India to pump Rs 410 billion into natural gas network for Kashmir, Northeast
According to Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, India will invest a sizable amount—Rs 410 billion —into the expansion of its natural gas network in the Kashmir and northeastern regions. This significant investment will fuel the rollout of city gas networks, providing retail CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households over the coming years. The 12th city gas distribution (CGD) bidding round, encompassing eight geographical areas (GAs), witnessed participation from esteemed entities such as Oil India Ltd (OIL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL). Minister Puri emphasised the government’s dedication to promoting natural gas as a fuel for transportation, domestic use, and industrial purposes, aligning with the vision to transform India into a gas-based economy. Developing a robust gas infrastructure ecosystem has paved the way for significant investments, fostering cleaner and more sustainable energy solutions. Moreover, reforms in gas pricing and regulatory measures by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) aim to ensure equitable access to natural gas across the nation. The 12th CGD bidding round, spanning six northeastern states and two Union Territories, marks a significant step towards expanding India’s natural gas footprint and achieving greater energy security and sustainability.
India turns cautious on contracted Russian oil as US sanctions bite
India’s state-run oil refiners are shying away from contracted Russian crude supply as the once-booming trade becomes much harder under tighter enforcement of US sanctions. The biggest state-owned refiner Indian Oil Corp. will likely reduce the amount of crude received under so-called term supply, while Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. have decided against making firm commitments to take contracted oil next financial year, six people familiar with the matter said, asking not to identified because the information is private. The three refiners had been in talks with Russia’s Rosneft PJSC to secure about 500,000 barrels a day — equivalent to a third of India’s daily imports — to try and reduce reliance on one-off purchases that can often be more expensive. The lukewarm response to a suggested contract clause that would address supply disruptions added to the caution from Indian refiners, the people said. Indian Oil has an existing long-term deal with Rosneft, but contracted supply would have been a first for HPCL and BPCL. Russia is still the biggest supplier to India, but there are signs refiners are buying more from other producers, including Saudi Arabia. The state-owned companies are also seeking contracted crude from the Middle East and West Africa, but the deals are likely to be more expensive than Russian oil, the people said. State refiners are expected to meet 40% of their crude needs in the financial year starting April 1 through one-off purchases, or spot deals, meaning big volumes of oil from Russia could still flow to India, four of the people said. Last year, Indian Oil entered into a series of deals with Rosneft, Sakhalin-1 LLC and Gazprom Neft PJSC to take 24.5 million tons, or 492,000 barrels a day, for the year ending March 31, two of the people said. That compares with a pre-war contract with Rosneft in 2021 to take 2 million tons over a year.
Mahanagar Gas reduces price of CNG in Mumbai
Mumbai-based Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL) has reduced the price of compressed natural gas (CNG) to Rs 73.50/Kg effective from midnight of 5th March 2024/ morning of 6th March 2024, the company said on Tuesday. “Due to reduction in gas input cost MGL is pleased to announce reduction in CNG price by Rs 2.5/Kg in and around Mumbai,” the company said, adding that MGL’s CNG price now offers attractive savings of 53% compared to petrol and 22% compared to diesel at current price levels in Mumbai. This reduction in CNG price would help to increase the consumption of natural gas in transportation segment, which is a step towards making India cleaner and greener, the company added.
Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurates 201 CNG stations and India’s first small-scale LNG unit
Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs & Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas inaugurated 201 CNG stations of GAIL India across the country. The minister also inaugurated what it said to be India’s first small-scale LNG unit at Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. The CNG stations have been set up with an investment of Rs 5 billion and are spread across 52 geographical areas in 17 states The development of the National Gas Grid & a wide spread CGD network for connecting consumption centres with supply points will play a crucial role in India’s journey towards being a gas-based economy in which the share of natural gas in the country’s energy mix will increase from 6% to 15% by 2030. “This transformation will open up investment avenues of about $67 billion. India is committed to continuously improve the policy and regulatory environment to support development, & ensure availability & accessibility of cleaner and sustainable fuel. Around 24,623 kms of pipeline out of the over 33,753 kms of natural gas trunk pipelines authorised are currently operational in the country,” said Puri.
Nayara Energy exports decline by 10% in 2023 as domestic demand surges
Nayara Energy, India’s largest private fuel retailer, saw petroleum product exports drop by 10 per cent in 2023 as it supplied more products domestically to meet the fuel demands of a growing economy, sources said. Nayara, which operates a 20 million tonne a year oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat and a network of over 6,500 petrol pumps, exported 6.21 million tonne of petroleum products, including jet fuel, gasoil (diesel) and gasoline (petrol) between January 2023 and December 2023, down 10 per cent year-on-year. This was primarily because of larger consumption at home. The company is catering to the domestic market through institutional business, sales to other oil companies and its own retail chain. Of all the petroleum products Nayara produced, 68 per cent were sold within the country and the remaining 32 per cent of products, including, ATF, gasoil and gasoline were exported, sources said. According to the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), consumption of petroleum products rose 5.1 per cent to 192.7 million tonnes during the first 10 months of the current fiscal. This growth was led by a 6 per cent expansion in petrol, 4 per cent in diesel and 12 per cent in ATF consumption. Natural export markets for Nayara are in the Middle East, Africa and South-East Asia – the markets, which have a consistent appetite for the company’s products throughout the year, they said, adding the firm did not supply any gasoline or gasoil to Europe during 2023. Commercially, it is unviable to cater to the seasonal requirements of EU markets (winter grade diesel). “Nayara’s diesel does not meet the winter specification requirements of the EU market,” a source said. Africa, South-East Asia and the Middle East got 81 per cent of all products Nayara exported in 2023. Out of the total 6.21 million tonnes exported, gasoil exports stood at about 3.45 million tonnes, roughly 56 per cent of all exports for the same period. Some of the export markets include Africa, the Middle East, South east Asia and Australia. While Nayara supplied no gasoil to Europe during 2023, the percentage of the fuel exports to the EU has been less than 3 per cent of the total gasoil exports during the last five years, sources said.
First crude oil offtake from new FPSO represents ‘historic achievement in India’s energy sector
India’s government-owned energy giant Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has held a flag-off ceremony for the first crude oil offtake from a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel, which is working at what is said to be the first deepwater development located off India’s east coast. Following the FPSO Armada Sterling V’s first oil at the Block KG-DWN 98/2 development project on the east coast of Kakinada offshore India, Shri Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, flagged off the first crude oil tanker Swarna Sindhu from ONGC’s Krishna Godavarideepwater block. This project is anticipated to add 7% to India’s oil and gas production at its peak production level. The flag-off ceremony, organized in Begusarai in Bihar, was graced by Bihar Governor, Shri Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar; Bihar Chief Minister, Shri Nitish Kumar and Shri Giriraj Singh, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department and MP, Begusarai Loksabhaconstituency along with Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs, along with senior dignitaries from Petroleum Ministry, Shri Arun Kumar Singh, Chairman and CEO of ONGC and the firm’s directors. Developed with an investment of over 410 billion rupees (around $4.95 million), ONGC claims that the KG-DWN 98/2 deepwater oil field M in Krishna Godavari Basin is one of the most technologically complex projects. The total anticipated daily peak gas and oil production from the project is about 10 million standard cubic meters per fuel or 45,000 bopd.
India talking to Guyana, Suriname, Namibia for oil import: Hardeep Singh Puri
India has been talking to Guyana, Suriname and Namibia regarding oil cooperation, informed Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday while asserting that there is no shortage of crude oil globally. His statement comes as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) are extending their voluntary oil output cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) into the second quarter. Responding to the development, Puri said: “Whatever decision Opec+ takes it is their sovereign decision… I speak with confidence as a representative of a country that we will navigate through this. If you sell, we will buy. If you don’t we will buy from someone other.” “There is no shortage of crude oil in the world. My view is that there is enough oil present with Opec+… we have been talking to Guayana, Suriname, Namibia. Venezuela has some difficulties $600 million were stuck… that is coming in. I am confident. We will navigate through this. In coming time I don’t see any difficulty in this,” he added. India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, is looking to diversify its crude sources. India is considering a multi-year oil purchase agreement with Guyana. Last year, the Ministry of External Affairs also said India is keenly looking at oil and gas cooperation with Guyana and Suriname. Discussions in this regard were held during meetings of President of Cooperative Republic of Guyana Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Republic of Suriname president Chandrikapersad Santokhi with President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention last year in January. Meanwhile, India and Namibia are exploring possibilities regarding oil and gas cooperation. During his visit to Namibia, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar last year said there is a much clearer picture of the possibilities before the two countries. “Closer cooperation in the field of energy, including in oil and gas, green hydrogen, and solar,” he has said. India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, is dependent on crude oil from various sources in the global market to meet its domestic demand.
WTI Sheds Over 1.6% As Demand Trumps Everything Else
Oil prices shed over 1% on Monday despite rising tensions in the Red Sea and on the front lines of the Israel-Hamas conflict, with OPEC+ extending voluntary production cuts and demand sentiment taking a beating from an unusually mild winter. At 2:28 p.m. ET on Monday, Brent crude was trading up 1.05% at $82.67, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading up 1.66% at $78.64. On Sunday, OPEC+ agreed to extend its 2.2-million-barrel/day voluntary production cuts for another quarter, with this outcome already having been priced in ahead of time. Russia also said it would deepen cuts by over 470,000 bpd in the second quarter of this year, while also easing curbs on exports. Russia already has a 500,000-bpd cut quote for production and exports. While this was a surprise move, it failed to move the oil price needle on Monday. “With OPEC loadings appearing steady and aggregate OPEC supply potentially showing little effect from incremental voluntary cuts implemented in Q1, we do not view the extensions from the broader group as particularly impactful,” Macquarie energy strategist Walt Chancellor told Reuters on Monday. Some analysts saw this morning’s brief increase in oil prices as a response to the Israel-Hamas conflict and the current stalemated ceasefire negotiations. “The OPEC+ rollover was baked in, it’s the Gaza crisis that prices are responding to,” Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights, told Bloomberg. “As long as the cease-fire negotiations remain in a stalemate, crude is likely to either hover around current levels or come under further upward pressure.” Rystad Energy’s Jorge Leon told Reuters that OPEC+ cuts would result in 34.6 million bpd in output for Q2, down 1.4 million bpd from earlier forecasts.
India to bid for Israel oil-and-gas exploration blocks
Indian state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) plans to bid for Israeli offshore oil-and-gas exploration blocks, India’s oil minister told Reuters, the first major deal between the two countries since a groundbreaking trip by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July. India and Israel have deep defense ties but Modi and his right wing ruling group are pushing to expand the relationship into other sectors such as energy and technology with a country they see as a natural ally against terrorism. A high-ranking delegation from India, the world’s third-biggest oil consumer, visited Israel last month to discuss taking part in the tender for blocks in the Mediterranean Sea and Israeli officials said they were pleased with the visit. “We will definitely bid for Israel’s oil-and-gas blocks,” Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told Reuters. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s Energy Ministry. When Modi visited Israel in July, both sides showed interest to build a broader economic relationship, rather than one based on defense, which had drawn them together because of similar concerns about militant threats they face. They are starting from a relatively low economic base as bilateral trade was just $2 billion in 2016. Many oil majors have been hesitant to enter the Israeli market, fearing a backlash from oil-rich Arab states hostile to the country. Israel put 24 exploration blocks up for auction in November 2016 and the country’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz has said he would be happy to choose two or three foreign explorations groups. The auction closes on Nov 15. India is conducting a technical and commercial analysis to participate in Israel’s bidding process, said Sanjay Sudhir, a joint secretary in the federal Oil Ministry, who led the delegation. “We dove into all the relevant details of the tender — geological, technical — and familiarised them with Israel’s oil and gas ecosystem,” an official at Israel’s Energy Ministry said on the Indian team’s visit, declining to be identified in the absence of permission to speak to the media. Israel wants to open up its hydrocarbon sector, which is currently dominated by a partnership of Noble Energy and Delek Group. They control the Tamar and the much larger Leviathan fields. India also wants to participate in the upcoming auction to explore and develop gas fields off the coast of Lebanon, Pradhan said in July. Three of those blocks border waters with Israel, with which Lebanon has a long-standing maritime border dispute. ONGC is India’s biggest energy exploration firm and a source at its overseas investment arm ONGC Videsh said the firm would not bid for any block in areas disputed by Israel and Lebanon. “Israel has said that none of the blocks it has offered are in disputed waters,” said the source. Another state-run explorer, Oil India Ltd, has not yet decided to bid in Israel’s licensing round, the Indian company’s chairman, Utpal Bora, told Reuters. India’s decision to bid for blocks off Israel and Lebanon comes after a setback in getting development rights for a giant gas field in Iran. Indian companies discovered the Farzad B gas field in Iran in 2008 and have bid several times for the development rights, but media reports suggest that Tehran has decided to award the field to Russia’s Gazprom.
India’s Jet Fuel demand surpasses pre-pandemic levels in February amid air travel surge
India’s aviation industry witnessed a remarkable resurgence in February as the demand for jet fuel surged past pre-pandemic levels, driven by increased air travel activity, according to preliminary data from state-owned firms. Aviation turbine fuel sales by three state-owned fuel retailers recorded a notable uptick, rising by 7.1 percent to reach 6,32,600 tonnes in February compared to the same period last year. This surge in demand marked a significant milestone, surpassing consumption levels from the Covid-impacted February 2022 and even slightly outpacing the figures from February 2020, just before the onset of the pandemic. The month-on-month data revealed a 3.5 percent increase in jet fuel sales, reflecting the ongoing recovery trend in India’s aviation sector. Following the stringent lockdown measures in late March 2020, fuel sales plummeted by as much as 60 percent, severely impacting travel and business operations across the country. While petrol consumption rebounded to pre-Covid levels in late 2021 and diesel sales followed suit in mid-2022, jet fuel demand remained subdued due to the slow resumption of international flights. However, with the resurgence of flight departures and rising passenger footfall, monthly jet fuel consumption has now exceeded pre-pandemic levels. In addition to jet fuel, petrol and diesel sales also witnessed robust growth in February. Petrol sales surged by 7.2 percent to 2.75 million tonnes, while diesel demand saw a marginal increase of 0.4 percent to 6.55 million tonnes compared to the previous year. The winter season in northern India contributed to a tapering of air-conditioning demand, further impacting fuel consumption patterns. Both petrol and diesel sales experienced month-on-month growth, with petrol consumption rising by 6.2 percent and diesel demand increasing by 7.2 percent compared to January figures. Diesel remains India’s most consumed fuel, constituting nearly 40 percent of all petroleum product consumption, with the transport sector accounting for 70 percent of diesel sales. The fluctuating trend in fuel consumption over recent months has been evident, with February petrol consumption showing a 20 percent increase over the Covid-affected levels of February 2022 and a 29.3 percent surge compared to pre-pandemic February 2020. Similarly, diesel consumption recorded a 13.6 percent growth over February 2022 and a 7.4 percent increase compared to February 2020. Cooking gas LPG sales also demonstrated a positive trajectory, rising by 6.6 percent year-on-year in February. The month-on-month data showed a 1.4 percent increase in LPG demand, reflecting sustained growth in household energy consumption