New branch of major oil pipeline in Shandong starts operation
China’s Qingdao port has started operations at the second phase of a crude pipeline from Qingdao port to the city of Weifang in Shandong province, the Economic Daily said on Monday * The second phase extended the crude pipe to inland independent refineries such as Chambroad, Qirun and refiners in the city of Guangrao – Economic Daily * The pipe transported 105,000 tonnes of South American crude from Qingdao port to Dongying Qirun Chemical Co on July 28, according to the newspaper Derek Roy Jersey
Reliance to shut MA oil and gas field in Krishna Godavari basin block KG-D6; here’s why
Exactly a decade after it started production, the MA oil and gas field in the Krishna Godavari basin block KG-D6 will seize to produce from September, said Reliance Industries which has battled quicker than anticipated decline in output at a block that once was its pride. Reliance had till date made 19 oil and gas discoveries in the Krishna Godavari basin. Of these, D26 or MA — the only oil discovery in the block — was the first field to began production in September 2008. Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1 and D3) fields went onstream in April 2009. “MA field cessation expected by September 2018,” the company said in an investor presentation post announcing first-quarter earnings. The field had in the first month produced 39,976 tonnes of crude oil and peaked to 1,08,418 tonnes in May 2010, according to data available from the upstream regulator, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). Output has been declining since then it produced 0.14 million barrels (1960 tonnes) in April-June quarter, Reliance said in the presentation. MA also started producing gas from April 2009, just when D1 & D6 went live. It peaked to 8.4 million standard cubic meter per day in August 2010 before sand and water ingress forced shutting down of well after well. D1 & D3 field too had a peak that year in March when it touched an output of 61.4 mmscmd. Output thereafter has only declined. Reliance said KG-D6 output in April-June averaged at 4.7 mmscmd. This was made up of production from both D1 & D3 and MA fields. In April the company had stated that “adhering to Site Restoration Guidelines issued by Government of India, RIL submitted Bank Guarantee for Decommissioning activity for existing producing fields”. While the company had not provided any timelines for decommissioning and stopping of production at the fields then, it has now said MA field would shut in September. The shutdown coincides with the expiry of the current lease of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, which processes output from the field. Reliance is the operator of KG-D6 block with 60 per cent interest, while BP plc of UK holds 30 per cent stake. Niko Resources of Canada has the remaining 10 per cent. The government’s Site Restoration Guidelines provide for a one year notice for decommissioning of facilities. Reliance had in the field development plan for D1 and D3 proposed a capital expenditure of USD 8.836 billion. For developing Dhirubhai-26 or MA oilfield, it had in 2006 proposed to invest USD 2.234 billion, which was scaled down to USD 1.96 billion in 2012. The fields were in the investment plans supposed to last a minimum 15 years but have extinguished in exactly a decades time. RIL in the presentation said it is now developing three sets of discoveries — R-Cluster, Satellite Cluster and MJ fields in the KG-D6 block at a cost of Rs 400 billion. These fields together would bring 30-35 mmscmd of peak output. Initial gas will start flowing from 2020. Mack Hollins Authentic Jersey
HPCL storage terminal to come up in Dharmapuri
As part of efforts to strengthen its distribution network in the State, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) has begun spade work for a new products pipeline from Vijayawada to Dharmapuri. The project includes the setting up of a storage terminal in Dharmapuri that would ensure the supply of fuel and lubes to the Coimbatore—Salem belt, besides Madurai and Tirunelveli. The project is estimated to cost Rs. 26.77 billion and is expected to be completed by mid-2021, HPCL sources said. The terminal will come up at Boodhanalli with an initial capacity of 4.24 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), which can be expanded to 5.85 MTPA. “The Dharmapuri district administration is currently working on getting us the land. In Andhra Pradesh, land acquisition for the pipeline is likely to get over by October. Engineering and tendering are in an advanced stage,” an official source said. Permission from various authorities, including the National Highways Authority of India and the pollution control boards of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, as well as environmental clearance, were being sought, he added. The 697-km pipeline would run from HPCL’s Vijayawada terminal at Kondapalli and have pumping stations at Markapur and Rayachoty. The terminal would help supply aviation fuel to the Salem airport, which is 29 km away. The oil major’s current share of retail fuels in Tamil Nadu is about 21.7 %. Al Montoya Authentic Jersey
New energy policy will get cabinet nod soon
The New Energy Policy (NEP) has been finalised by government think-tank Niti Aayog and is likely to get Cabinet nod this month, sources have said. The Niti Aayog had released the first draft of the NEP in June last year and had sent it to the Union Cabinet for its nod in October. The policy aims to improve the energy security of the country by reducing dependence on imports. As of now, India is heavily dependent on oil and gas imports. External disturbances like wars and civil unrest in different countries may disrupt imports of fuel like coal, thereby affecting the country’s fuel security. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said: “Our focus is to reduce energy imports and make energy accessible to all, like fundamental rights. We are working to make energy available, affordable, and accessible.” “There are two ways in which an efficient energy supply can promote economic growth. The first one is through competitive pricing which will be critical in developing a healthy competitive environment in the energy intensive sectors of India. The second way will be through direct influence by promoting increased domestic production,” Pradhan added. In its draft report, the government think-tank had said that India’s energy demand is likely to soar around three times by 2040, leading to increase in overall primary energy imports. It had also made a case for a single regulator to govern India’s energy market to make “India’s economy energy ready” by 2040. According to the draft NEP 2017, the incumbent government aims to take the energy policy forward from the 2006 Integrated Energy Policy (IEP) which was drafted by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government. The value proposition of the NEP is to present a broad framework for the overall energy sector, taking into account the multiple technology and fuel options. A senior official of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said: “In the draft NEP, the Niti Aayog has recommended many revolutionary reforms, such as opening up of the entire power sector value chain to private investments in order to create an efficient electricity market. These recommendations are going to prove a game-changer in the future.” “Also, the NEP makes revolutionary recommendations on how India should work towards developing and acquiring technology needed to sustain the energy sector in the future,” the same official cited above said. Dustin Colquitt Womens Jersey
Alarming number of accidents in ONGC and HPCL facilities: Parliamentary panel
The total number of accidents in the facilities operated by India’s oil and gas Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) have come down but the number of such cases in the installations of state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) continue to be high and alarming, a Parliamentary panel has said. The panel noted in the three financial years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17, 309 accidents occurred in the oil and gas PSUs resulting in 81 fatalities and injury to 193 persons. “The Committee although find that the number of accidents has come down in some of the PSUs but in HPCL and ONGC the numbers are still high which is alarming,” the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas noted in its report tabled in the Lower House on Wednesday last week. HPCL recorded the highest number of accidents at 149 during the period resulting in 20 fatalities and injury of 61 personnel. ONGC reported 85 accidents resulting in 15 fatalities and injury to 29 personnel. The country’s largest fuel retailer Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) reported 40 accidents at its installations during the three-year period leading to 18 fatalities and 36 injured. Alarming number of accidents in ONGC and HPCL facilities: Parliamentary panel Gas utility GAIL (India) recorded the least number of accidents among oil and gas PSUs but the highest number of fatalities at 25. An explosion in GAIL’s natural gas pipeline at Nagaram in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh claimed 24 lives in 2014. The report noted failure to adhere to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) led to pipeline or equipment failure, leading to the explosion. “The cause of the accident was pipeline/equipment failure due to violations of SOPs. In this case, it has been reported that wet gas was being carried in the pipeline meant for dry gas without taking adequate precautions like pigging of pipeline at regular intervals,” the report stated. The committee also noted despite the provision of regular external and internal safety audits of installations and defined responsibilities of various enforcing organizations, accidents keep recurring in the oil and gas facilities. The report stated poorly trained contracted personnel and lack of proper supervision were the main reasons for accidents at oil installations. “During the period 2014-17, 78 accidents were caused due to such workers of these contractors in which 43 contract workers lost their lives,” it said. The recommendations made by the committee to strengthen safety and security included proper training of contract workers, fool-proof mechanism for pipeline infrastructure, stringent actions for non-adherence to SOP, increased frequency of external safety audits, setting up of emergency response centres and formation of unified safety board, among others. Bernie Parent Authentic Jersey
BPCL becomes first oil marketing company to venture into biogas
: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has become the first oil marketing company to venture into the biogas segment. It has begun on a micro scale with setting up a captive use plant for a food outlet in one its petrol pumps at Bazargaon off Nagpur-Amravati highway. The company has also opened its first electric car battery charging station in the city near Kalamna. As the industry sees emergence of alternate fuels as a means to reduce crude prices, BPCL is also shifting focus into electric vehicles and bio-gas. BPCL’s Executive Director (retail) Arun Singh who came for the inauguration, said there are plans to open 100 such captive use plants throughout the country in over one year’s time. The company has bigger plans also, to further make compressed natural gas (CNG) through biogas, which can be seen as an alternative to petroleum. It is also considering to push biogas into the cooking gas segment. However, an entire chain of logistics supply involving many stakeholders will be needed to scale up the operations for making CNG out of biogas. It takes 100kg of biowaste to make 4.5kg of biogas. This if compressed at a specific count can make CNG, he said. “The biggest challenge, is ensuring availability of bio-waste at a large scale. This will require the involvement of civic bodies, NGOs and other government agencies to collect biowaste which can be converted into gas. The company has already done its calculations and the business can be financially viable with around 12% return on investment,” said Singh. Singh said emergence of alternate fuels can also help in containing the rates of crude oil. If other fuels reduce the demand for petroleum, the crude prices can come down or remain stable, he said. Considering the future of electric vehicles, BPCL is also planning to foray into the business of battery swapping stations. This is a model for vehicles plying on long routes which will need battery charging in between. At the swapping stations the existing battery can be changed with a charged battery. Even as the electric vehicles are emerging, petroleum industry would continue to grow at the current rate of 7% till at least 2025. Later there will be space for all types of vehicles. In coming days the use of electric vehicles is expected to increase in the affluent class at least. The petroleum-driven vehicle may still remain the choice of middle and lower income class, he said. Detroit Lions Authentic Jersey
Plan to lay LPG pipeline in Punjab being formulated: Dharmendra Pradhan
The Central government was formulating a plan to lay LPG pipeline in 13 districts of Punjab, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan today said. The facility would be first provided in Mohali district, the minister said after laying the foundation stone of the new campus of National Skill Training Institute (NSTI) here, an official release said. The minister ensured that the project would be executed with state-of-the-art equipment and highlighted that gas supply through pipelines would lessen the economic burden on people. The Union government would also extend cooperation to the skill development university at Chamkaur Sahib to enhance the professional skills of the youth of Punjab, he further said. He promised support to Punjab government in this regard and announced that Mohali would be made the hub of employment in the state. Earlier, while welcoming the Union Minister, Punjab Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said that the state government was undertaking path breaking measures in the sphere of skill development. However, each year approximately 80,000 youth were migrating to foreign shores leading to an annual capital drain of Rs 20,000 crore, he said. Channi said in most cases, the youth were duped on reaching abroad by travel agents. He urged the Union minister to ensure that the Centre enacts a special law to end this “loot” or launch a portal where those wanting to go abroad and the foreign companies can be brought on the same platform. Morgan Cox Jersey
Reliance to sell entire stake in Cambay Basin to Sun Petrochemicals
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said it has agreed to sell its entire 70% stake Gujarat’s Cambay Basin block to Dilip Shanghvi-promoted Sun Petrochemicals Pvt. Ltd (Sun Oil and Natural Gas) for an undisclosed amount. Reliance has a 70% participating interest in the oil and gas block CB-ONN-2003/1 (also called CB-10) while BP India holds the balance 30%. “RIL signed a sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Sun Petro to farm out its 70% interest in the block. The application for assignment has been submitted to the Government of India for approval,” RIL said in a presentation to analysts on Friday. Mint had in March reported that RIL along with BP had put up their Cambay block for sale. RIL is the operator of the block, which covers 635 sq. km and is divided into two parts, A and B. It had won the block in 2005 in an auction in New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP). With the sale of CB-10, RIL now holds only four blocks—KG-D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin; Mahanadi basin blocks NEC-25 and GS-01 in Saurashtra basin; and Panna-Mukta-Tapti oil and gas fields in the Arabian Sea. RIL will shut down the MA oil and gas field in KG-D6 from September. In 2011, RIL had announced a “transformational” deal with UK-based BP Plc, which picked up 30% stake in its 21 oil and gas blocks. However, since 2012, both companies have been pruning their portfolio, relinquishing unviable blocks. RIL has also sold all its 16 overseas conventional oil and gas exploration blocks that it acquired in the past. In its international portfolio, RIL now holds two shale gas assets in the US. In October 2017, it agreed to sell the first of its shale gas ventures—upstream Marcellus shale gas assets in North-Eastern and central Pennsylvania in the US—for $126 million. The company is also looking at merging Reliance Holdings USA with itself. Last month, RIL had submitted an application to the Reserve Bank of India, in terms of Foreign Exchange Management (Cross Border Merger) Regulations, 2018, seeking its approval for amalgamation of Reliance Holdings USA Inc, with Reliance Energy Generation and Distribution Ltd (REGDL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the company and subsequent amalgamation of REGDL. On Friday, RIL officials said the merger would help the company look at pooling its international gas resources for India, similar to its ethane imports. Between 2010 and 2013, RIL bought stakes in three upstream oil exploration joint ventures with Chevron, Pioneer Natural Resources and Carrizo Oil and Gas; and a midstream joint venture with Pioneer. Midstream refers to the processing, storing, transporting and marketing of hydrocarbons. This March, RIL through its subsidiaries Reliance Eagleford Upstream Holding LP and Reliance Holding USA, agreed to sell part of its interest in Eagle Ford shale assets to Sundance Energy Inc. for $100 million. Josh Rosen Jersey
Inpex’s Ichthys LNG produces first gas off Australia
Inpex Corp said on Monday it has begun producing gas at its giant Ichthys field off northern Australia, putting it a big step closer toward shipping its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo from the long-delayed $40 billion project. Start-up of gas production is a major milestone for the project, Japan’s biggest overseas investment and first major energy development to be operated by the country’s top oil and gas producer. Inpex said it now expects to start exporting products by the end of September, with condensate to be shipped first, then LNG and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), nearly two years later than its initial target. “The project expects to begin the shipment of products towards the end of the first half of the current fiscal year,” Inpex said in a statement. The first half ends in September. The project is expected to take two or three years to reach its full capacity of 8.9 million tonnes of LNG a year, along with about 1.7 million tonnes of LPG and around 100,000 barrels per day of condensate, an ultra-light form of crude oil. Inpex said it was reviewing expected revenue contributions from the Ichthys project for the year to March 2019, taking into account the oil price outlook and other factors, and would inform the market if its forecasts are revised. Inpex owns just over 62 percent of Ichthys LNG, with France’s Total SA holding 30 percent. The remainder is owned by Taiwan’s CPC Corp and Japanese utilities. Deatrich Wise Jr Womens Jersey
Australia’s Darwin seeks to shed frontier image to become world-class LNG export hub
Australia’s tropical city of Darwin wants to establish itself as a world-scale energy export hub, building on its closeness to demand centres in Asia and abundant nearby natural gas resources. With the imminent start-up of Inpex Corp’s $40 billion Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, the capital of the Northern Territory will be home to two LNG exporting facilities, with a total capacity of 12.6 million tonnes a year, including ConocoPhillips’ Darwin LNG plant that opened in 2006. Darwin is poised to become the nucleus of the Northern Territory’s push to expand LNG exports by tapping 30 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas offshore northern Australia. Perched at the top of the continent in a region known for saltwater crocodiles, Darwin is closer to Jakarta than Sydney. The city will vie with projects from Alaska to Qatar that will beef up global LNG supply from 2022 onwards to meet growing demand in Asia, the world’s top consuming region. “We have the gas, location and proximity to markets — whether it’s China, India, Japan or Indonesia,” said Paul Tyrrell, chairman of the Northern Territory Gas Taskforce, appointed to lead the region’s gas push. Ichthys and Darwin LNG have the space to add five more LNG production units, know as trains, with a feasibility study at Darwin LNG suggesting another unit producing 4 million tonnes per year (tpy) of the fuel would be optimal. Darwin LNG’s expansion would build off existing facilities, an advantage over the $200 billion of projects built from scratch in Australia over the past decade, said Graeme Bethune, chief executive of advisory firm EnergyQuest. “There’s a reasonable chance an expansion decision could be made within the next five years,” Bethune said. A second train at Darwin LNG would raise the Northern Territory’s LNG output to nearly 17 million tpy, equivalent to Indonesia, the world’s fifth-biggest exporter, according to data from the International Gas Union (IGU). “We remain open to all options” for a potential expansion of Darwin LNG, a spokesman for ConocoPhillips Australia said, adding the company wanted to get the most out of the region’s reserves. But first Conoco wants to secure gas to keep the original train filled when supply from its current source, the Bayu Undan field in the Timor Sea north of Darwin, runs out in 2023. INFRASTRUCTURE IN PLACE Conoco and its partners Santos and South Korea’s SK E&S have agreed to conduct preliminary design work to develop the Barossa field, 300 kilometres (188 miles) north of Darwin, to supply Darwin LNG. “Darwin excites the heck out of me,” said Santos Chief Executive Kevin Gallagher at an industry conference in May. Santos also has stakes in the Petrel Tern and Crown Lasseter fields that could also feed Darwin LNG. Other reserves offshore Darwin are Evans Shoal, operated by Italy’s Eni, Greater Sunrise, operated by Woodside Petroleum, Cash Maple, operated by Thailand’s PTTEP , and ConocoPhillips’ Poseidon. Inpex would only make a decision to expand exports after getting the initial Ichthys trains up and running after the project has missed several deadlines for first production. “We have to produce 8.9 million tonnes first and then examine whether there is demand. At this stage, there is no concrete plan,” Inpex Chief Executive Officer Takayuki Ueda told Reuters earlier this month. Still, Ueda said the infrastructure for an expansion is in place. “We can develop new gas fields nearby and send gas through the current pipeline,” he said. In addition to the offshore gas, the Northern Territory holds 200 Tcf of onshore shale gas resources that could fuel manufacturing around Darwin. The territory lifted a ban on fracking in April and is developing strict environmental rule before exploration starts. However, environmental groups, farmers and indigenous communities are concerned about damage to water supplies. “We don’t think the government here is up to the task of managing this high risk industry,” said Lauren Mellor, a spokeswoman for the Frack Free NT Alliance. Wesley Matthews Jersey