LNG imports drop in July on lower consumption and increased local production
India’s import of liquefiednatural gas (LNG) shrunk for the first time this year in July, ending a blistering growth trajectory since January, as consumption crawled and local gas production expanded. The country imported 1960 million metric standard cubic meters (mmscm) of LNG in July, 4 per cent less than the 2037 mmscm of gas it imported in July 2015, according to thePetroleum Planning and Analysis Cell(PPAC), an oil ministry’s arm. This is a sharp fall from 62 per cent growth in February, and above 40 per cent growth each in March, April, and May. The average LNG import growth between January and July was about 30 per cent. The 4 per cent rise in local natural gas output from 2511 mmscm to 2621 mmscm partly covered the drop in gas imports, while nearly stagnant natural gas consumption at 4.58 billion cubic meters in July diminished needs for additional gas procurement. Between April and July this year, the local gas consumption has expanded 6.5 per cent while LNG import has risen 22 per cent. India has been hoping to use more gas, one of the cleanest conventional fuels, in its factories, vehicles, and homes as international pressure mounts to lower carbon footprint and as a global collapse in prices makes it more affordable. The spot LNG prices are hovering between $5 and $6 per unit after having fallen about three-fourths since the beginning of 2014. A glut in the market is expected to keep prices lower until 2020. India’s state-run Petronet LNGBSE 5.22 % reworked a long-term LNG import deal with Qatarlate last year, which allowed prices to imitate spot more closely, helping local consumers buy more of Qatar’s gas at cheaper rates. This resulted in a sharp rise in LNG imports in the early months of this year. But a slide in import in July shows, the appetite for natural gas in India may be limited as the industry can easily find cheaper competing fuels. Many power producers are averse to using natural gas much, as they aren’t able to find customers for the expensive electricity generated by natural gas. The LNG import had started tapering in June with just 14 per cent growth. Gareon Conley Womens Jersey
Jobs in entrepreneurial companies not for life: Tom Albanese
With three CEOs quitting since it took over oil producer Cairn India, mining mogul Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Ltd has defended the high turnover, saying jobs in entrepreneurial companies are not for life and is based on what people can do for the company in future. Canadian oil industry veteran Mayank M Ashar, 61, in May quit as CEO of Cairn India, the third to resign since the company was taken over by Vedanta four-and-a-half-years ago. “Within the global oil and gas industry, it is not unusual to have a higher level of turnover, particularly among expats. That is the nature of industry and expats by their nature have shorter durations than employees and they might go for reasons that are unrelated to business, personal or any other reason,” Vedanta CEO Tom Albanese told PTI here. The debt-laden Vedanta is seeking to merge cash-rich Cairn in an all-share transaction before end of March 31, 2017. Asked about resignations of Rahul Dhir, then P Elango and now Mayank Ashar, he said, “Cairn or any entrepreneurial oil and gas company will always have more people in mobility than a state-owned oil company.” He added: “These are not jobs for life. If you are working for an entrepreneurial oil and gas company, your position in the company is not based on what you did in the past, but what you will do for us in future (and) what you are doing now. That is the nature of an entrepreneurial company.” Ashar was appointed CEO of Cairn India after P Elango, who was promoted in-house, in a sudden move quit the company in May 2014. Like Ashar, Elango, who was named interim chief executive in August 2012 when the firm’s face Rahul Dhir resigned, too had cited “personal reasons” for the decision to step down. Albanese said it was in the best interest of Cairn, which owns and operates the country’s biggest onland oil field in Rajasthan, to develop Indian managers with global skills and use expats only to fill in specialised gaps that are not reciprocated locally. “It is my personal objective that we should be evolving towards a business that is predominately Indian specialised talent,” he said. “I respected Mayank, good friend of mine, for choosing to turn back to Canada (after quitting Cairn).” Ashar after quitting has joined Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries as advisor-refinery and marketing business. “I think Cairn should keep its focus on expecting every single person to be delivering 1,000 per cent… I can guarantee that entrepreneurial oil and gas companies outside India are seeing exactly the same kind of phenomenon,” he said. Elango’s exit in 2014 had completed the exodus of the entire top management of Cairn India since billionaire Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta in 2010 announced buying a majority stake in the firm from Scottish explorer Cairn Energy Plc. Rick Bott, who was Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Cairn India, quit the firm on June 15, 2011, while its Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Indrajit Banerjee resigned with effect from August 23, 2011. David Ginger, Cairn India’s Director of Exploration and New Ventures, quit the firm shortly thereafter and Dhir put in his papers after the Cairn-Vedanta deal was completed. Company’s Director, Commercial and New Business Ajay Gupta quit the firm in January 2013. Vedanta completed the USD 8.67 billion acquisition of Cairn India in December 2011. Billy Smith Jersey
State-run Tripura power plant faces losses as ONGC delays gas supply
A state-owned company’s third largest gas-based power plant near here, mandated to provide 100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh, has been incurring losses due to delays in supply of gas by another public sector undertaking. The Rs 10.0757 billion power project has been commissioned by the state-run North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco) at Monarchak, 70 km south of Tripura’s capital Agartala, with gas supplies linked to the Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). According to Neepco General Manager Samar Ranjan Biswas, in view of the delayed commercial generation of power from the environment-friendly project, the corporation has been incurring a loss of Rs 132 million every month. “ONGC’s repeated dilly-dallying on supplying gas has delayed the commercial generation of electricity from this power project and resulted in huge losses,” Biswas told IANS. Another senior Neepco official said that with Bangladesh keen to source more power from India, and the Tripura and central governments being willing, the company is prepared to supply 100 MW of power to the neighbouring country. “Conceived in 2000 with an installed capacity of 500 MW, the power plant’s capacity was reduced to 280 MW in 2003-04 after ONGC reduced its gas allocation by half. By May 2004, Neepco had established all infrastructure for the 280 MW plant,” Biswas said. “The ONGC further cut the gas allocation in 2008, forcing Neepco to scale down the installed capacity of the project to 101 MW,” said Biswas, who heads the project. “The commercial generation of electricity of this combined cycle power plant (65.42 MW gas turbine and 36.25 MW steam turbine) would start as and when the ONGC starts supplying gas,” he said. Assigning no reasons for the delay, ONGC Executive Director S.C. Soni said they would be able to supply 0.50 million standard cubic metres per day gas to the Neepco project by December this year or January next year. The ONGC has also commissioned its first commercial power project in India — 726 MW gas-based combined cycle power project — located in southern Tripura’s Palatana (60 km south of Agartala) and run by the ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC). “Electricity is being supplied to seven of the eight northeastern states from the Palatana power project. Also, 100 MW of power is being supplied to Bangladesh since March,” Soni said, adding that supplying of gas to Palatana is a priority to ONGC as the project is providing power to Bangladesh as per India’s commitment. Designed by the US-based General Electric, the turbines are being supplied by Bharat Heavy Electric for the Neepco power plant which would generate 65.42 MW electricity through gas turbines and 36.25 MW through steam turbines. Headquartered in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong, Neepco — a ‘mini ratna’ company — has also set up a 5 MW solar power plant on 25 acres of land within the 101 MW Monarchak power plant complex. The Neepco General Manager said the 5 MW plant, set up at a cost of Rs 430 million, is the biggest solar power project in Northeast India which started generation in February last year. “Neepco has signed an agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India for the development of 1,000 MW solar power projects in India in the next few years,” he added. ONGC and Neepco power projects in Tripura would ease the electricity shortages of seven of the eight Northeastern states — Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The Bangladesh government helped to carry over-dimensional and large-sized turbines and machines from various parts of India to mountainous Tripura using its waterways and roads, thus saving time and cost. Jean-Sebastien Giguere Authentic Jersey
Gail India to partner US firm for new gas power generation technology
Gail India to sign an agreement with Bloom Energy to introduce fuel cell technology, which will be cost-effective for power generation in the long term. New Delhi: State-owned Gail (India) Ltd said on Saturday it will tie up with California-based closely-held firm Bloom Energy Corp. on Monday to pursue natural gas-based fuel cell power generation, a new technology. Gail said an agreement will be signed with the company in the presence of oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Gail chairman and managing director B.C. Tripathi and Bloom Energy chief executive K.R. Sridhar. “This will explore long-term natural gas market potential for power generation.” Gail said without giving further details, which are expected on Monday. An invitation from Bloom Energy said its fuel cell technology could help the country move away from relying on fixed power infrastructure which is prohibitively capital intensive to “capital light and soft” infrastructure. Bloom Energy claims its technology converts fuel into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process, which can use a variety of fuels, including biogas. Unlike traditional power generation, Bloom uses virtually no water and produces no unhealthy emissions, it stated. Gail, which is in the field of gas marketing and transportation, will benefit from a deeper gas market in the country. At present, natural gas accounts for only about 6.5% of India’s primary energy mix dominated by coal and crude oil. The government is pursuing private investments into the entire value chain of gas, which is generating interest from firms such as Bloom Energy. However, availability of gas is limited in the country and freight cost and currency exchange rate movements add to uncertainty in relying on liquefied natural gas imported from gas surplus countries. Sergei Bobrovsky Womens Jersey
Essar Oil to more than double filling stations to 5,000
Essar Oil aims to expand its petrol pump network to 5,000 over the next 12-15 months from 2,400 at present, a senior company official said. The Ruias-run firm, which has agreed to sell a majority stake to Russia’s Rosneft, expects its export volume to nearly halve from the present 45-50 per cent once these 5,000 outlets are operational. The company also expects sales volume to touch 10 million KL over the next two-three years from 2.5 million KL now. “Oil price deregulation has given us an excellent opportunity and we’ve been able to ramp up our network from about 1,600 a year ago to about 2,400 now. “We plan to take this to 4,300 operational outlets by March 2017 which should lead to significant rise in sales volume and 5,000 thereafter,” Essar Oil MD and CEO Lalit Kumar Gupta told PTI. He also said a good number of new filling stations will come up in small towns, “especially in tier-2 and 3 cities and along highways.” When asked about investments, he said it will need about Rs 2,100 crore, mainly through franchisees, and create nearly 20,000 new jobs in the next one year alone. The government de-regulated diesel prices in a phased manner from October 2014 following the massive crash in crude prices, thereby throwing open the fuel retail sector. Essar Oil, which operates the second largest private sector refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat with 23 million tonne annual capacity, is aligning its retail expansion plans in line with industry growth, he said. “We see our retail sales to increase annually to about 10 million KL over the next two-three years from 2.5 million KL now,” Gupta said. His optimism comes from the falling prices, increased mobility due to faster urbanisation coupled with the smart city projects and focus on improving infrastructure. Essar Oil was the first domestic private sector company to enter fuel retailing back in 2003. Jason Motte Womens Jersey
Users of 24 Pahal cylinders up 260%, diversion likely
An audit scrutiny has revealed a significant jump in consumers using more than 24 LPG cylinders a year following the introduction of direct benefit transfer (DBTL) for cooking gas, leading the federal auditor to suspect diversion of non-subsidised cylinders for commercial use. The national average consumption of domestic LPG cylinders is 6.27 a year.However, after the implementation of `Pahal’ or the DBTL scheme, the number of domestic consumers exhausting more than 24 LPG cylinders in first seven months of 2015-16 increased by 260% compared to the total offtake of non-subsidised cylinders in 2014-15. The whole of 2014-15 saw 3,070 domestic consumers availing more than 24 cylinders. But just the seven months between April and October of 2015-16, saw 8,023 domestic consumers use more than 24 cylinders. The comptroller and auditor general (CAG), which has carried out scrutiny of 12 crore LPG consumers, has asked the government to check the possibility of “diversion of non-subsidised domestic LPG for commercial use”. The price dif ferential between non-subsidised cylinder and commercial cylinder is Rs 233 per cylinder. It has observerd the risk of diversion is highest in cylinders distributed by Indian Oil. The government introduced the DBTL scheme in November 2014. The scheme involves 16.17 crore LPG consumers serviced by 16,781 LPG distributers by three oil marketing companies–Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum. A domestic consumer is entitled to receive subsidy on 12 cylinders per annum under the DBTL scheme.Any excess consumption would result in payment of the market price. “The number of domestic consumers consuming more than 24 LPG cylinders during the first seven months of 2015-16 (April to October 2015) exceeded the corre sponding numbers for the entire year of 2014-15 by 261%,” the CAG said. The federal auditor highlighted the risk associated with higher consumption of domestic non-subsidised LPG cylinders since there is a significant price difference between the price of commercial and domestic non-subsidised LPG on account of additional duties and levies. The duty differential on an equivalent 14.2 kg LPG cylinder would cost Rs 233.20 higher for the non-subsidised cylinder compared to commercial LPG cylinder. The number of domestic consumers consuming more than 24 cylinders in the first seven months of 2015-16 was 2.6 times that of the entire year of 2014-15. “There has been a sharp increase in offtake of domestic LPG cylinders not entitled to receive subsidy , which increases the risk of diversion,” the auditor observed. Da’Ron Payne Jersey
Swan Energy’s upcoming floating LNG terminal capacity almost sold out
Swan Energy Ltd’s five-million-ton floating LNG terminal coming up off the Gujarat coast is almost sold out with state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd – booking 60 per cent of the capacity. The Nikhil Merchant-led firm has got the much-needed backing to complete the Rs.56 billion project with ONGC, IOC and BPCL agreeing to take one million tons per annum capacity each on the 5 million tons annual capacity. Besides, Gujarat State Petroleum Corp Ltd (GSPC), which holds an 11-per cent stake in the ‘floating, storage and regasification unit’ (FSRU), is in talks for a 1.5 million ton capacity, reports quoting sources close to the development said. The project, being built in joint venture with Exmar of Belgium, is being built at Jafrabad port in Gujarat. Marcell Ozuna Womens Jersey
India discusses ways to recover $600 million dues from Venezuela
India today discussed ways to recover over $600 million of past dues from Venezuela including recouping it from payments for oil it imports from the Latin American nation. ONGC Videsh Ltd owns 40 per cent of the San Cristobal oilfield but has not been paid for its share of oil sales for last couple of years. OVL, in 2008, had invested about $190 million in the project where state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) holds the remaining 51 per cent stake. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today met visiting Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez and Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino and discussed bilateral energy issues, including payment of dues. Sources said since cash-strapped Venezuela does not have hard cash to pay after oil prices slumped to a decade low, barter deals were discussed. One of the options is to adjust the outstanding against the crude oil Indian firms like Reliance Industries and Essar Oil import from Venezuela. The outstanding can be deducted from the payment these firms have to make to PDVSA for oil imports, sources said, adding the Venezuelean ministers were non-committal on the proposal. Alternately, OVL can take crude oil in lieu of the cash due, they said. Venezuela is India’s fourth largest source of crude oil, supplying some 23.6 million tons or 12 per cent of the country’s annual import in 2015-16. The cash-strapped OPEC member and holder of the world’s biggest oil reserves has been unable to pay foreign partners on some of its projects as revenues slumped on fall in oil prices, triggering triple-digit inflation. The crisis was precipitated with funds being diverted to social programmes and fuel subsidies. Venezuela gets almost all of its export revenue from oil. It is already repaying loans outstanding to China with crude. An official statement later said Pradhan held a bilateral meeting with two visiting ministers. “During the meeting, both sides discussed aspects of bilateral hydrocarbon engagements. These included, inter-alia, sourcing of crude and mechanism to register Indian oil and gas PSUs for sourcing of crude, status of the two upstream projects in which Indian PSUs have stakes and payment of outstanding dues to ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) by Venezuelan national oil company,” it said. Also discussed during the meeting was participation of Indian companies in additional exploration and production activities in Venezuela, setting up of an oil-for-export mechanism for payment of pending dues and training of Venezuelan petroleum industry personnel in India. “Both sides agreed to continue their cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector and work towards further strengthening the relation in the areas of mutual interests,” it said. OVL, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Oil India Ltd have 18 per cent stake in the Carabobo-1 project, which currently produces about 16,000 bpd of oil and is expected to reach 90,000 bpd by end of 2017. The 160-square kilometer San Cristobal field in the Orinoco heavy-oil belt currently produces about 28,000 barrels a day, down from a peak of 38,000 bpd. Marcus Peters Authentic Jersey
Cost denial of $380 million to us part of larger gas dispute: RIL
Reliance Industries (RIL) on Thursday said the additional $380 million denied to it by the government towards the cost of extracting discovered gas is part of a larger dispute under arbitration. The company also said the amount was the result of a revision from time-to-time which the Petroleum Ministry conducts, based on its own assumptions of the original disputed amount. The mater pertains to gas in Krishna-Godavari basin. “Upto financial year 2013-14, the cost recovery proposed to be disallowed was $2.376 billion and the consequent demand of the Government of India share of additional profit petroleum of $195.3 million on cumulative basis,” the company said in a regulatory filing. “On June 3, 2016, the company received a revised claim up to year 2014-15, with a disallowance of $2.756 million on cumulative basis and consequent share of Government of India share of additional profit petroleum of $246.9 million, also on cumulative basis,” it added. “We reiterate that all claims made by Government of India are denied by contractor group (led by Reliance Industries) and currently part of an ongoing arbitration. The company said every year the government uses its own interpretations of the contract with the Reliance Industries-led consortium in ascertaining to what extent the cost of extracting gas should be denied and enjoins it to arrive at a cumulative figure. This is also done towards additional profit petroleum it seeks from the contractor. Adrian Peterson Jersey
Dhaka, Delhi sign MoU to carry petroleum products through Bangladesh
Bangladesh and India today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the route permit for carrying petroleum goods from Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh territory. This is a short-term deal and Bangladesh side agreed to the Indian proposal to grant validity of the MoU till September 30, officials in Dhaka said. “Based on the request by the Government of India, the Government of Bangladesh has granted permission for the movement of petroleum goods on humanitarian grounds through the territory of Bangladesh till September 2016,” said a press release of the High Commission of India. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), a Public sector unit under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the Government of India, and the Roads and Highways Department of the Government of Bangladesh (RHD) signed the deal. India made the request following heavy monsoons and extremely bad road conditions of NH44 have resulted in the disruption in the supply of Petroleum Goods from the State of Assam to the State of Tripura in India. Diplomatic sources said the MoU will facilitate India to carry Petroleum Goods (Motor Spirit, High Speed Diesel, Superior Kerosene Oil & Liquefied Petroleum Gas) from Assam to Tripura through Bangladesh territory as the normal Indian roads for oil transportation have been badly damaged by the recent flood. Trucks carrying the petroleum goods will play in the Dawki (Meghalaya) – Tamabil (Bangladesh) – Chatlapur (Bangladesh) – Kailasshar (Tripura) route. Bangladesh and India allowed each other to use their respective territories to transfer goods to their one place to another and to a third country in the past in addition to existing transit and transshipment deals arrangements. Logan Ryan Authentic Jersey