Green Hydrogen Can Help Latin America’s Energy Transition
With countries and energy companies around the world looking to accelerate their transitions towards cleaner energy resources, Latin American nations are developing plans to scale up the production, consumption and export of so-called green hydrogen, which is generated from clean energy resources. One of the most recent, high-profile developments came in June, when the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego – located at the southernmost tip of South America – outlined plans to develop a hydrogen and ammonium industry. The province is attempting to utilise the region’s ample wind resources to attract $6bn in investment in technologies to produce the fuel. This includes investment in wind farms to generate electricity that can be used to power electrolysers, which remove oxygen atoms from water to produce hydrogen. Once established, some of the project’s hydrogen will be used to make ammonium, which in addition to being used to create fertiliser, can also serve as a carrier fuel for transporting hydrogen through pipelines to downstream markets. Along with renewable sources like solar and wind, hydrogen is seen as a potential low-carbon or zero-carbon fuel that is key to the transition away from fossil fuels. While countries across Latin America and the Caribbean are focused on green hydrogen, hydrocarbons-producing countries like Argentina, Colombia, and Trinidad and Tobago can use carbon-capture utilisation and storage technologies to remove carbon emissions from their production process and generate so-called blue hydrogen. The Tierra del Fuego announcement comes as appetite for hydrogen – and its economic and environmental benefits – continues to grow. While there were just three hydrogen pilot projects in Latin America in 2019 – in Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica – by 2021 the region had a pipeline of more than 25 projects, according to the International Energy Agency, with many of them GW-scale mega-projects that intend to export hydrogen to Europe and Asia. Economic benefits Hydrogen has significant potential as a clean energy substitute for fossil fuels in power generation, most notably in the energy-intensive industrial sector, but also as a transport fuel across numerous sectors. Argentina and Brazil have the most expansive hydrogen plans on the continent and are also looking to become major export hubs to feed markets in Europe, the centre of the world’s hydrogen demand, and Asia. As the world’s second-largest producer of hydroelectric power and home to substantial wind and solar resources, Brazil has significant potential to produce hydrogen. Some estimates suggest the country could earn $4bn-6bn by 2040 through the export of hydrogen to the EU and the US alone. In the country’s north-east, the $5.4bn Base One green hydrogen project will be the world’s largest when completed, capable of producing 600,000 tonnes per year from 3.4 GW of combined solar and wind power generation capacity. Beyond energy, hydrogen has important applications for the food sector, among others, highlighting the positive effects that developing hydrogen can have in addressing global challenges. “Hydrogen has multiple applications, not only for the energy sector but in the manufacturing of fertilisers, which is of an increasingly critical concern for countries around the world,” Rodrigo Rodriguez Tornquist, Secretary of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation at Argentina’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, told OBG. “Globally, three major crises are being discussed: the energy, food and environmental crises. Hydrogen is a key component in all three, as it generates a more sustainable energy solution, enables food production and accelerates the decarbonisation of the economy.” Reaching export markets To fulfil their hydrogen ambitions, Latin American countries need to consider the most challenging and expensive part of the energy industry: transport. This will likely involve both internal pipelines for intracontinental markets and seaborne export terminals to reach Europe and Asia. One of hydrogen’s most appealing aspects is that hydrocarbon pipelines can be repurposed to transport it. Latin America and the Caribbean already has strong pipeline networks in both the north, starting from Venezuela and T&T, and the south, from Bolivia, which feed into Argentina and Brazil and could serve these export ambitions. In Tierra del Fuego’s case, the province’s location at the tip of South America means that it is also eyeing potential exports to Asia. Aside from supplying export markets, the production of hydrogen could also result in the use of more cost-effective and environmentally friendly fuels domestically. “Latin America not only has the potential to supply high-demand international markets like Europe, which has been more aggressive in its clean energy adoption, but also to displace imported fuels,” Alfonso Blanco, executive director of the Latin American Energy Organization, told OBG. “The large natural advantages of countries like Argentina and Chile to produce renewable energy enables the low-cost and large-scale production of green hydrogen.” Development timelines Hydrogen’s uptake in the global energy system will be decades-long, with most mega-projects in Latin America looking to 2030 as a target date for completion. This timeline gives governments more time to establish the regulatory, institutional, legal and commercial frameworks that will allow hydrogen to penetrate the global energy system in a meaningful way. For instance, one of the largest projects in Latin America is the $8.4bn Pampas facility in Argentina’s Río Negro province, which seeks to generate 15 GW in power that will produce 2.2m tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030. Similarly, Uruguay has crafted a roadmap for hydrogen that aims to build 10 GW of renewable energy to power electrolysers as part of plans to become a net-exporter in the 2030s. Ultimately, the key to developing such capital-intensive, low-carbon hydrogen projects will be cooperation between government and business, which industry figures say must continue to include incentives for renewable energy. “On a global level, hydrogen will allow for the decarbonisation of many sectors – in terms of not only electricity generation, but also energy consumption, especially in the industrial and transport sectors,” Rodriguez Tornquist told OBG. “However, this transition requires a long-term roadmap and significant resources, which will require all stakeholders in the public and private sector to align their needs and expectations.”
Decoding oil price math: Indian Oil loses Rs 10 a litre on petrol, Rs 14 a litre on diesel
Oil PSU Indian Oil Corporation suffered a loss of Rs 10 on selling a litre of petrol and Rs 14 a litre on diesel during the April-June quarter, according to a report. IOC, the nation’s largest oil refining and fuel retailing firm, reported a net loss of Rs 19.9253 billion in the June quarter as compared to Rs 59.4137 billion of net profit in the same period a year ago and Rs 60.219 billion in the preceding January-March quarter. “IOC (Indian Oil Corporation) reported an 88 per cent year-on-year decline in its standalone EBITDA to Rs 13.589 billion and a net loss of Rs 19.925 billion, despite record high gross refining margins (GRMs) of USD 31.8 per barrel for the quarter,“ ICICI Securities said. Earnings decline was driven by a sharp fall in retail fuel margins for petrol and diesel with an estimated net loss of Rs 10 per litre for petrol and Rs 14 a litre for diesel for the quarter and inventory loss of Rs 15-16 billion due to excise duty cut in the quarter, it said. IOC and other state-owned firms Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) have kept prices on hold despite a rise in input cost. The basket of crude oil India imports averaged USD 109 per barrel, but the retail pump rates were aligned to about USD 85-86 a barrel cost. This is the first quarterly loss for IOC in over two years. The company had reported a net loss in January-March 2020, but that was on account of inventory losses on processing costlier crude. “While GRMs have come off post the Q1 highs to levels of USD 11.8 per barrel (a low of USD 0.8 per barrel was reached in the third week of July), marketing margins have improved owing to lower product prices. Therefore, we do factor in lower losses for FY23 (April 2022 to March 2023) and GRMs sustaining at USD 17-18 per barrel levels over the full year,” ICICI Securities said in the report. IOC, BPCL and HPCL stopped revising rates ahead of assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh last year. That 137-day freeze ended in late March, with prices being raised by Rs 10 per litre each before another round of freeze came in force in early April. This is despite international oil prices soaring to multi-year high on supply concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tullow Oil in talks with Indian groups over Kenyan project
Executives from Tullow Oil (TLW.L) held talks with India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd (ONVI.NS) in Nairobi this week as the London-based firm seeks a strategic investor for its onshore oil project in Kenya, the company said on Saturday. A senior official at Kenya’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mines tweeted earlier this week that ministry officials had met the Indian High Commissioner to Kenya along with representatives of ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC.NS). “The meeting was positive and the parties agreed to hold further discussions in the coming weeks,” Africa-focused Tullow said in a tweet about the meeting, adding that the talks had been hosted by the ministry of petroleum and mines. Africa-focused Tullow said earlier in July it was confident it could make substantial progress to find an investor for its onshore oil project in the East African country in the second half of the year.
India Opening More Channels to Buy Shunned Russian Crude
According to a report by Bloomberg, a swarm of smaller and less well-known oil traders are making their way to India to sell Russian crude, offering greater discounts and new channels for Indian buyers to purchase supplies rejected by the West. India has already been importing crude from Russia at a markdown amid Western sanctions, which has resulted in the country becoming one of Russia’s largest oil consumers since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some overseas dealers have reportedly been offering Russian Urals barrels at markdowns of approximately $8. It has been reported that state-run refineries such as Indian Oil Corporation are mulling over these deals because they involve less red tape than purchasing straight from Russia. According to the statistics provided by Kpler, Indian Oil has been importing crude from Russia at a rate never seen before, allowing it to pass its private competitors and set a new record. India’s imports of Russian barrels increased by 3 percent, reaching about 1 million daily. Inflows averaged 450,000 barrels daily in July, a 44 percent increase from the previous month. Wellbred and Montfort have begun marketing Russian oil to Indian clients, joining Coral Energy and Everest Energy as additional traders appear to fill the void left by larger traders like Vitol Group, according to unnamed authorities. Some traders are beginning to accept payment in other currencies, such as the Dirhams used in the United Arab Emirates. Separately, India’s Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revealed plans to settle international transactions in Indian Rupees. Even before the world’s top oil traders reduced their handling of Russian crude exports in May, India’s typically more agile private petro refiners, such as Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy Limited and Reliance Industries Limited, had already increased their purchases from the smaller traders. According to Bloomberg, Sri Lanka has also turned to international traders. In May, the country received a consignment of oil from Russia (via a vessel chartered by Coral Energy), and in July, it purchased even more of the commodity.
Gas Levy Could Triple Household Heating Bills In Germany
Germany plans to introduce a levy for all its gas consumers beginning in October as the government looks to avoid a wave of collapsing gas-importing and gas-trading companies amid record-high natural gas prices, a new bill seen by Reuters showed on Thursday. Russia is further reducing flows via Nord Stream this week, to just 20% of the pipeline’s capacity, days after restarting the link at 40% capacity after regular maintenance. The German government has already intervened to rescue energy group Uniper, Russia’s single largest gas buyer in Germany. Uniper—and many other German gas traders and suppliers—have been reeling from reduced Russian supply and soaring prices of non-Russian gas. Germany and Uniper agreed last week on a $15 billion bailout package, including the German government taking a 30-percent stake in the company and making more liquidity and credit lines available to the group. Under the plans of the government, all consumers of gas, including households, will have to pay an additional levy, which will go to support Germany’s gas importing companies, which struggle with a lack of Russian gas and sky-high prices of non-Russian alternatives. The details of the bill are set to be announced next month. Households and industrial consumers are expected to pay the levy through September 2024, according to the draft Reuters has seen. “One doesn’t know exactly how much (gas) will cost in November, but the bitter news is that it’s definitely a few hundred euros per household,” German Economy Minister Robert Habeck was quoted by Reuters as saying on Thursday. Marcel Fratzscher, president of DIW, the German Institute for Economic Research, told Düsseldorf’s Rheinischen Post newspaper that German households should prepare for at least tripled costs of heating on gas. The levy should be accompanied by a relief package for lower-income households, otherwise the new charge could lead to a “social catastrophe,” Fratzscher added.
Why The U.S. Is Desperate For A Russian Oil Price Cap
The United States is looking to convince major oil importers, including Russia’s key buyers these days, China and India, to endorse a plan to cap the price of Russian oil they are buying. The U.S. and other major developed Western economies are wary of letting international crude oil prices spike later this year when the EU ban on providing insurance and financing for seaborne transportation of Russian oil takes effect in December. Russia will be effectively shut out of more than 90% of the global oil shipment insurance market as most of the ports do not allow tankers to dock unless they have full insurance coverage, including insurance from the UK-based International Group of P&I Clubs, which handles 95% of the global tanker insurance market and consists mostly of UK, U.S., and European insurers. This would severely cripple the flow of Russian oil globally, potentially leading to record-high oil prices, which the Biden Administration simply cannot afford to have right now, especially after boasting just a few days ago that “Gas prices are declining at one of the fastest rates we have seen in over a decade – we’re not letting up on our work to lower costs even further.” In addition, soaring fuel prices would further stoke already four-decade high inflation and further complicate the Fed’s efforts to tame that inflation with aggressive key interest rate hikes. So, the G7 group of leading industrialized nations, led by the U.S., is considering waiving the ban on insurance and all services enabling transportation of Russian oil if that oil is bought at or below a certain price, yet to be decided. U.S. Looks To Rally Major Importers To Join Price Cap The Biden Administration and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have been pushing for weeks to have as many oil buyers as possible agree to a price cap plan. The alternative – choking off a large part of Russian exports by denying altogether maritime transportation services – would send oil prices to never-seen highs, tanking the global economy with enormous fuel and energy costs and sending rampant inflation even higher. The U.S. Administration is holding talks on a possible price cap with major oil importers, including China and India, officials have told the Financial Times. China and India have stepped up purchases of heavily discounted Russian oil in recent months, while European buyers are retreating and winding down imports ahead of the EU embargo on imports of Russian seaborne crude and refined products set to kick in at the end of this year. “Russian production is going to fall when the services ban fully kicks in, unless we use the price cap to allow exports to continue,” an official close to the talks told FT, adding, “It is the one way of preventing a significant rise in prices.” The U.S. Administration believes that the insurance ban on Russian oil exports could severely cripple Moscow’s supply to the market, pushing up oil prices. Russian crude and products exports are too big as a share of the global oil market to not have access to tankers and insurance, U.S. officials tell FT. Therefore, the U.S. is trying to rally major oil importers around the idea that they would pay less for Russian oil under a price cap mechanism, while at the same time looking not to stifle 7-8% of the daily global oil and product flows. Cutting off most of Russia’s exports via the insurance ban without exemptions with a price cap would result in soaring oil prices which will negate any efforts to cut Putin’s revenues from oil, U.S. officials argue. “We want to keep it being sold somewhere in the global economy to hold down global oil prices generally, but we want to ensure that Russia doesn’t make undue profit from those sales,” Treasury Secretary Yellen told NPR last week. “And a price cap is the answer we’ve come up with to serve both of those objectives.” While negotiations are ongoing, an agreement is still a way away. “We’re trying to perfect the mechanism of how that would actually look and how it would work. We’re not at a point where we have an agreement,” Amos Hochstein, the special U.S. presidential coordinator for international energy affairs, told Yahoo Finance this weekend. “We have an agreement in principle with the major economies of the G7, but not an actual agreement,” Hochstein added. The implementation of a price cap would be a challenging undertaking and would ideally need China and India on board to have a real impact. The two large Asian importers could be inclined to entertain the idea of a price cap as this would reduce their energy import bills, a senior G7 official told Reuters this week. Russian Retaliation? Some analysts warn that a price cap would not only be difficult to implement, but it could also prompt Russia to retaliate by stopping the export of oil. Last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia would not supply oil to the global markets if the price cap being discussed was set at a level below Russia’s cost of production. U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen has repeatedly said that the price cap would not be set below Russia’s cost of production. But last Friday, Russia issued a not-so-veiled warning to the countries considering joining a price cap mechanism. Russia’s Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina told Russian reporters on Friday that “as far as I understand, we will not supply oil to countries that will have imposed a price cap.” Russia will redirect its crude and refined products exports to those countries that “are ready to cooperate with us,” Nabiullina added.
ONGC, partners to splash $ 6.2 billion on green energy projects
ONGC and its partners will invest $ 6.2 billion in green energy projects to produce carbon-free hydrogen and green ammonia as part of an ambitious decarbonization drive, officials said. India’s top oil explorer ONGC and its partners will invest USD 6.2 billion (Rs 500 billion) in green energy projects to produce carbon-free hydrogen and green ammonia as part of an ambitious decarbonization drive, officials said. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has signed a pact with Greenko, one of India’s largest renewable energy companies, to form a 50:50 joint venture for green energy projects. The JV will set up 5.5-7 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power projects, and use electricity generated from such plants to split water in an electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen, which in turn would be used for manufacturing green ammonia, they said. The renewable plants together with Greenko’s pump storage power generation system will give 1.4 GW of round-the-clock (RTC) electricity that would be used to produce 0.18 million tonne of green hydrogen per annum (about 20 kg per hour). This hydrogen will be mixed with nitrogen to produce 1 million tonne per annum of green ammonia, which in the initial years will be exported to Europe, Japan and Korea and used within the country when the market develops, they said. Officials said the renewable energy component of the chain would cost about USD 5 billion while the hydrogen and ammonia plant will cost USD 1.2 billion. ONGC is looking to set up the hydrogen and ammonia plants, which are likely to start production in 2026, on the west coast, preferably near Mangalore, where it has an oil refinery. In case the land is not available, the project may shift to Gujarat, they said. ONGC, the nation’s biggest producer of crude oil and natural gas, joins the likes of Reliance Industries Ltd and the Adani group in chasing carbon-free hydrogen. The two private groups have announced multi-billion projects as part of India’s net-zero goals. While hydrogen is the cleanest known fuel with zero carbon emission, it is difficult to transport and a vast majority of its production globally is used in-situ (onsite). And for these reasons, ONGC is looking at manufacturing green ammonia from hydrogen. Ammonia, which is widely used as a fertilizer, can easily be shipped. The production cost of green ammonia is high, and so its usage in India will be limited to begin with. In countries like Japan and Korea, the law provides for use of a certain percentage of green ammonia and so they can be a natural market. Green ammonia can also be used as a marine fuel. Globally, hydrogen is seen as a decarbonization fuel as it can replace polluting fossil fuels. India is targeting the production of 5 million tonne of green hydrogen per annum by 2030. Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe, but it barely exists in a pure form. Instead, it is abundant in chemical compounds, most notably bonded with oxygen in water or carbon to form hydrocarbons like fossil fuels. For that reason, hydrogen is not considered an energy source but an energy carrier or vector. Once separated from other elements, hydrogen’s utility increases: it can be converted into electricity through fuel cells, it can be combusted to produce heat or power without emitting carbon dioxide, used as a chemical feedstock, or as a reducing agent to reduce iron ores to pure iron for steel production. “Transporting hydrogen is an issue and so it is consumed in-situ,” one of the officials said. “And so green ammonia makes sense for us. We have ready availability of nitrogen.” Globally, around 85 per cent of hydrogen is captive, produced and consumed on-site, mainly at petroleum refineries. Most of the hydrogen currently produced in India is either grey (produced from fossil fuel) or blue (produced from natural gas with the carbon dioxide by-product being captured and stored). Green hydrogen is made using electrolysis powered by renewable energy to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, creating an emissions-free fuel. Fossil-based hydrogen currently costs about USD 1.80 per kilogram, while the cost of blue hydrogen, which is produced using natural gas and carbon capture, is estimated to be about USD 2.40 per kilogram. Green hydrogen costs USD 3-4.
India’s transition towards a hydrogen economy
Announcement of the ‘National Hydrogen Mission’ on 15 August 2021 will be considered as one of the milestones in the energy transition history of India. The shift to hydrogen can fetch positive results in terms of reduced emissions, reduced dependence on imported fuel and therefore a reduced financial and ecological burden. Globally, hydrogen energy has gained much needed attention as a means to achieve NetZero targets and to fulfill increasing energy demands. The Covid-19 pandemic, dwindling economies due to the RussiaUkraine conflict, fear of economic recession and disrupted supply chains pose serious threats to various measures to reduce emissions. It is disheartening to see that countries have witnessed short-term shift towards coal again which can affect climate mitigation policies and programmes. India is using hydrogen as fuel and feedstock in various sectors, but a major shift towards hydrogen in refining petroleum, ammonia industry, power sector, feedstock for methanol production, steel industry, long haul freight and heavy-duty vehicles is needed to remain in the race to reach net-zero targets. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects an increase in hydrogen demand from 287 mt (sustainable development scenario) to 528 mt (Net Zero Scenario) which can result in mitigation of 1.6 – 3.5 mt of GHGs emissions annually by 2050. In 2020, a total of 900 Mt of carbon emissions was emitted due to hydrogen production globally (IEA, 2021). Thus, the need of scaling up green hydrogen is quite clear. Hydrogen can be produced by many ways and according to its production mechanisms, it is categorized into various shades (i.e. blue, green, and grey). Green hydrogen is one of the best bets to make India a hydrogen-based economy. It uses renewable energy like solar or wind in electrolysis of water for hydrogen production and thus the cleanest of them all. In February 2022, the Government of India floated the Green hydrogen policy 2022 which aimed to make India a hub of production and export of green hydrogen. Grey hydrogen uses fossil fuel i.e natural gas, coal and methane, for hydrogen production which leads to carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere and blue hydrogen is produced using natural gas using steam reforming method. During this method, hydrogen and carbon dioxide are produced. This carbon dioxide is captured and stored for further use. Other not-so prominent shades of hydrogen include pink, turquoise, brown, yellow, and white. Pink hydrogen is produced by electrolysis powered by nuclear energy. Turquoise hydrogen uses methane pyrolysis process using natural gas. Brown hydrogen uses steam methane reforming process powered by coal which produces carbon dioxide emissions. Yellow hydrogen uses solar energy for electrolysis. White hydrogen is produced from natural underground deposits and red hydrogen. The recently published NITI Aayog report ‘Harnessing green hydrogen: opportunities for deep decarbonization in India’ gives a roadmap for achieving targets of decarbonizing the economy by charting out near term, medium term and long-term policy pathways. Emphasis is on decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors which was earlier difficult to decarbonize due to technological limitations, unavailability of suitable fuels and high price involved in decarbonization. The sectors include petroleum, ammonia industry, power sector, feedstock for methanol production, steel industry, long haul freight and heavy-duty vehicles. The pathways suggested by the report show ways to make green hydrogen cost effective and making India a hub for green hydrogen. For a smooth transition towards green hydrogen, a shift or overhaul of the complete system is required to ensure it is well accepted by all stakeholders. This will include setting up of institutions, developing supply chains, formation of physical infrastructure, R&D and favourable policies. Public participation and engagement in policymaking around green hydrogen is equally important to ensure its diffusion especially in transportation sector. The acceptance of hydrogen among the social system will depend on how hydrogen is made relatively advantageous when compared to other energy sources. Moreover, the public should be able to understand and accept hydrogen as future fuel which will require understanding of various systems, its components and their interaction. This science-policy interface needs to be dealt swiftly to smoothen the adoption of hydrogen. The cost of producing green hydrogen is 2-3 times higher than grey hydrogen and India seeks to achieve the target of producing 5Mt of green hydrogen by 2030. Thus, finance will be the most important aspect to fuel this transition as the cost involved in green hydrogen production, technology, storage and delivery is exorbitant. The Ministry of Power has provided Production linked Incentives (PLI), concessions and benefits to green hydrogen producers to encourage production. There is also a need to focus on financing the public and private sector R&D with major emphasis on development of innovative and costeffective technologies e.g. electrolysers and storage technologies. Grants to universities and institutes should also be provided to encourage R&D and promote collaborations. So, even though the path to sustainability is long and difficult, but it’s high time to again focus on achieving sustainable Development Goals in more strict and realistic manner.
$70 billion investment will turn India to clean energy exporter, says Adani
The Adani Group’s plan to invest $70 billion in clean energy will help India to reduce its dependency on oil and gas imports and emerge as a net exporter of clean energy, chairman Gautam S Adani said on Tuesday. “The best evidence which showcased our confidence and belief in the future — is our investment of $70 billion in facilitating India’s green transition. We are already one of the world’s largest developers of solar power. Our strength in renewables will empower us enormously in the effort to make green hydrogen the fuel of the future,” Adani said at the group’s annual general meeting on Tuesday. “We are leading the race to turn India from a country over-reliant on import of oil and gas, to a country that might one day become a net exporter of clean energy. A transformation which will help reshape India’s energy footprint in an extraordinary way,” he said, adding, that the success of the group is based on its alignment with India’s growth story. In 2021, billionaire Adani said his logistics-to-energy conglomerate will invest ($70 billion) over the next decade to become the world’s largest renewable energy company. This would also help the group produce the cheapest hydrogen on earth. “India’s renewable energy capacity has increased almost 300% since 2015. In fact, the past year saw an astonishing 125% increase in capital investment in renewables compared to 2020-21. There is no stopping India now as over 75% of the surging incremental demand that India needs is expected to be met through the addition of renewable energy generation,” Adani added. Apart from its global renewable energy portfolio, the Group also has made progress in several other industries over the past 12 months. “Never have we walked away from investing in India, never have we slowed our investments,” he said. Adani said that “in one stroke” the group became the largest airport operator in India. Around the airports it operates, the group is also developing aerotropolises and creating localised community-based economic centres. The group is also building India’s infrastructure, winning road contracts and strengthening its market share in ports, logistics, transmission and distribution, city gas and piped natural gas. The successful initial public offering (IPO) of Adani Wilmar had it the largest FMCG firm in the country, while the acquisition of Holcim’s assets in India – ACC and Ambuja Cements – helped it emerge as the second-largest cement manufacturer. The group’s market capitalisation exceeded $200 billion this year. The Adani family will contribute Rs 600 billion towards charitable activities across healthcare, education and skill development with a focus on rural India. This is also to mark Adani’s 60th birthday and his father Shantilal Adani’s 100th birth anniversary.
India seen overtaking China as biggest importer of seaborne Russian crude
India, fuelled by its appetite for discounted Ural grades, is understood to have overtaken China as the top destination for seaborne Russian crude oil this month. The overall Russian crude oil imports to India are set to exceed 1 million barrels a day (b/d) in July, of which Urals crude has accounted for 880,000 b/d in the first 25 days, according to London-based energy analytics company Vortexa. China’s import of seaborne Russian crude oil is likely to end July below India’s, although definitive Chinese numbers are not available. “China and India continue to haul in Russian crude from the seaborne market, with India likely to pass China to be the top importer in July. This is the first time Indian imports of seaborne Russian crude have exceeded those from China,” said Emma Li, China analyst for Vortexa. Russian Urals crude going to China on ships has been 300,000 b/d this month. China receives more of the Russian ESPO Blend crude favoured by its independent refiners mainly based in Shandong. China also buys ESPO Blend under a long-term contract via dedicated pipelines. Russian crude oil travelling through pipelines is not included in this study. However, it is estimated to be only around 10 to 20 per cent of all crude oil flowing out of Russia; the remaining vast majority is through ships on sea, which are tracked by Vortexa. The share of pipelines used to be over one-third before the Russia-Ukraine war. Much of it went to Europe. India predominantly buys the Urals grade, shipped from Black Sea ports and Mediterranean, but it has also started taking a different Russian grade shipped from the Far East, though that entails a much longer sea route. Supplies of Russian Urals to India are slightly down — 3 per cent — from June, but that gap can be made up by the time July ends. Urals, a slightly heavier and higher-sulphur grade compared to ESPO Blend, suits India’s refineries and is available in adequate quantities, said R Ramachandran, an oil industry consultant and former refinery head at BPCL. Russia has emerged as one of India’s top three crude oil suppliers since the war broke out in late February. The invasion unleashed sanctions by the United States and Europe, prompting Moscow to offer discounts of around $30 a barrel on Urals. “Apart from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, we believe it is the UAE, United States and Mexico that will see some of their flows being replaced by Russian crude,” said Rohit Rathod, a senior oil market analyst at Vortexa. UAE oil supplies to India more than halved in May from April to 387,000 barrels a day as Russian shipments more than doubled. US oil supplies dropped by 71 per cent in May to 161,000 barrels a day from February before recovering to 326,000 barrels a day in June. Russia shipped 1.18 million barrels a day of crude in June, displacing Iraq as India’s premier oil supplier, from 823,000 barrels a day in May, Vortexa data shows. Iraq supplied 1.13 million barrels a day in June and Saudi Arabia shipped 784,000 barrels a day compared to 976,000 barrels a day and 774,000 barrels a day in May, respectively.