Lucknow Municipal Corporation to generate bio gas, CNG from cow dung
In a bid to make the city’s Gaushalas self-dependant, Lucknow Municipal Corporation has proposed a project that will generate biogas and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) from cow dung. Indram Tripathi, Lucknow Municipal Commissioner, told ANI: “We will get an income of Rs 25-30 lakh without investing any money. Three private companies from Maharashtra and Firozabad have shown interest in this project.” Adding that the Municipal Corporation will start the work by March next year, Tripathi said: “The Corporation has sent the proposal to the state government. Now, the cows in Gaushalas will not become a burden on anyone.” Earlier in October, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari had launched cow dung soaps and bamboo bottles on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti under a special sales campaign of Khadi and Village Industries Commission in Delhi.
NITI draws up plan to curb stubble burning
The NITI Aayog has asked the Indian Agriculture Research Institute to expeditiously conduct field trials of a technology that allows paddy straw to decompose in fields as concerns mount over growing air pollution in the capital due to stubble burning in neighbouring states. The Aayog will work out a fiscal package for quick adoption of the technology from next year after the field trials, said a senior government official. NITI draws up plan to curb stubble burning “Technology of decomposing straw in situ is available at the lab level. We have to standardise it and test it on the fields,” said NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand. The idea is to use decomposers either in the form of liquid that can be sprayed on the fields or use capsules that can decompose paddy or wheat straws on the farm itself in three-four weeks after which they can be ploughed back into the soil. A scheme could be rolled out next year before the onset of paddy harvest to avoid a repeat of the emergency-like situation in the National Capital Region (NCR) largely on account of stubble burning around this time of year. Air pollution levels in the NCR breached the 500-level mark on the air quality index (AQI) in the first week of November, prompting the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority to declare it a public health emergency which resulted in closure of nearly 600 schools in the NCR. Subsequently, the AQI level shot up further to 900-mark in certain areas of Delhi, forcing the government to call a highlevel meeting to chalk out a strategy. The capital heaved a sigh of relief over the following weekend, with clear skies and AQI hovering between ‘moderate’ (100-200) and ‘poor’ (200-300) levels.
IndianOil seeks LNG cargo for December delivery
Indian Oil Corp is seeking a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo for delivery in December, three industry sources said on Tuesday. The company is seeking the cargo for delivery on Dec. 17 through a tender which will close later this week, two of them said. Lower spot prices for Asian LNG is attracting demand from Indian buyers, several trade sources said.
Cabinet approves BPCL stake sale
The union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved the sale of the government’s entire 53.29 per cent stake in oil refiner and retailer Bharat petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after a cabinet meeting here. “The strategic disinvestment of BPCL, of the Government of India’s shareholding of 53.29 per cent, along with transfer of certain management control to strategic buyer is approved. The entire management control in BPCL will be transferred. However, this is excluding BPCL’s equity shareholding of 61 per cent it holds in Numaligarh Refinery Ltd,” Sitharaman said. She said a “carve out” has been made of NRL in Assam that shall not be disinvested and NRL will be moved out of BPCL before the disinvestment and acquired by another PSU. As part of the decision, 74.23 per cent of hydro power major THDC and 100 per cent in North Eastern Electric Power Coporation Limited (NEEPCO) will be sold to NTPC. “The resources unlocked by the strategic disinvestment of these CPSEs would be used to finance the social sector or developmental programmes of the Government benefiting the public. The unlocked resources would form part of the budget and the usage would come to scrutiny of the public,” an official statement said. It added that the strategic buyer or acquirer may bring in new management or technology or investment for the growth of these companies and may use innovative methods for their development. Sitharaman had said in an interview last week the government would wrap up the sale of the fuel retailer by March 2020. The government is selling its entire stake in BPCL to a strategic investor as part of a larger plan to meet its disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 trillion for this fiscal year. The statement said strategic disinvestment is guided by the basic economic principle that the government should discontinue its engagement in manufacturing of goods and services in sectors where the competitive markets have come of age, and such entities would most likely perform better in the private hands due to various factors, for example, technology up-gradation and efficient management practices; and would thus add to the GDP of the country.
Congress hits out at BPCL disinvestment decision, says government ‘selling the country’
Criticising the government over its decision on disinvestment of BPCL and other companies, the Congress on Thursday accused it of “selling the country”. The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a strategic divestment of the government’s 53.29 per cent stake in BPCL, along with transfer of certain management control. This is excluding BPCL’s equity share holding of 61 per cent stake in Numaligarh Refinery. “They did not create anything, but will sell everything. This is called selling the country. If there is Modi, it is possible,” tweeted Randeep Surjewala in Hindi.
Climate change could double greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater lakes: Study
Every drop of freshwater contains thousands of different organic molecules that have previously gone unnoticed. By measuring the diversity of these molecules and how they interact with the environment around them, research has revealed an invisible world that affects the functioning of freshwater ecosystems and can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Small shallow lakes dominate the world’s freshwater area, and the sediments within them already produce at least one-quarter of all carbon-dioxide, and more than two-thirds of all methane released from lakes into our atmosphere. The new research, published in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), suggests that climate change may cause the levels of greenhouse gases emitted by freshwater northern lakes to increase by between 1.5 and 2.7 times. “What we’ve traditionally called ‘carbon’ in freshwater turns out to be a super-diverse mixture of different carbon-based organic molecules,” said Dr Andrew Tanentzap in Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, who led the research. “We’ve been measuring ‘carbon’ in freshwater as a proxy for everything from water quality to the productivity of freshwater ecosystems. Now we’ve realised that it’s the diversity of this invisible world of organic molecules that’s important.” As the climate warms, vegetation cover is increasing in forests of the northern latitudes. By simulating this effect in two lakes in Ontario, Canada, the study found an increased diversity of organic molecules – molecules containing carbon within their structure – entering the water in the matter shed by nearby plants and trees. Organic molecules are a food source for microbes in the lake sediments, which break them down and release carbon dioxide and methane as by-products. Increasing levels of organic molecules can, therefore, enhance microbial activity and produce more greenhouse gases. Since the same microbes can make greenhouse gases from many different organic molecules, the diversity of organic molecules was shown to be more closely linked with levels of greenhouse gas concentrations than the diversity of the microbes. In addition, an elevated diversity of organic molecules may elevate greenhouse gas concentrations in waters because there are more molecules that can be broken down by sunlight penetrating the water. To conduct the research, containers were filled with varying ratios of rocks and organic material, consisting of deciduous and coniferous litter from nearby forests – and submerged in the shallow waters of the two lakes. Analysis of the samples two months later, using the techniques of ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry and next-generation DNA sequencing, showed that the diversity of organic molecules was correlated with the diversity of microbial communities in the water and that the diversity of both increased as the amount of organic matter increased. Accurately predicting carbon emissions from natural systems is vital to the reliability of calculations used to understand the pace of climate change, and the effects of a warmer world. “Climate change will increase forest cover and change species composition, resulting in a greater variety of leaves and plant litter falling into waterways. We found that the resulting increase in the diversity of organic molecules in the water leads to higher greenhouse gas concentrations,” said Tanentzap. “Understanding these connections means we could look at ways to reduce carbon emissions in the future, for example by changing land management practices.” Changing the vegetation around freshwater areas could change the organic molecules that end up in the water. The team is now expanding their study by taking samples from 150 lakes across Europe, to understand the broader ecological consequences of organic molecule diversity in natural freshwater systems.
Reliance surpasses BP to join elite oil supermajor club
Reliance Industries Ltd., run by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, has eclipsed BP Plc to break into an elite club of energy supermajors. The Indian conglomerate is now valued at $138 billion, compared with the British energy giant’s $132 billion value at the close of trading on Tuesday. Reliance’s shares have increased at three times the pace of India’s benchmark index this year after its billionaire owner in August announced plans to cut the company’s net debt to zero in 18 months through measures including a stake sale in the oil-to-chemicals business to Saudi Aramco. The surge in shares gives Ambani a net worth of $56 billion, making him Asia’s richest person, above Alibaba Group’s Jack Ma, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Reliance’s market value briefly surpassed BP for the first time at the end of last month, and it has now regained the lead over the British company after its shares hit a fresh high in Mumbai on Wednesday. It also narrowing the gap with PetroChina Co., currently Asia’s biggest oil firm by value, and is within a whisker of becoming the first Indian company to hit the 10 trillion rupee market-cap milestone. Reliance has rallied 40% this year, compared with BP’s 1.2% gain as it works on cutting high debt levels. Oil companies have struggled because of swings in crude prices and as uncertainty persists over future energy demand. Reliance, meanwhile, has benefited in a number of ways. It operates the world’s biggest oil-refining complex in western India, which can process low-quality crude and turn it into higher-grade fuels, partly protecting it from volatility in prices. Telecom, RetailWhile Reliance gets two-third of its revenue from energy, Ambani has also made massive investments in telecom and digital services as he looks to benefit from growing demand in the world’s second-biggest market for mobile phone users. He has also expanded the company’s retail business to take on Amazon.com Inc. and Walmart Inc. The telecom unit, Reliance Jio, which claims to be world’s largest mobile data network, was also bolstered by a recent blow to India’s wireless carriers that left Ambani’s company largely unscathed. On Tuesday, Jio said it will take steps including an appropriate increase in tariffs in the next few weeks. Reliance is now the world’s sixth-largest oil company, with Exxon Mobil Corp. topping the list with a market value of about $290 billion. Aramco, formally known as Saudi Arabian Oil Co., is planning an initial public offering with a valuation target of between $1.6 trillion and $1.7 trillion, which would make it the world’s biggest.
India’s hunger for natural gas being fed by costly imports amid dismal local production
India’s hunger for natural gas to feed key industries in the power and fertilizer sectors is continuing to grow unabated but that demand is increasingly being met by costly imports on the back of dismal domestic production. The country consumed 174 million standard cubic metre per day (mmscmd) of natural gas in September 2019, a 6 per cent increase over the consumption of 164 mmscmd in the same month last year. The over demand growth stood at 3 per cent in the April-September 2019 period, according to latest data shared by research firm India Ratings. However, the 6 per cent growth in consumption in September fuelled a massive 18 per cent jump in costly imports of Regasified-Liquefied Natural Gas (R-LNG). “Domestic natural gas production decreased 4.3 per cent year-on-year. During the month, gas volume production in Oil and Natural Gas Corp and private or joint venture fields recorded a fall of 4.6 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, while Oil India Ltd recorded an increase of 1.5 per cent year-on-year,” the agency said in a report. Domestic natural gas contributed a mere 52 per cent to the overall domestic consumption during September 2019. Additionally, the rising demand for gas is coming increasingly from the fertilizer sector rather than power plants. Consumption data for August 2019 captures that trend. In August, the fertilizer sector consumed 26.2 mmscmd of imported natural gas but only 19 mmscmd of domestically produced gas. On the other hand, power plants consumed a mere 8.7 mmscmd of imported gas but 21 per cent of the domestic output. Apart from gas, the trend of rising imports feeding domestic demand is replicated in crude oil, too, with the only difference that both production and imports are going down. In September 2019, crude oil production decreased 5.4 per cent year-on-year. Production volumes of ONGC and OIL declined 2.6 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively, and that of fields under production-sharing contracts decreased 11.4 per cent during the month. At the same time crude oil import volume decreased 6.6 per cent and the country’s oil import dependence ballooned to a staggering 83.1 per cent in September 2019.
India’s hunger for natural gas being fed by costly imports amid dismal local production
India’s hunger for natural gas to feed key industries in the power and fertilizer sectors is continuing to grow unabated but that demand is increasingly being met by costly imports on the back of dismal domestic production. The country consumed 174 million standard cubic metre per day (mmscmd) of natural gas in September 2019, a 6 per cent increase over the consumption of 164 mmscmd in the same month last year. The over demand growth stood at 3 per cent in the April-September 2019 period, according to latest data shared by research firm India Ratings. However, the 6 per cent growth in consumption in September fuelled a massive 18 per cent jump in costly imports of Regasified-Liquefied Natural Gas (R-LNG). “Domestic natural gas production decreased 4.3 per cent year-on-year. During the month, gas volume production in Oil and Natural Gas Corp and private or joint venture fields recorded a fall of 4.6 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, while Oil India Ltd recorded an increase of 1.5 per cent year-on-year,” the agency said in a report. Domestic natural gas contributed a mere 52 per cent to the overall domestic consumption during September 2019. Additionally, the rising demand for gas is coming increasingly from the fertilizer sector rather than power plants. Consumption data for August 2019 captures that trend. In August, the fertilizer sector consumed 26.2 mmscmd of imported natural gas but only 19 mmscmd of domestically produced gas. On the other hand, power plants consumed a mere 8.7 mmscmd of imported gas but 21 per cent of the domestic output. Apart from gas, the trend of rising imports feeding domestic demand is replicated in crude oil, too, with the only difference that both production and imports are going down. In September 2019, crude oil production decreased 5.4 per cent year-on-year. Production volumes of ONGC and OIL declined 2.6 per cent and 5.4 per cent, respectively, and that of fields under production-sharing contracts decreased 11.4 per cent during the month. At the same time crude oil import volume decreased 6.6 per cent and the country’s oil import dependence ballooned to a staggering 83.1 per cent in September 2019.
GAIL, IOC to pay ₹60.18/mBtu for regasification at Dhamra
Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd will pay ₹60.18 per mBtu (million British thermal units) as regasification charges at the Dhamra LNG Terminal. This charge will be borne by the two after the LNG terminal has been commissioned, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said while responding to a starred question in the Lok Sabha. IOCL and GAIL have agreed to pay the tolling charges of ₹ 60.18 per mBtu for re-gas facility at Dhamra LNG terminal with annual escalations in line with their respective contractual provision, he added. The Dhamra LNG terminal is co-owned by Total SA Ltd and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd.