Sri Lanka may approve two blocks for exploration and drilling: PRDS
Sri Lanka could shortly approve petroleum exploration and drilling for two blocks in the Cauvery basin, as bidders in the 2013 licensing round have recommitted to their bids, a government official said. “The government has already gone through the approval process for these bids, and bidders have recommitted to their bids,” Saliya Wickramasuriya, director general of the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat, told Lanka Business Online. Although the award of exploration blocks will require fresh cabinet approval, both the Petroleum Development Resources Committee and Minister of Petroleum Resources Development have given their approval to this step, he said. He added that while the current industry slump and lack of new data does not support a full-blown Licensing Round just yet, the Government had decided to make these awards based on work programmes committed during the international licensing round of 2013 with the intention of expediently re-commencing petroleum activity in Sri Lanka. Last year, Cairn India announced its withdrawal from Mannar Basin natural gas exploration following the global petroleum price slump. Cairn made this decision even though the economics within Sri Lanka could justify the investment in exploration. Sri Lanka is now preparing a national energy policy that brings together both petroleum resources development and power generation, Wickramasuriya added. “The planned award is for two blocks out of twenty. The parties have committed to maintain or accelerate their work programme, partly assisted by the prevailing lower prices of goods and services in the industry. This means it’s possible that we might see drilling commence within this year.” Extensive data has been collected from seismic surveys and previously drilled wells in the Cauvery basin, he said. This data explains the reasons for why those earlier wells missed their targets. This means that today drillers can be more confident about their prospects. “We have a good potential mix of oil, gas and condensate. The discoveries made recently in the Mannar basin were not of crude oil, but of gas and condensate, however large potentially crude-filled structures indicated on seismic are amongst our priority targets for the future.” Torry Holt Jersey
NOC plans to import additional 10,000 tons of LPG in July
The country will import an additional 10,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in July as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has pledged to conclude all the procedural stipulations within this week to provide the additional quantity from Paradeep refinery of Odisha state. IOC has promised additional supply to Nepal to make up for the shortfall caused during the disruptions in supply lines from India that has caused a prolonged crisis. The country is entirely reliant on the southern neighbour for fuel import. Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has said that additional quantity will be imported through regular process by LPG bottlers. Mukunda Prasad Ghimire, spokesman of NOC, informed that product delivery order (PDO) to gas bottlers will be issued from this week after it receives a letter to that effect from IOC. “Most probably we will able to send gas bullets to receive load from Paradeep from next week,” said Ghimire. The additional quantity from India is expected to end the erratic distribution of the cooking fuel because consumers are still compelled to keep their cylinders in queue to get LPG. Demand for cooking gas always increases during the festive season and peaks during winter season, as per Ghimire. “That is why NOC needs to increase the supply in the domestic market before the onset of the festive season.” However, LPG bottlers have been reluctant to import cooking gas from Paradeep, which is 1,039 km from Birgunj. They have sought compensation from NOC because transport fare would rise while importing LPG from Paradeep. They claim that the existing price of cooking gas will not cover the cost incurred while importing the commodity from Paradeep. “NOC should either compensate gas bottlers or increase the market price of cooking gas slightly for a certain period,” said Shiva Prasad Ghimire, president of Nepal LP Gas Industry Association (NLPGIA). “Without any concrete decision from NOC, we will refuse to accept the PDO.” Currently, bottlers have been importing cooking gas from Barauni, Haldia and Mathura. Ghimire, who heads the NLPGIA, said a bullet can transport LPG only two times in a month from Paradeep. “We will need to lease more bullets to transport cooking fuel from Paradeep,” he said. NOC Spokesman Ghimire has said that NLPGIA’s claim is false because the price of LPG is slightly lower in Paradeep than the price of LPG that bottlers have been receiving from Haldia. “The difference in the price of cooking gas in Paradeep and Haldia will cover the transportation cost,” according to him. The distance to Paradeep from Birgunj is 200 km more than to Haldia. NOC has said that it has not yet spoken to bottlers regarding importing cooking gas from Paradeep because IOC has yet to clear some procedures including route permit, among others. “Once we receive a letter from IOC to dispatch our gas bullets, we will invite bottlers and hold discussions on it,” said Ghimire. Currently, the country consumes around 27,000 tons of cooking gas every month but it goes up to 30,000 tons during the festive season and in winter. As per NOC, IOC’s refineries, which are allowed to dispatch load to Nepal are not able to increase supply of above 30,000 tons in a month. “We have to talk to IOC for regular supply from other refineries as well because demand of cooking gas has been surging by 13 per cent every year,” according to NOC. Rashaad Penny Womens Jersey
AP Govt inks deal for Rs 10k-cr gas-based fertilizer project
The Andhra Pradesh government today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a three-nation consortium of China Huanqin Contracting and Engineering Corporation, LEPL Ventures Private Limited and Isomeric Holdingsto set-up a gas-based fertilizer project atKrishnapatanamwith an investment of Rs 101.83 billion. The MoU was signed during Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s ongoing visit to China, wherein he was participating in the World Economic Forum’s 10th annual meeting of New Champions in Tianjin. This proposed year of commencement for the project is 2017-18, a release from the CMO here said. This project will help generate 5,000 thousand jobs, the release said. China Huanqiu, headquartered in Beijing, is an affiliate of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Isomeric Holdingsis a Malaysian company with expertise in gas-based manufacturing projects while LEPL is a Vijayawada-based infrastructure company that also runs an airline. The Chief Minister, on the second day of his trip, also met the president of Japan External Trade Organisation Yasushi Akahoshi and discussed investment promotion in the state, the CMO release said. Later, the Chief Minister met Jan Willem Breen, president of Corporate Strategy, United Parcel Services. Jan Willem Breen noted that India is now an important destination and the company is willing to sign Business to Business and Business to Consumer agreements. Chandrababu presented him a brief on the emerging business opportunities in the state as the government intended to make it a logistics hub. Sean Rodriguez Womens Jersey
Oman Air plans to increase flight services to India
In its bid to compete with other Gulf carriers, Oman’s flag carrier Oman Air plans to increase its flight services in India to 175 weekly by 2018 besides seeking an enhanced weekly seat entitlement. The Muscat-headquartered carrier currently operates 126 weekly flights across 11 destinations here. “We are in the first phase trying to look in increasing our frequencies to the existing destinations where we have today 126 weekly frequencies to 175 per week by 2018,” Oman Air chief executive officer Paul Gregorowitsch told PTI. India is an “extremely important” destination for Oman Air and being the fastest growing economy in the world it offers a huge potential, he said. Seeking equal footing with other Gulf-based carriers such as Emirates, which enjoy almost 25 per cent more weekly seat entitlement than Oman Air, Gregorowitsch said, “We have currently 21,147 seats per week. We are looking to increase it to total 29,820 flights by 2018 and hope to increase further to 40,000.” All this depends about the bilateral negotiations between Oman and India, he added. Three major Gulf carriers — Emirates, Etihad (with its Indian Partner Jet Airways) and Qatar Airways enjoy a major share in India’s international traffic. Under the air services agreement, Dubai has a maximum seat entitlement of 65,200 seats per week, followed by Abu Dhabi 49,670. Qatar is allowed to operate 24,800 seats per week between India and Doha. India had enhanced bilateral traffic rights with Oman last November, increasing the number of weekly flights for the carriers of the two countries by 5,131 seats. He said his airline at present did not have any new destination in “mind” but did not rule out the possibility of launching flights from new airports. The India government has recently decided to brush up quite some airstrips, he said adding, “we have not excluded that.” In India, Oman Air operates from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Hyderabad, Goa, among others. “Oman Air has seen that a number of measures have been taken to boost civil aviation like Indian airlines have been allowed to fly on international routes as 5/20 has more or less lifted on the other side, he said. “We have also seen the possibility of foreign investors to further invest in Indian carriers… We at Oman Air and Oman Government would like to partner further and work together, ” he added. Andrew MacDonald Jersey
Airports Authority of India again rejects Changi Airport plan for Jaipur, Ahmedabad airports
For the second time, state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) has rejected Singapore’s Changi Airport proposal to operate and maintain Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports after finding the latest plan “unfeasible”. Now, AAI would move ahead with steps to start the international bidding process for choosing the entities to operate and maintain the two domestic aerodromes. The proposal to rope in Singapore’s Changi airport for the projects was floated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation last November. The revised plan from Changi Airport, owned by the Singapore government, also sought a “higher” quantum of revenue in managing Jaipur and Ahmedabad aerodromes. This is “unfeasible” and not commercially viable for AAI, a source close to the development said. Hence, the latest proposal has been rejected after discussions with the Civil Aviation Ministry, the source said. Earlier also, Changi Airport’s proposal was rejected on the same grounds. “It has now been decided to re-open the global bids route for the two airports and (if interested) Changi Airport can also participate in it,” the source said. According to him, AAI is in the process of appointing a consultant for preparing the bid documents,”AAI expects to come out with the Request for Proposal (RFP) for Jaipur and Ahmedabad and airports by August,” he added. A senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said there is no “political pressure” to conclude a deal with Changi Airport and decisions are taken on the basis of merits. With regard to Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports, AAI had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) during Modi’s visit to the island nation. In January, the Union Cabinet had also given its ex-post facto approval to the MoU. Under the MoU, both parties were to cooperate in planning and development of Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports besides other aspects including traffic and commercial development, service quality and operations and management. Significantly, passenger traffic at Ahmedabad grew 28.3 per cent to 64,80,111 passengers in the last fiscal compared to 50,50,433 passengers in FY15. Jaipur Airport during this period logged a healthy 31.4 per cent growth in number of passengers to 28,87,195 passengers from 21,97,996 fliers in fiscal 2014-15. Irving Fryar Jersey
Farmers want MNCs to invest in rural infrastructure
Farmers across India are demanding that 100% foreign direct investment in food retail is welcome only if multinationals entering the sector invest in infrastructure and help agricultural communities become self-sufficient. Chengal Reddy, secretary general, Consorsium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA), said farmers will welcome FDI in food retail since this will develop competitiveness in a market marred by monopolistic and manipulative practices. “But MNCs should be asked to invest in back-end infrastructure in a timebound manner, giving them enough time to understand the local systems,” he said. Analsyts shared his views. “We should have FDI investment in the backend infrastructure as far as possible with dynamic FPOs and monitoring by a project management agency,” said V Padmanand, director of Grant Thornton (India). Bharatiya Kisan Union president Balbir Singh Rajewal sounded sceptical, saying farmers will not allow unfettered entry of multinationals unless the government keeps in mind the welfare of rural communities. “You have to listen to farmers first before making big policy announcements. If Britain can hold a referendum over leaving the European Union, why can’t our government consider the interest of farmers before announcing such a policy…If the companies are asked to invest 15% in rural infrastructure, it will be very good,” he said. Farmer leaders said a large number of farmers, who have organised themselves into the Farmer Producer Companies (FPO), are keen to do business with MNCs, and benefit from the higher investment capacity of foreign players, and their knowledge. Farmers also think that foreign players, who know the demand of consumers from developed countries, can help them upgrade their skills to match those requirements, if they are made to invest at the back-end. “Farmers are small and widespread and it needs high investment to connect with them, which none of the Indian food retailers have done so far. They can introduce standardisation of agricultural produce, its branding and upgrade the skills of Indian farmers,” said Reddy. Gangadhar Chindhe, chairman, Garbhagiri FPO, reckons that farmers can benefit more if investors are made to pump in money at the farm level. Matt Martin Authentic Jersey
India needs $1.5 trillion for infrastructure: Arun Jaitley
India needs over $1.5 trillion in investment in the next 10 years to bridge infrastructure gap as the government intends to connect seven hundred thousand villages with roads by 2019 as part of a massive modernisation plan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. “We have been able to sustain growth in the phase of global slowdown essentially on the strength of the infrastructure creation in India where the gap is huge,” Jaitley, who is in China to attend the Board of Governors of AIIB, said. “Over the next decade, we require over $1.5 trillion in India alone to fill up the infrastructure gap. We also use the additional resource which is available with us as a result of falling prices because that regime helps us. “In investing large public finance into infrastructure, for instance, we have seven hundred thousand villages in India. We intend to connect each of them by 2019,” he said while addressing a seminar on “Infrastructure and Global Economic Growth” organised by China sponsored Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) along with Finance Ministers of many countries. He also spoke of massive rural sanitation programme as part of India’s current infrastructure programme. “In terms of highway construction this year alone our target is 10,000 kms. Our railway system is over 100 years old. We are going in for a massive modernisation,” he said. Jaitley said the government is seeking private sector participation in converting railway stations into commercial hubs. The government plans to build more airports, sea ports and generate more power, particularly renewable energy which is ecologically also better from all points view, he said. “These are all the emphasis areas we have under taken,” he said. About arranging funding for the massive development, he said “we realise that starting point is public finances. It is only when the public finances are put into it, you start attracting and the activity begins a lot of private funds”. At the same time there are large number of developmental institutions like World Bank, ADB which put in lot of money because infrastructure funding also brings in long time returns on a sustainable basis, Jaitley said. The government has set up India infrastructure investment fund where the government holds minority stake, Jaitley said. “This a new experiment we have undertaken which we hope will be a success,” Jaitley said, adding that the emphasis of the India in the next decade to fill up the infrastructure gap which will also generate growth, employment, pull up number people out of poverty. “In our bid as emerging economy graduating into developed economy category, we feel that this is extremely vital for a country with a large population like India,” the Finance Minister said. Besides Jaitley and his Chinese counterpart Lou Jiwei, those who took part in the seminar were Pierre Egide Gramegna, Minister of Finance, Luxembourg, Imad Najib Fakhoury, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Jordan, Jin Liqun, AIIB President and Chris Heathcote, CEO, Global Infrastructure Hub, Thomas Maier, Managing Director, EBRD and Chair of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Infrastructure. Denver Broncos Authentic Jersey
Toll on six-lane highways only after construction
After burning its fingers by allowing developers to collect user fee (toll) during construction of 6-lane highways such as Gurgaon-Jaipur and Panipat-Jalandhar for years, the government will now abandon this practice in all new projects that will be rolled out. Tolling will start only after construction is complete. Corroborating this, NHAI chairman Raghav Chandra said, “I had raised this issue with the Planning Commission and submitted our views to the present government. If tolling starts from day one of construction, commuters suffer and there is no suitable incentive for developers to complete the work fast.” “The government has agreed to carry out six-laning under hybrid annuity mode. This means tolling will start only after construction is complete.” The move will not affect the projects that have already been awarded. According to the National Highway Authority of India, there are 23 ongoing contracts for six-laning of highways. Sources said that all new six-laning projects will be built under the hybrid annuity model. “Since in this model the user fee comes to NHAI as it pays back the entire investment of private investor in installments, it will be easy to do away with tolling during construction,” a government official said. Chandra said about 2,756 km are scheduled to be expanded from four lanes to six lanes and the hybrid annuity model will ensure responsible and speedy delivery. NHAI officials said that the six-laning projects constituet a large share of the delayed contracts. There had been several protests by commuters against toll hikes on Gurgaon-Jaipur, Faridabad-Agra and other such stretches complaining against poor facility and road diversions, forcing the UPA government to approve a policy allowing developers to charge only 75 per cent toll during six laning work. The Cabinet decision of October 2013 had also provisioned that tolling can be suspended for failure of developers to meet the deadline. Jalen Mills Authentic Jersey
Coastal shipping of commodities to save Rs 40,000 crore/year: Government
Promoting coastal shipping of just six commodities, including coal, cement and steel, could result in a huge Rs 40,000 crore annual saving, according to government estimates. Of the total, coastal shipping of thermal coal alone could result in savings of about Rs 20,000 crore while promoting steel and cement would save an annual Rs 5,500 crore and Rs 4,000 crore, an official said. “By promoting coastal shipping of across six commodities – thermal coal, steel, fertilizers, foodgrains and containers, the annual potential savings is estimated at about Rs 40,000 crore,” the official told PTI. Government has already announced a port-led development of coastal areas under its ambitious Sagarmala project that aims at harness India’s 7,500-km long coastline and 14,500-km of potentially navigable waterways. To encourage shippers to shift cargo to waterways and coastal shipping, the government is planning to provide an incentive of Re 1 per km for a tonne of cargo. “To encourage modal shift of cargo to coastal shipping and Inland Waterways Transportation, the government is planning to offer financial incentive to shippers who switch to waterways from roads and rails for movement of cargo,” the official said, adding that the incentive is planned at Re 1 per tonne per km. Initially, the government plans to include 9 commodities that include foodgrain, automobile, cement and marble. Sources said a note on the incentive scheme would soon be sent to the Cabinet for nod. “Government is working hard to shift the cargo to waterways as is not only an environment-friendly mode of transportation but economise cost,” Additional Secretary, Shipping Alok Srivastava said when contacted. He said the government is planning to redefine incentives to boost the share of transportation through waterways and coastal shipping. Industry players are of the view however that although waterways is an environment-friendly and fuel-efficient mode of transportation, impediments including inadequate infrastructure need to be addressed fully for desired results. They has been seeking an increase in the share of plan investment towards port and shipping sector which is 6.5 per cent only. The government has already expressed its commitment to promote coastal shipping and inland waterways transportation and has envisioned increasing of the share of waterways transportation mode from the present level of 7 per cent to 10 per cent by 2020. “Across all commodities, coastal shipping volumes could grow to 5-6 times of current levels to about 400-480 million tonnes (MT) by 2025,” according to a blueprint on Sagarmala unveiled by the government. Logistics costs account for a large part of the country’s non-services GDP compared to benchmarks of 8-10 per cent for developed nations, as per the blueprint. Citing an example, it said up to 100-150 MT of coal can be moved from the east coast to coastal power plants in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In addition, up to 50 MT could be moved coastally for non-thermal coal users. “There is potential to move steel, cement, fertilisers and foodgrains coastally to the extent of about 60 MT by 2025. Further, about 50 MT of petroleum products could be moved coastally from refining centres in Gujarat and Odisha to demand centres in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh,” it said. Government has identified over 150 projects under Sagarmala. It expects to mobilise more than Rs 4 lakh crore of investment, besides creation of 1 crore new jobs, including 40 lakh direct jobs, in the next 10 years. These projects have been identified across the areas of port modernisation and new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-led industrial development and coastal community development. The Cabinet approved Sagarmala project last year. Kevin Garnett Authentic Jersey
Logistics parks for Rs 30000 crore to aid cargo flow, cut costs
The government has prepared a road map for setting up 15 multi-modal logistics parks around major cities, which have a share of about 40 per cent of country’s freight movement by road. With an estimated investment of Rs 30,000 crore, the project aims to make transport of cargo faster, reduce cost and improve the supply chain, key for taming inflation. In a concept note titled ‘Logistics Efficiency Enhancement Programme’, the road transport ministry has identified Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, north and south Gujarat, Hyderabad, south and north Punjab, Vijayawada, Kochi and Chennai as some of the major transport nodes for this project in the first phase. This is part of a study funded by the World Bank. Logistics parks, act as hubs for freight movement enabling cargo aggregation and distribution. Freight from production area will be shipped to nearby logistics parks where it will be aggregated and transported to a logistics park near the consumption zone on a larger vehicle. Freight arriving at the destination logistics park will be disaggregated and distributed to the consumption zones inside the city, accord ing to the government paper. “It’s a welcome move. But we have also suggested the ministry to focus on low hanging fruits such as simplifying of documentations, connecting all major transport hubs. Road, shipping, rail and aviation ministries have to work together,” said World Bank senior transport specialist Rajesh Rohtagi. Logistic costs in India is higher at 13-14 per cent of the value of goods against 7-8 per cent in developed countries. This is due to several inefficiencies including smaller and inefficient trucks resulting in lower average speed 25-30 kmph, which is 50-60 per cent less as compared to the US. While in states like Gujarat and Rajasthan it is 37-40 kmph, in Odisha and West Bengal it is only 18-20 kmph, the report says. It’s estimated that the transport costs would fall by about 10 per cent and pollution will also be less. According to estimates, CO2 emission may reduce by 12 per cent and even congestion will be less by about 20 per cent on these 15 nodes. Adam Larsson Womens Jersey