the country, the order said. Officials said the Working Group in three months would assess primary energy requirement for 2040 as also likely technological developments in different energy fields. It would then develop primary energy mix with breakup in terms of gas, oil, coal, nuclear, solar, hydro and biofuel. India has leapfrogged from a modest 62 million tons per annum refining capacity in 1998 to 232 MT at the end of March 31, 2016. Linval Joseph Authentic Jersey
OIL offers to do its bit for island village
Public sector oil company Oil India Limited (OIL) has come forward to develop the island village Lanka of Thane Lanka in Mummidivaram mandal of East Godavari district with an expected outlay of Rs. 15.50 million and handed over Rs. 5 million to the district administration towards the first instalment. Lanka of Thane Lanka has one of the eight gas wells allocated to OIL in East Godavari district and the engineers found the site suitable for high pressure and high temperature (HTHT) rigging. The OIL commenced the natural gas exploration works at the well in November last with the support from the local residents. Now, as part of fulfilling its corporate social responsibility, the OIL decided to contribute its mite for the development of the village and the surrounding areas. Deputy General Manager of the firm B. Prasantha handed over the cheque for Rs. 5 million to Collector H. Arun Kumar here. Accompanied by the CSR in-charge Ramakrishna, Prasantha called on Mr. Arun Kumar in the latter’s chambers and explained in detail the natural gas exploration operations by the OIL in the district. Lauding the firm’s initiative, Arun Kumar called upon the corporate companies to join hands with the district administration for the overall development of the district. Corey Seager Womens Jersey
GAIL begins gas supplies to Chinese wheel producer
GAIL India Ltd, the nation’s biggest natural gas transporter, has begun supplying gas to the India unit of the world’s largest automotive Aluminium wheel producer Wanfeng Group. Gas supplies to Wanfeng Aluminium Wheels (India) Pvt Ltd’s plant at Rewari in Haryana commenced on June 27, company sources said. The Rewari plant is the first overseas manufacturing facility of the Chinese company. Wanfeng invest about USD 50 million in the plant which will have an annual prod… Wanfeng invest about USD 50 million in the plant which will have an annual production capacity of 3 million motorcycle wheels. The plant which became operational last year will also produce other auto wheels. The Chinese Group produces 12 million automotive wheels a year and 18 million motorcycle wheels. Sources said gas supplies to the plant Rewari plant of the company was provided as part of government’s programme to push for manufacturing in the country through the ‘Make-in- India’ initiative. GAIL is supplying gas to the unit through Sultanpur-Neemrana gas pipeline. It will supply 25,500 standard cubic meters per day of gas for five years. The gas being supplied to Wanfeng is imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), sources said. The Rewari plant will manufacture alloy wheels for companies like Maruti Suzuki, Hero Moto Corp and Honda Motorcycle and Honda Car. Globally, Wanfeng’s main clients include General Motors, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, PSA, Fiat, Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai Kia Automotive Group Erik Haula Womens Jersey
Govt decides to extend budgetary grants to Gail, GSPC
The government has decided to extend budgetary grants to Gail India Ltd and Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC) to meet any shortfall in the cost of their pipeline projects, in a bid to speed up doubling the country’s gas transportation network over the next few years from 15,000km now. The agreement between the oil ministry and the finance ministry to help pipeline projects reach financial closure, along with the planned revival of three fertilizer factories that will buy natural gas from Gail, will aid the expansion of the country’s gas highway which has made little progress in the last two years, said a government official who is involved in the discussions. Problems relating to project viability, absence of anchor customers for natural gas along the pipeline and political opposition from southern states—Tamil Nadu and Kerala—had delayed India’s ambitious plan to expand the pipeline network. That situation is changing now. “Reviving the state-owned fertilizer factories at Sindri in Jharkhand, Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh and Barauni in Bihar will provide anchor gas customers to the Phulpur (Allahabad)-Haldia pipeline project of Gail. The finance ministry has agreed to provide budgetary support to bridge the shortfall in covering the project cost of this and other pipeline projects,” said the official quoted above, asking not to be identified. This project is divided into different phases and, once completed, will transport 16 million metric standard cubic metres of gas per day along a 1700km route, supplying fuel to industrial units and facilitating city gas distribution. State-owned NTPC Ltd and Coal India Ltd announced setting up of a joint venture on 17 May to build new gas-based fertilizer units in the premises of Fertilizer Corp. of India’s (FCIL) Sindri and Gorakhpur units and Hindustan Fertilizer Corp. Ltd’s Barauni unit, which will help these ailing companies. Indian Oil Corp. is in the process of joining the project. The ministries initially considered supporting the pipeline projects with viability gap funding, a scheme to provide capital support to infrastructure projects built through public-private partnerships, but instead decided to give direct budgetary support because finding a private partner will be time consuming, the official said. Grant from the government could be up to 35% or 40% of the project cost as per the requirement, said the official. An email sent to Gail on Wednesday remained unanswered. A gas transportation network across the country is essential for enabling many fertilizer units to replace naphtha (a liquid hydrocarbon) with more efficient gas as feedstock and many power plants to move from diesel to the less polluting gas. Shifting to a gas-based economy is part of India’s climate change plan. Part of the land acquisition problem for Gail in the south for its 884km Kochi-Koottanad-Bengaluru-Mangalore pipeline looks set to be solved with the new Left Democratic Front chief minister in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, promising land use rights for projects of economic importance, including gas pipelines. Vijayan told Mint in an interview on 21 June that the state has limited land available and when people give it up for infrastructure projects, they have to be sufficiently compensated. Gail only acquires the right to use land and returns it to the owner after laying underground pipelines. The owner gets a percentage of the market value of the land as compensation. A host of small industries along the pipeline’s route in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are expected to get clean fuel once the project is completed. Tamil Nadu still opposes about 300km of the pipeline which passes through the state. Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in an interview to Mint on 15 March that new terminals are being built at Ennore in Tamil Nadu, Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and Dhamra in Odisha to re-gasify imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) which will boost availability of the clean fuel. The other gas transportation network being built will connect Ranchi to Paradip, Paradip to Surat and Mallavaram to Bhilwada. India produced 32 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas and imported 21 bcm in 2015-16. Jake McGee Jersey
With black-marketing curbs, LPG imports see 30% jump
India’s LPG imports grew by a whopping 29.5% in May 2016 against the same month the previous year. The LPG imports in May this year stood at 35.6 thousand metric ton (tmt) against 27.5 tmt in May 2015. India’s LPG imports grew by a whopping 29.5% in May 2016 against the same month the previous year. The LPG imports in May this year stood at 35.6 thousand metric ton (tmt) against 27.5 tmt in May 2015. The total consumption of LPG has risen by 7.4% in May this year at 1607.5 tmt compared to 1496.6 tmt in the same month previous year. The buyers in the non-domestic or commercial category consumed 130 tmt of cooking fuel in May this year, a rise of 21.5% against 107 tmt in the same month previous year. This indicated that with the diversion of subsidised domestic LPG to them being curbed, commercial category consumers have come clean on their consumption. Similarly, the bulk consumption of LPG went up by 22% at 31.5 tmt in May 2016 against 25.8 tmt in May 2015. The only consumers who saw a 4.8% decline in LPG consumption is automobiles. A non-domestic 19.2-kg LPG refill costs R979 in New Delhi. The siphoning-off of cheaper and subsidised cooking gas meant for households towards commercial usage has stopped after the government launched a scheme — PAHAL — for direct transfer of LPG subsidy to consumers all over the country from January 1, 2015. Under this scheme, LPG is being sold to consumers at the market rate while the subsidy is directly credited to their bank accounts. Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, while talking about two years of the BJP government in power, had said more than Rs. 210 billion of subsidy has been saved by implementing PAHAL. In addition to stopping black marketing of cheap LPG, 33.4 million duplicate, inactive, ghost accounts were detected and blocked. The consumption saw a rise of modest 5.7% in the biggest consuming category of LPG — domestic. The users in this category consumed 1396.5 tmt of LPG in May 2016 against 1321.7 tmt in May 2015. Currently, a domestic subsidised 14.2-kg LPG refill costs R419.18 in New Delhi and the government offers a cash discount of another R129.32 on each refill. More than 15 million consumers have opted to buy cooking fuel at market rates and do not enjoy any subsidy. A non-subsidied domestic LPG refill costs R548.50 in the Capital. During 2014-16, 36.6 million new LPG connections, including 6.5 million connections to BPL households, were provided – the highest ever in the history of India. Pradhan targets to provide 100 million new LPG connections in the next three years, out of which, 50 million connections are for BPL households under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). To meet the growing demand of LPG, 10,000 new distributorships will be commissioned, primarily in rural areas, said the petroleum minister, adding that LPG coverage would increase significantly from the current level of 61%. Currently, India produces about 11 million ton or about 60% is produced indigenously, while remaining 40% are imported. Tim Schaller Womens Jersey
Chennai airport registers record cargo throughput in April & May
In the first two months of the current financial year, there has been a marked improvement in both cargo throughput and revenue from cargo handling at Chennai airport. Cargo handling at airport increased by 32 per cent to a total of 42,765 tonnes up to May as against 31,649 tonnes in the same period last year. Revenue from cargo handling increased by 22 per cent to ?27 crore in the first two months as against ?22 crore in the same period last year, said a press release from Chennai airport. Higher import Major importers such as Nokia Solutions, Lenovo, Foxconn, Nissan and BMW have increased their cargo volume at the airport. “We have been consistently reviewing our procedures so that the ease of doing business at the airport is increased and results in increased volume,” said the release. The airport has facilitated single-window clearance introduced by the Customs at the air cargo complex, which is now functioning effectively. As per the advance planning to clear import cargo, major automobile, electronics and other manufacturing industries can forward their day-to-day clearance plan to Airports Authority of India in advance and in turn their cargo will be kept in readiness for delivery without wasting time for locating the consignments. This has facilitated many major import units to plan for their timely delivery, the release said. The airport has also introduced “self-feeding” of consolidated data by respective agents without depending on AAI officials. A separate counter with computer terminals has been set up in the public dealing area on 24×7 basis. On an average, 50-100 consol related entries are fed in by the break bulk agents before finalisation of the flight segregation, the release said. Mike Singletary Jersey
UP government releases funds to expand Ganga Canal road
Uttar Pradesh government has released Rs 66 crore for the expansion of the Ganga Canal road to double lane. The executive engineer of PWD Department Dharam Prakash told reporters today that the 108 km-long Ganga canal road would be expanded to double lane fom the existing single lane. He said funds to the tune of Rs 165 crore have been sanctioned for the project. The road connects Uttarakhand and Muradnagar in the state. This project, which would be competed in 2017, would facilitate easy passage of the ‘Kawad’ pilgrims and reduce the traffic burden on Delhi-Haridwar National Highway. Construction work on the project has been started. David Perron Womens Jersey
Government asks LIC to fund road expansion projects
The Indian government will be leaning on the stateowned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), India’s largest insurer, to fund its ambitious road expansion plans and the insurer is set to open its purse strings for highways development, boosting the government’s aim to step up road construction to 40 kms a day. The road transport and highways ministry hopes to sign an agreement with LIC for the purchase of annual bonds issued by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). In the current financial year, LIC is likely to subscribe NHAI bonds worth at least Rs 10,000 crore, a senior road transport and highways ministry official said and an agreement to the effect is expected to be signed soon. The ministry will use the money raised through LIC for four-laning of highway projects. Roads transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari confirmed that his ministry was in talks with LIC to raise funds. LIC did not respond to email query sent by ET. The highways ministry has set a daily road construction target of 40 kms. The finance ministry has allowed NHAI to raise bonds worth Rs 50,000 crore other than Rs 15,000 crore through tax-free bonds. The Nitin Gadkari ministry has been in talks with LIC for raising money for almost six months. It had earlier sought Rs 50,000 crore in various tranches from the stateowned life insurer. “We are finalising the contours of the agreement. LIC has assured us that they would subscribe to NHAI bonds,” an official with the ministry said. In the current financial year, the government plans to undertake the construction of 15,000 kms of national highways that would cost around Rs 1.5 lakh crore, while the ministry has received a budgetary allocation of Rs 57,000 crore. MASALA BONDS NHAI is also planning to raise at least Rs 7,000 crore through masala bonds. Masala bonds refer to rupee denominated bonds, which are issued overseas. The money raised would mostly be used for constructing by-passes along the national highways. “We are consulting SBI Caps and plan to come up with an expression of interest soon. We will look at raising the money at the least borrowing cost of around 5%,” the official said. However, masala bonds are yet to take off months after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified the rules for them. As many as six companies have tried, but eventually declined, to issue these bonds, citing high costs. “Masala bonds are yet to take off as they are extremely challenging. If the road ministry is successful at raising them, it could pave way for other infrastructure initiatives as well,” said Jaijit Bhattacharya, partner at KPMG. Nick Markakis Authentic Jersey
All cities in Punjab to be connected with 4-6 lanes by 2017: Sukhbir Singh Badal
Pitching for all-round development in Punjab, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today announced that all the major cities and towns of the state would be connected with 4-6 lane roads by 2017. The SAD-BJP government is laying an extensive road network, a prerequisite to development, making Punjab the second state in the country to have a road network of such a broad scale, he said. Addressing a Sangat Darshan programme here, Sukhbir said special attention has been paid to develop the road infrastructure around Moga which would soon get another impetus as the construction of the Hoshiarpur-Jalandhar-Moga-Barnala road has already begun, thus providing a vital link in connecting Doaba and Malwa regions, adding that the project would cost around Rs 1,500 crore. The Deputy Chief Minister said the SAD-BJP government has been the “harbinger of massive development and prosperity” in Punjab in the last nine years which is amply clear from the state achieving a ‘power surplus’ status. He said power production has doubled in the state with the investment of Rs 23,520 crore, besides spending Rs 4,000 crore on development and facelift of cities and towns which would ensure sewerage and clean drinking water facilities, thus giving a boost to infrastructure. Talking about the state government’s initiatives in the farming sector, Sukhbir said the process to disburse new tubewell connections has commenced and soon enough, the needy farmers would have power-run motors installed in their fields. He said the free health insurance scheme has been running successfully in the state as 23,000 people have availed the benefits. Badal exuded confidence that riding on its development plank, the SAD-BJP coalition would score a “hat-trick” in the 2017 Assembly polls in Punjab. He alleged that in spite of the “long list of achievements” of the state government, the political rivals are deliberately playing a “devious game” to “defame” Punjab. He said, first the Sikhs were branded as “terrorists” and now, the entire Punjabi community is being painted as “drug addicts” thanks to a “deep-rooted conspiracy”. Badal said a drive to fill 7,000 vacancies in posts of constables in the police department has begun with the receipt of 5.5 lakh applications. He also said dope tests would be conducted on the eligible candidates and the result would be a “befitting reply” to the “anti-Punjab and anti-development” forces. Duron Harmon Womens Jersey
Retail real estate back in favour with PE investors
India’s retail real estate sector received $149 million or about Rs 1,000 crore of private equity investment in the first five months of 2016, according to a report by JLL India. This accounted for 8% of the total PE investment in India during the period, beating expectations of most analysts and marking a turnaround after the lack of investor interest since 2008 baring the singular exception of 2012. With PE investment in the segment exceeding that in 2007, some experts said it might well cross the previous high seen in 2008. “India’s growing reputation across the globe as an investment destination thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s jaunts, coupled with the slowdown in China’s economy, has led to an upswing in private equity investment flowing into the country,” said Shobhit Agarwal, managing director, capital markets at JLL India. Experts said that the government’s efforts to make real estate sector and various sub-segments of it more competitive and organised are yielding results. Infrastructure development around retail hubs will push the growth further and attract more funds inflow, they said. “With the simultaneous growth in quality real estate and infrastructure, Indian retail sector can prove to be a game changer, if developed in a planned manner. It is important that the development of organised retail is done in line with the infrastructural developments in that area, in order to maintain the much needed equilibrium, especially in urban areas,” said Rubi Arya, executive vice chairman of Milestone Capital Advisors. Arya said the recent relaxations in FDI norms will attract many foreign retail brands, thus increasing the need for quality spaces. Access to public transport, parking facilities and closeness to upcoming residential zones will prove catalysts for retail to flourish, she said. Suresh Sunagaravelu, executive director retail, hospitality and new business at Prestige Estates Projects said, “There will be traction from private equity funds once real estate investment trust takes off in the country.” The company, which operates malls under Forum brand, plans to have 3 million sq ft of mall space ready by 2018. One deal accounted for the investment received till May, with Singapore-based GIC investing $149 million in Sheth Developers’ Viviana mall at Thane. Another major deal is in progress, with a US private equity fund looking to buy a large retail project in Navi Mumbai. The industry expects more investments to come in owing to improvement in consumer sentiment amid faster economic growth. “Coupled with economic stability, FDI policy liberalisation by the Modi government and improvement in the consumer sentiment are some of the factors expected to help global brands witness a very conducive environment for investment into Indian retail and retail real estate sectors,” Agarwal said. Quality mall space coming up with strong pre-commitments indicates that retailers continue to remain bullish about the long-term India consumption story, he said. Chad Kelly Authentic Jersey