India ferries petroleum products via Bangladesh for Tripura
India for the first time on Saturday transported petroleum products through Bangladesh to Tripura, officials said. Tripura Industries and Commerce Minister Tapan Chakraborty and other state and central government officials received the tanker trucks at Kailashahar along the India-Bangladesh border at around 11 p.m. on Saturday. Bangladesh had earlier allowed India to ferry heavy machineries of the Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and carry foodgrains to Tripura. “Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOCL) today transported petroleum products from Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh,” an IOCL official said. “The special arrangement was taken due to the difficulties faced in carrying petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas through the national highways linking Tripura,” the official added. The official said nine tank trucks carrying 108 kl of diesel and kerosene along with one LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) truck travelled from Betkutchi near Guwahati to Dawki, Meghalaya’s border point with Bangladesh, and then on to Tamabil and Chatlapur in Bangladesh, eventually reaching Kailasahar and Dharmanagar in north Tripura. The trucks reached the Dharmanagar IOCL depot on Saturday night after plying 136 km in Bangladesh. To carry these products, the IOCL under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India and the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) of Bangladesh had signed MoU in Dhaka on August 18. “This new route via Bangladesh would save time and costs in carrying petroleum products from Assam to Tripura as the existing over 400 km of mountainous route required more than 10 hours to carry these essential items,” the official had said. “Besides, the condition of national highways in Meghalaya and southern Assam is horrifying,” the official added. The short-term India-Bangladesh deal on shipping of the petroleum products is valid till September 30. “This move by IOCL not only paves the way for future logistic management but also exemplifies its commitment to be the energy accessibility of India in true sense,” said IOCL Executive Director Dipankar Ray. A statement of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka said that Bangladesh has granted permission for the movement of petroleum goods on humanitarian grounds through its territory. The MoU will facilitate India to carry petroleum goods (Motor Spirit, High Speed Diesel, Superior Kerosene Oil and LPG) from Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh to make a buffer stock in the northeastern state. The Food Corp of India had transported 2,350 tonnes of rice earlier this month from Kolkata to Tripura via Bangladesh. There is only a narrow land corridor to the northeastern region through Assam and West Bengal that passes through hilly terrain with steep gradients and multiple hairpin bends, making transportation, especially of loaded trucks, very difficult. The distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Bangladesh is just 620 km. Aaron Jones Womens Jersey
Vedanta shareholders approve Cairn merger
Vedanta has announced its shareholders, secured and unsecured creditors had approved Cairn India’s merger with it under a revised scheme. Of the members present and voting at an extraordinary general meeting of Vedanta shareholders in Panaji on Thursday, 97.84 per cent in number and representing 99.99 per cent in value voted in favour approving the scheme. Further, secured and unsecured creditors, at their respective meetings, also approved the scheme with the requisite majority, the company said. Cairn India will hold its extraordinary general meeting on Monday. Earlier this week, shareholders of Vedanta Resources had approved the merger. The scheme has now been approved by a majority of Vedanta’s minority shareholders. Vedanta sought approval of shareholders by way of a special resolution at the extraordinary general meeting for reduction of the company’s capital. This resolution was also approved by the shareholders who cast 99.97 per cent of votes (in value) in its favour. The scheme is now subject to approval of the jurisdictional high courts and other regulatory approvals. On July 22, 2016, Vedanta and Cairn India announced a revised deal in which Vedanta offered minority shareholders of Cairn India one equity share and four redeemable preference shares with a face value of Rs 10 each. The preference shares will carry a coupon of 7.5 per cent and tenure of 18 months. The minority shareholders of Cairn India will hold a 20.2 per cent stake in the merged entity, while Vedanta Plc’s ownership will be 50.1 per cent and the remaining 29.7 per cent will be owned by Vedanta’s minority shareholders. Dan Fouts Jersey
Gloom at offshore drilling companies
Crude oil below $50 per barrel sends jitters to offshore drilling business. With business climate continuing to remain grim due to sliding global crude oil prices, offshore drilling companies like Aban Offshore, Dolphin and Jindal Drilling among others may not get any wage hikes for the current financial year. “Appraisals usually take place in April but there is no sign of it so far. We haven’t been told formally of no appraisals this year but looking at the business scenario, don’t think there will be any salary hikes,” a senior marketing official with Jindal Drilling told Business Standard. Crude oil prices need to be at least $50 a barrel to make offshore shallow water drilling viable. With prices below $50 per barrel at present, overall offshore business (shallow and deep) has hit rock bottom, said industry officials. “We are getting our salaries as of now but it is not always on the first of every month. The situation is scary,” said an official with Dolphin Offshore Shipping. According to Rigzone data, offshore rig utilisations in South America-Brazil region is the lowest in the last two years having dropped below 30 per cent in September from over 70 per cent in September 2014. “A lot of internal meetings are taking place in the company and senior officials when asked about appraisals say that there will be none this year. But no formal announcement is being made, we are already in mid-FY2017,” said another official with Jindal Drilling. In June quarter, Aban Offshore, the flagship company of Aban Group, reported a 24 percent sequential fall in its net sales and 51 percent on year-on-year basis led by lower utilization of rigs and rig renewal at lower rates. Currently, out of 18 rigs only eight rigs are operating. Aban Offshore’s future growth depends mainly on rise in crude oil price and higher exploration activity, said Kotak Securities in its report. The blood bath taking place in the offshore drilling business at present has not just remained restricted to lower earnings growth but is expected to lead to more serious consequences to the extent of companies filing for bankruptcy. “Of course, a lot of people are making losses, because of the utilization problems. A few significant players are already in financial distress. Couple have already filed for bankruptcy. There is a lot of stress in the offshore segment,” said G. Shivakumar, executive director and chief financial officer of Great Eastern Shipping said in the earnings conference call of June quarter. The latest casualty of low crude oil prices is Singapore-based offshore construction and support services company Swiber Holdings Ltd. The company in July has filed an application to wind up operations and has placed the firm in provisional liquidation. Swiber owns an operating fleet of 13 construction vessels, with 2,700 employees spread across Southeast Asia and other countries. Though the business scenario in offshore segment is grim and is expected to remain in this mode for the next couple of years as crude oil prices are not seen going up significantly, domestic offshore drilling companies are not expected to witness a bankruptcy situation by virtue of their presence largely in shallow offshore drilling. “Decline in crude oil prices will hit deep offshore drilling more because the cost of production is higher for them when compared with companies into shallow drilling. Indian companies are largely in shallow offshore drilling and due to this they will face weak earnings situation but bankruptcy is ruled out,” said an analyst with local brokerage on condition of anonymity. Aban Offshore and Great Eastern Shipping are among top offshore drilling companies in the country among others. While GE Shipping has its offshore drilling vessels deployed on longterm, Aban Offshore does not enjoy an equally comfortable position. Currently, ten rigs of Aban are lying idle out of a portfolio of 18 rigs. Significant leverage on Aban’s balance sheet and ageing of fleet are other key factors which makes brokerage cautious on its fundamentals, said Kotak Securities in its recent report. “The stock continues to be an event-driven performer and we expect the stock price (in the near term) to move based on crude oil price movement,” it said. Aban Offshore provides drilling services globally both shallow and deep waters to offshore exploration and production (E&P) companies. Marshall Faulk Womens Jersey
Asian gasoline cracks rise to three-month high
Asia’s gasoline cracks rose to its highest in about three months at $8.42 a barrel on an expected tightening of supplies during peak refinery maintenance. Japan’s JX Negishi, South Korea’s S-Oil and Taiwan’s Formosa, among others, have planned maintenance in September or October. Though Singapore onshore light distillates stocks were marginally higher, the levels were far below the record high this year. The stocks, which comprise mostly gasoline and gasoline blending components, were up 100,000 barrels, or 0.7 percent, to reach a three-week high of 13.74 million barrels in the week to September 7, official data showed. This was sharply lower than the record high of about 15.54 million barrels in early March. NAPHTHA India’s biggest refiner, Indian Oil Corp, plans to start producing gasoline at its Paradip refinery before year-end after a delay caused by problems at a secondary unit. The state-owned refiner aims to cut its naphtha exports to the bare minimum once the gasoline unit stabilises because the Paradip refinery is designed to maximise gasoline yield with naphtha as a feedstock. Naphtha is mired in a stubborn glut because of recent high refinery runs, cracker maintenance and heavy exports to Asia from the Middle East. The easy availability of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a feedstock this year was also hurting naphtha sellers because between 5 percent. Allen Hurns Womens Jersey
HPCL wants ONGC to cut stake in MRPL
Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), one of the promoters of Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), wants Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) to divest a part of its stake in the refinery so that it can meet minimum public shareholding norms, said two HPCL officials aware of the development. At the end of June, HPCL held a 16.95% stake in MRPL, and ONGC, the other promoter, owned 71.6%. The public shareholding in MRPL was 11.42%, less than half the 25% prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). “ONGC holds majority share in MRPL while our shareholding is small in comparison. We would prefer if ONGC offloads (a part of) their stake for MRPL to meeting the public holding norm,” one of the HPCL officials cited above said, requesting anonymity. MRPL and ONGC did not reply to emails sent on Friday. At MRPL’s annual general meeting, held on 3 September, the company said it authorised its board “for exercising any of the options available” to meet Sebi’s public shareholding norms. Options before the board include divestment of the promoters’ shareholding through an offer for sale or issue of fresh shares by MRPL through a public offer. Ron Jaworski Womens Jersey
Petroleum ministry for uniform taxation on petroleum products across the country
In an attempt to help benefit consumers, the ministry of petroleum and natural gas is working on a uniform tax structure for petroleum products across the country. This comes in the backdrop of the Constitution Amendment Bill to the goods and services tax (GST) receiving the President’s nod. First conceptualised in 2006 and dubbed as the biggest tax reform since Independence, GST will subsume all other indirect taxes. However, petroleum and petroleum products shall only be subject to GST later depending on the GST Council’s recommendation. The GST Council will comprise of state finance ministers and is expected to be in place shortly to decide the tax rate. The petroleum ministry is working towards a uniform taxation regime for petroleum and petroleum products, confirmed two government officials requesting anonymity. At present, different petroleum products are taxed differently across states. Given the huge variance in the value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products across the states, the petroleum ministry has been advocating for uniformity in taxes. Michael Palardy Authentic Jersey
Pradhan mulls replicating Singapore’s petrochemical complex in India
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday mulled over the possibility of replicating Singapore’s petrochemical complex at two places in India- in Odisha’s Paradip port and Haryana’s Panipat district. The minister, who is on a 6-day visit to Singaporeafter which he will go to Britain, tweeted: “Jurong model is interesting; similar petrochemical complex can be developed in Panipath and Paradip with good planning.” Jurong, a reclaimed island in Singapore, hosts ports, three refineries and several petrochemical plants manufacturing the entire value chain of products. Pradhan visited the centralised utilites operations — offering a comprehensive range of energy, water and on-site logistics solutions – of Sembcorp Industries at Jurong island. “Visited Jurong Island at Sembcorp, that provides all common utilities to the industries in the 35 sq km island,” Pradhan tweeted. Earlier in the day, the Petroleum Minister also visited the Keppel Shipyard, here to review the technologies that can be useful for India. Many rigs working in Indian oil sector are developed here, he said, adding that the innovative technological work and rig manufacturing at the Keppels can be useful in India. Pradhan is on a visit to Singapore to lead India’s road shows to attract foreign investors for its small oil and gas fields. Brandon Montour Authentic Jersey
Sh Dharmendra Pradhan embarks on two nation tour for road shows for discovered small fields
Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, will be making official visits to Singapore and United Kingdom from 9-14 September, 2016. During these visits, he will take part in Road Shows at Singapore and London for the 67 Discovered Small Fields (DSF). Both places have been chosen for organising the Road Shows as they are key financial centres for global oil and gas community, to publicize and attract investments. During his visit to Singapore from 9-10 September, Sh Pradhan will inaugurate the Road Show and address the representatives of oil and gas industry, followed by a Roundtable interaction. He is scheduled to meet equity investors and leaders of hydrocarbon industry and speak on “Oil and Gas Sector in India: Changing Landscape”. He will also interact with eminent personalities working in the sector in Singapore. Sh Pradhan will visit Floating Production Storing Offshore (FPSO) Conversion Facility at Keppel Shipyard and Jurong Refinery and Petrochemical hub. Sh Pradhan, during his visit to the UK, will be inaugurating the Road Show and a data room relating to the DSF bid round. He will interact with the leaders of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) on the hydrocarbon sector reforms taking place in India and have one-to-one meeting with prospective bidders, representatives of commodity exchange market and regulators. A Roundtable with UK financial institutions has also been scheduled where Sh Pradhan will discuss recent policy initiatives taken in the oil and gas sector in India. While in the UK, Sh Pradhan will meet his British counterpart Rt Hon Greg Clark, MP in London and also Scottish Energy Minister in Aberdeen. He will address a gathering at the Somerville College, Oxford University on ‘Policy Initiatives in India to increase access to Clean Energy’ followed by an interaction with leading scientists. Earlier, in July 2016, Sh Pradhan had launched the Discovered Small Fields Bid Round-2016 at Houston, USA. In India, DSF bidding was launched in New Delhi on 25th May, 2016 by Sh Pradhan. Under this bid round, 67 DSF are being offered for international bidding. These fields are spread over 9 sedimentary basins and will be offered in 46 contract areas. These fields are projected to yield 625 million barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas and spread over 1,500 sq kms in onland, shallow water and deep water areas. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has introduced progressive administrative and fiscal procedures in the bidding process in sync with international best practices. The DSF policy provides for single uniform license for producing all kinds of hydrocarbons in place and other resources to be identified in future. Other incentives offered under this policy include no cess on the oil production, upto 100% participation by foreign companies, moderate royalty structure, customs duty exemptions and complete marketing and pricing freedom for the sale of produced crude oil and natural gas, no mandatory work program or relinquishment of contract area, operational autonomy and limited regulatory burden enabling provision for sharing of infrastructure and flexibility for unit development in case of reservoirs extending beyond contract area for joint development. Zach Hyman Jersey
India, Canada hold third round of energy dialogue in Delhi
The third round of the India-Canada joint energy dialogue was held here on Thursday in the context of both nations seeking to expand co-operation in the sector, the government said on Thursday. “Received Energy Minister of Canada Mr Jim Carr for the 3rd India-Canada Energy Dialogue in New Delhi,” Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in a tweet. Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Carr is leading a high-level business delegation to India from September 7 to 9, which includes representatives from Canadian natural resources and tecnology firms. He is the first Canadian minister to visit India after the formation of the Justin Trudeau government there. “This is the 1st Ministerial Visit 4m Canada after the new Govt has taken charge;Discussed whole range of issues to further energy cooperation,” Pradhan said in another tweet. India and Canada signed an agreement last year for the latter to supply uranium for five years to fuel Indian nuclear power plants. “Both sides agreed to define a clear roadmap of actionable areas of joint collaboration in a time bound manner,” Pradhan said in a separate tweet. Carr on Wednesday delivered the keynote address at Renewable Energy India Expo at Greater Noida, where he emphasised his country’s commitment to clean energy and innovation. “IOC (Indian Oil Corp) along with its partners has 10% stake in Pacific North West LNG Project & is expected to offload 1.34 MT of LNG once it gets operational,” Pradhan added, referring to Indo-Canadian cooperation in the area of natural gas. Jean Segura Womens Jersey
ONGC denies prior knowledge of link with RIL gas field
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had no prior knowledge of its KG Basin reservoir being connected with that of Reliance’s before 2013, its chairman DK Sarraf has said, disputing an official committee finding. But the state-run company is happy that the panel confirmed the flow of gas to RIL’s adjoining field, he said. Talking to reporters on Thursday, Sarraf alleged that the staterun firm’s submissions were not reflected in the final report of A P Shah, the retired chief justice of Delhi High Court tasked with studying the gas dispute between ONGC and Reliance Industries (RIL) after the state-run company accused RIL of pumping out natural gas from its adjacent field in KG Basin. The recently submitted report said RIL and ONGC probably knew for long about their reservoirs being connected but didn’t bring it to the notice of the regulator on time. “We had no knowledge of this earlier. And as soon as ONGC came to know of this, it took effective action in 2013. Whatever submissions we had made to the Shah committee, there is no mention of that (in the report). We do not know what is the reason for that. And why there is no mention of our submissions. But conclusion did appear in the Shah committee report,” Sarraf told a news conference in the company’s first response to the Shah Panel findings. The panel found that gas had indeed migrated from ONGC’s fields to the adjoining field of Reliance and that the latter had produced it, leaving the reservoir depleted with no scope for development. The panel said that RIL made unjust gains from this. “We had said about two years back that we apprehend that some portion of natural gas has flown from our fields to the fields of Reliance adjacent to us. It was a very tough statement to be made… But we are happy to report that our apprehension has been confirmed by the committee,” Sarraf said. The panel has also said that the government alone can claim compensation for the gas that Reliance had pumped out, not ONGC, pointing out that the latter failed to develop its field for years. “Whether we get paid for that or government of India will be paid for that is a subsequent thing, which would need to be addressed by various stakeholders,” Sarraf said without commenting on the next course of action or whether ONGC would approach the court for this. Two years back, ONGC approached the Delhi High Court alleging Reliance Industries was illegally pumping out gas from the adjacent fields of the state firm. Following this, the two firms appointed a US-based technical consultant to study the data to find out if it was correct. The court ordered the government to help resolve the dispute within six months of the submission of the consultant’s report. The Shah panel was set up to study the consultant report and quantify any unjust gains made by Reliance Industries. The panel in its report, however, said the oil ministry itself should determine the amount of compensation because the panel had technical limitations. RILhas not reacted officially to the report but had maintained in the past that it had drilled strictly within its own block and had done so with full knowledge of relevant authorities. Natrell Jamerson Womens Jersey