Oil & Gas: Best Performance In 7 Years
The one sector that has remained unscathed by the government’s cash ban is oil and gas. The BSE Oil & Gas Index, which was trading with gains of 24.6 percent until November 8, is now up 24.9 percent year-to-date. And the index is set to make its biggest annual gain since 2009. On the other hand, Brent crude surged 48.5 percent this year. Oil and gas exploration companies like ONGC and Oil India benefitted from rising crude oil prices and lower subsidy burden. Brent crude prices will average $55 a barrel in 2017, according to the median of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg, compared to $44.8 in 2016. The BSE Oil & Gas Index is trading at an EV/EBITDA ratio of 6.03 for 2017, which is the lowest in more than 13 years, suggesting room for further upside. Like the P/E ratio, the EV/EBITDA ratio is a measure of how expensive a stock is. The ratio measures the price (in the form of enterprise value) an investor pays for the benefit of the company’s cash flow (in the form of EBITDA). Al Woods Authentic Jersey
GAS 2 LAST
The share of gas-based power in total generation plunged to 4 per cent in fiscal 2016 compared with 12 per cent in 2011, because of inadequate domestic supply and unviable LNG prices, it said. Prasad Koparkar, Senior Director, Crisil Research said: “Despite a subsidy-based revival scheme, plant load factors (PLFs) at gas-based power generation facilities are languishing at 20-25 per cent. Even those that received subsidy could operate at only at half their target PLFs (50 per cent in the first half of current fiscal).” This was because spot prices of electricity have fallen below Rs 3 per unit, while gas-based power costs Rs 4.7 per unit after subsidy. “Therefore, further policy support, in line with the tax and duty exemptions provided to renewables, and mandatory scheduling of gas-based power, would be critical to boost gas usage in the power sector,” he said. Another key sector with significant potential is city gas distribution (CGD). Allocation of domestic gas leads to cost savings up to 30 per cent, boosting its use in the transport sector. However, lack of curbs on furnace oil — a cheaper but more polluting fuel ? have resulted in industries continuing to use it. Vladimir Ducasse Authentic Jersey
Essar Oil to double petrol pumps to 5,600 in 18 months
Essar Oil, India’s largest private fuel retailer, plans to double the number of petrol pumps it has in the country to 5,600 in 12-18 months, the firm’s Chairman Prashant Ruia said. The company, which operates a 20 million tons a year oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, will invest Rs 12 billion in upgrade of certain units of the refinery to help boost margins by USD 1.5 per barrel. “Essar Oil has the largest private sector retail fuel network in India with over 2,800 operational outlets across the length and breadth of the country and over 2,800 at various stages of implementation to capitalise on the rising demand of transportation fuel”, Ruia said in its latest annual report. The sales from retail operations grew by 127 per cent from 590,000 tons in financial year 2014-15 to 1.34 million tons in 2015-16. “This growth was mainly on account of expansion of company’s retail network as well as the opportunity presented to the private players in the retail segment by deregulation of diesel prices, thereby linking the price of diesel to the global market,” the annual report said. Ruia said Essar Oil has set new benchmark in the private sector retail sale network in just about two years. “You may recall that Essar Oil was the first private sector company in India to open a retail fuel outlet back in 2003. Since then, the company kept its network operation despite the turbulent times right up till 2014, close to the complete de-regulation,” Ruia said. In October this year, the promoters signed pact to sell 98 per cent stake in Essar Oil to Russia’s Rosneft and its partners for about USD 13 billion. “In line with Essar’s philosophy to incubate, nurture, and scale up ideas to landmark valuations, the promoters decided to sell 98 per cent of your company stake to world’s leading oil and gas companies,” he said, adding that the deal will close within the current fiscal. Essar Oil CEO L K Gupta said the company is targeting to earn around USD 1.50 (per barrel of crude) incremental Gross Refinery Margin (GRM) as an outcome of its Rs 16 billion of investment in low cost and high margin. A.J. Green Authentic Jersey
Hardening crude will test diesel deregulation: K Ravichandran, Senior Vice President, ICRA
The expected hardening of crude oil prices following the latest OPEC decision to cut output may not adversely impact the government’s pre-budget calculations but a rise in oil prices over the coming months, if sustained, could test the deregulation of diesel, K Ravichandran, Senior Vice President at ratings agency ICRA tells Bilal Abdi in an exclusive interview. Edited excerpts.. Now that prices of crude have started going up, should the consumers brace themselves for Rs 5-6 per liter hike in petrol as being speculated? A Rs 5-6 hike in petrol would be a requirement from next month. As of now, the oil companies would not be comfortable passing on the burden especially when the overall consumer sentiment is very low due to the demonetisation issue. They would do it in stages. It will definitely be an added burden on the consumers’ pockets. Do you think a Rs 5-6 per liter hike in petrol prices would be the stage at which the government would intervene and announce excise duty relief? The government may be reluctant to cut excise duty as long as the crude oil prices are below $60 per barrel, as they also have to account for the subsidy outgo provided to consumers as well as take care of the under-recovery burden. The centre had budgeted for a petroleum subsidy burden of around Rs 27,000 crore for the current financial year. With the fiscal drawing to a close, what is the expected outgo? The actual subsidy outgo in the first six months of the present fiscal year was only Rs 8,000 crore. Hence, the government is in a very comfortable situation for the current fiscal in spite of the recent hardening of crude oil prices. As for 2017-18, the government’s finances will be impacted only if crude prices increase by $20 from the current level and the rupee also correspondingly depreciates to around 70. In that situation, it will be interesting to see whether the government will stick to its de-regulation policy on diesel as diesel has become an important fuel be it in agriculture or the industrial sector. How much are the total Gross Under-Recoveries (GURs) suffered by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in the first half current fiscal? What are the chances the subsidy burden would be passed on to upstream firms? The overall under-recovery outgo was approximately Rs 8,000 crore which was entirely borne by the government. As per the current policy, upstream companies are asked to bear the burden when Kerosene under-recoveries go beyond Rs 12 per litre and for LPG, the cap is around Rs 255 per cylinder. Currently, the under-recovery for Kerosene is around Rs 11-12 per liter which is close to breaching the ceiling fixed and the ceiling will be breached if the crude prices harden at $60 per barrel. In case of LPG, the under-recovery level is around Rs 110 per cylinder. So, the upstream companies have a lot of buffer before they are asked to share the burden. At what level would the centre’s petroleum subsidy burden stand if prices were to cross anticipated level in near future? If crude prices are below $60, and the rupee hovers between Rs 68-70, the government’s outgo should be between Rs 25,000-Rs 35,000 crore in 2017-18 and for 2016-17, it would be around Rs 21,000 crore. A major reason why the government’s subsidy maths would not be affected is the increase in prices and reduction in subsidy volumes. In LPG, key policy initiatives from the government like Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL) helped weed out a lot of bogus connections and the “Give it up” campaign helped reduce subsidy volumes. The demand for Kerosene has become almost flat mainly due to electrification, LPG penetration and increase in prices. While the government’s balance sheets are expected to be stable in the next fiscal year, the end consumer may have to face the brunt of hike in fuel prices. Dylan Strome Womens Jersey
Malaysia’s Petronas to study two oilfields in Iran
Malaysia’s state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Berhad inked a deal to study two oilfields in Iran with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). Petronas, as the firm is known, will conduct studies at South Azadegan and Cheshmeh Khosh that are expected to conclude in the second quarter of 2017, the Malaysian firm said in a statement late on Wednesday. Iran, OPEC’s third largest oil producer, plans to launch next year a new-style contract for helping develop its oil and gas fields, part of an effort to sweeten the terms it offers and attract more foreign investment. It has in recent weeks signed agreements with other oil producers such as Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Ltd for oilfield studies. Petronas used to import 50,000-60,000 barrels per day of Iranian crude before it stopped buying due to Western sanctions. Malaysia’s cabinet on Wednesday also gave the go-ahead to pursue a free trade agreement with Iran, state news agency Bernama reported. The potential for trade with Iran was enormous in areas such as oil and gas, and palm oil, trade minister Mustapa Mohamed was quoted as saying. Jussi Jokinen Womens Jersey
Oil and the Arctic: what is at stake
A US-Canadian move to block new leases for oil or gas drilling in sovereign Arctic waters is designed to protect an area already severely disrupted by climate change. A quick tour of the Arctic and what is at stake: – THE ARCTIC – The Arctic Circle, which starts 66.5 degrees north of the equator, marks an area where on at least one day of the year there will be no light or no night — and that period is longer, the further north you go. It covers more than 20 million square kilometres (7.7 million square miles), an area bigger than Russia, cutting through northern Canada, Alaska, Russia, Scandinavia and Greenland. About a third of the area is land. The part of the Arctic Ocean permanently covered by ice has been diminishing steadily for several decades due to global warming, making the region more accessible to shipping, and thus oil and gas extraction. The record low ice cover — 3.41 million square kilometres in September 2012 — was 44 percent below the 1981-2010 average. Some of the ocean falls under the national jurisdictions of the countries it borders, but most is not subject to any national laws or regulations. An Arctic Council created in 1996 to address territorial and political disputes has so far only dealt with peripheral issues such as protocols for sea rescue and oil spills. – ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS – The biggest threat — driven by the burning of fossil fuels — is climate change, which has pushed temperatures in the Arctic up twice as fast as the worldwide average. Scientists have calculated that global oil, gas and coal projects already under construction or in operation will push Earth past the threshold of dangerous global warming, heating the planet by more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial era levels. Developing even a portion of the Arctic’s massive as-yet-untapped gas and oil reserves would exacerbate climate change even further. The region’s human communities and wildlife — from polar bears to bowhead whales, from seals to sea birds — are also at risk. Dozens of distinct indigenous cultures within the Arctic depend directly on the ocean and its wildlife for food and income. Oil production, and spills, difficult to clean up in icy conditions, could threaten livelihoods by damaging fragile ecosystems. Dirty fuel from ships operating in the Arctic is also a source of pollution. Climate change, meanwhile, has already had a major impact on these mostly coastal communities, some of which are literally falling into the sea. – NOT ON THE SAME PAGE – The US decision designates the vast majority of its waters in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas — an area covering some 50 million hectares (125 million acres) — as “indefinitely off limits” to offshore oil and gas leasing. Canada said all its Arctic waters were off limits. Both the United States and Canada have aggressively developed other fossil fuel resources in the last two decades — gas extracted via “fracking” and oil from tar sands, respectively. The same is not true for Russia and Norway, whose economies depend heavily on oil, some of which is taken from the Arctic Circle. “The economy-energy balance of the US is not the same as for Russia and Norway,” notes Laurent Mayet, France’s representative to the Arctic Council. – NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE? – In September 2015, Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell abandoned exploratory drilling operations in the Alaskan Arctic, saying not enough oil and gas had been discovered to make extraction worthwhile. The licence had been granted by the Obama administration. The British company Cairn Energy likewise gave up on its forays, said Pierre Terzian, head of French consulting firm Petrostrategies. “There were no imminent prospection projects” before the joint US-Canadian announcement, Terzian told AFP. “Why go into the Arctic when there is plenty of oil and gas elsewhere that is technically less expensive to extract and does not carry as much risk in terms of image?” French group Total has gone further, renouncing the exploitation of oil fields in the Arctic. “The best insurance for the Arctic is a low price for oil,” Terzian added. Dan Feeney Authentic Jersey
India map wrongly depicted in annual diary of ONGC’s overseas arm
In an embarrassment to state-owned ONGC Videsh, an annual diary distributed by the company had to be withdrawn after wrongly depicting the map of India. The “inadvertent error” meant all 2,100 copies had to be recalled after being distributed to employees and others. The diary contained a small map that depicted ONGC Videsh operations around the world in its introductory pages. However, it did not correctly outline the state of Jammu and Kashmir as public domain images from the Internet were used. Officials described the error as an act of omission and said that immediate steps were taken to ensure all published copies were withdrawn. “One of the pictorial representations showed the world map pinpointing regions where ONGC Videsh had its presence,” an ONGC spokesperson told ET. “The erroneous map was noticed and the diary was withdrawn immediately. The error was inadvertent and an act of omission and insufficient proofreading, caused due to usage of public domain pictorial representations.” The withdrawal took place within a few days of the diary being issued after the error was discovered. Some of the copies were sent back by officials who were posted abroad. India views what it considers to be erroneous map depictions seriously and, for instance, seizes copies of magazines that contain these unless stamped with a disclaimer. ONGC Videsh is the overseas arm of the Oil and Natural Gas Corp with a presence in 17 countries including Vietnam, Russia, Venezuela and New Zealand. It has 37 oil and gas assets at locations across the world. Latavius Murray Womens Jersey
Asia set for biggest refining capacity jump in three years
Asia will post its biggest net refining capacity addition in three years in 2017, further boosting demand for crude in the world’s biggest and fastest growing oil consuming region. New and expanded refineries from China to India will offset closures in Japan, adding a net 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude processing capacity in 2017, the highest since 2014, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie says. The increase amounts to about an additional 1.5 percent of refining capacity on top of Asia’s total installed capacity of nearly 29 million bpd, Thomson Reuters Eikon data shows. “Heavy crude demand in particular is expected to rise in 2017 as more Asian facilities undergo upgrading and new … refineries come online,” said Sushant Gupta, WoodMac’s Asia research director for refining. The rise in capacity will tighten Asia’s crude market as it coincides with planned output cuts by oil producers like the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia in a bid to end oversupply and prop up prices. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) plans to start a new 200,000-bpd refinery in southern China, while PetroChina aims to start a 260,000-bpd refinery in Yunnan, pending talks with the Myanmar government. Chinese independent refiners are also expected to import an extra 200,000-400,000 bpd of crude, research consultancy Energy Aspects estimates, and an upgrade by Taiwan’s CPC at its Talin refinery will raise crude and condensate demand by 100,000 bpd. Vietnam is due to complete a new 200,000-bpd refinery, while India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd is trialling an expansion in Kochi that will include a new 210,000-bpd crude oil distillation unit. These additions will more than offset a 400,000 bpd decline in refining capacity in Japan by early April due to shrinking local demand, according to Wood Mackenzie. To meet Asian demand, Iraq has already inked new Basra Heavy deals, while Iran expects to complete a pipeline and terminal to export heavy crude West Kharoon next year. Kuwait said it is preparing to restart production from oilfields jointly operated with Saudi Arabia. “We expect a slow ramp up of production from mid-2017. Both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will have to manage this growth within their agreed OPEC production cuts,” WoodMac’s Gupta said. Still, traders see no outright supply shortage for Asian refineries, as OPEC is shielding most of its Asian customers from the planned cuts. Alternative crude supplies are also available, including heavy crude from Latin America and Angola, as well as shale supplies from the United States.
ExxonMobil, ENI, Total to negotiate Cyprus gas exploration
US giant ExxonMobil with Qatar Petroleum, Italy’s ENI and France’s Total have been selected to negotiate a licence to explore offshore Cyprus oil and gas, officials said Wednesday. In July, eight energy giants bid for drilling rights at three blocks off the Mediterranean island’s southern coast. ENI and Total were jointly selected as preferred bidders for block 6 and ENI was picked for block 8, while ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum were chosen for block 10. Licenses would let firms prospect in waters near Egypt’s Zohr field, where ENI in August 2015 discovered the “largest ever” offshore natural gas field in the Mediterranean. The Zohr field is estimated to hold some 850 billion cubic metres (30 trillion cubic feet) of gas. The cabinet has the final say on granting the new licenses for the three blocks. If “negotiations are successful, and provided that the agreed contract per individual block is approved by the council of ministers, hydrocarbon exploration licenses shall be granted,” the cabinet said in a statement. Cyprus Energy Minister George Lakkotrypis said he hoped negotiations would be finalised by February. US firm Noble Energy made the first find off the southeastern coast of Cyprus in 2011 in the Aphrodite field, which is estimated to contain around 127.4 billion cubic metres (4.54 trillion cubic feet) of gas. Italian-South Korean venture ENI-Kogas has so far failed to discover any exploitable gas reserves in deep-sea drilling off Cyprus. ENI already has the right to exploit three blocks in a zone that borders Egypt’s gas fields. ENI has said exploratory drilling off the island’s southern shore will begin next year. Total is also expected to do the same in 2017. Cyprus planned to build a liquefied natural gas plant that would allow exports by ship to Asia and Europe, but the reserves confirmed so far are insufficient to make that feasible. The Mediterranean island hopes to begin exporting gas, and maybe oil, by 2022. Alcides Escobar Womens Jersey
Cross boarder oil pipeline to be put under NPP
In a bid to facilitate the construction of Raxaul-Amlekhgunj Pipeline Project, the Ministry of Supply (MoS) is gearing up to table a proposal to the Cabinet to put the cross-border project under National Pride Project (NPP). According to Supply Secretary Prem Kumar Rai, there is a need to declare the cross-border pipeline project as a National Pride Project as construction of the oil pipeline project needs to clear almost 25,000 trees within Parsa Wildlife Reserve. However, the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act does not allow using land within the conserved area and cutting down trees like this. Under the Raxaul-Amlekhgunj Pipeline Project, the government also plans to develop a huge petroleum storage centre spread over 33.6 hectares of land that lies within Parsa Wildlife Reserve. MoS has also asked National Planning Commission (NPC) to give recognition to Raxaul-Amlekhgunj Pipeline as priority project. “Experts have said that the required land for the project within the conserved area can be acquired only if the government recognises Raxaul-Amlekhgunj Pipeline as National Pride Project,” said Rai, adding that MoS will soon table the proposal to the Cabinet to declare the pipeline project as National Priority Project if recognition of the project as ‘priority project’ by NPC alone is insufficient to facilitate its implementation. However, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will have to be carried out before cutting down trees within the conserved area of the government. While NPC can give recognition of ‘priority’ to a project, projects are declared National Pride Project by the Cabinet. Talking to The Himalayan Times, NPC Vice Chairman Min Bahadur Shrestha said that NPC is optimistic to keep Nepal-India cross-border pipeline under priority project. “We will soon declare the pipeline project as priority project,” Shrestha said. Similarly, a few days ago, NOC Managing Director Gopal Bahadur Khadka had also emphasised on the need to recognise the pipeline project as National Pride Project to expedite the construction works. The construction of 41-kilometre Raxaul-Amlekhgunj Pipeline Project has gathered momentum in the last few months as the detailed engineering report (DER) of the project has been completed recently and pipe laying route for the project has been finalised. The completion of pipeline project is expected to ensure smooth supply of petroleum products in the domestic market and reduce petroleum transportation cost by almost 50 per cent. The Indo-Nepal oil project was signed in August last year. The entire project is expected to cost INR 2.75 billion and the Indian government will inject INR two billion for the project. MacKenzie Weegar Jersey