India may offer opportunities for Houston’s oil services companies
Some Houston companies are poised to benefit as India begins doling out $27 billion in new contracts in an effort to cut fuel imports. Spending plans are ratcheting up and projects are restarting after the government in March announced pricing freedom for natural gas from deep-sea fields that begin production this year. Coming as the cost of rigs and services has halved, that’s prompted India’s largest explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp. to launch its biggest development campaign yet. Reliance Industries Ltd. is preparing to restart work at four offshore oil and gas blocks. The flurry of activity is providing some respite to services companies, including Houston-based Schlumberger and Halliburton, and Technip, whose U.S. headquarters are here. Service firms were stung last year when explorers slashed more than $100 billion in spending as oil collapsed. Investments in India are growing to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of cutting import dependence by 10 percent over six years as increased consumption puts the nation on track to become the world’s third-largest oil consumer. “In India, there are two to three major identified projects and they are probably bigger than anything else going on in rest of the world,” Technip India’s Managing Director Bhaskar Patel said in an interview. “India is a place where there is work available.” India’s hydrocarbon resources still remain highly undeveloped and the government’s new liberal approach is nudging companies to invest in tapping them. The measures are expected to boost gas output by 35 million standard cubic meters a day and unshackle projects worth 1.8 trillion rupees ($27 billion), Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said when the policy changes were announced. About 90 percent of the new spending would go to companies that provide services from drilling to testing and the laying of infrastructure. Halliburton is positioned to participate in “the country’s ambitious plans to increase its domestic production,” the company said in an emailed response to questions. “India plays a crucial role for sustained development in the region for Halliburton.” The Indian government’s initiatives will increase the pace of exploration, ONGC Chairman Dinesh Kumar Sarraf said. ONGC will contract deepwater drill ships and dozens of jack-up rigs for a $5 billion development program in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, he said. The company intends to spend 11 trillion rupees by 2030 to raise output. Reliance has held meetings with oilfield-services companies to restart work at four offshore oil and gas blocks, including one of India’s biggest natural gas discoveries, people with knowledge of the plan said in May. It plans to drill 21 wells in four offshore areas, including the deepwater KG-D6 block in the Bay of Bengal, the people said. India’s exploration binge still won’t be enough to compensate for canceled projects around the world as oil prices settle below 50-a-barrel of crude from more than $100 two years ago. Worldwide, the oil and gas industry will cut $1 trillion from planned spending on exploration and development because of the price slump, consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. said this month. Investing during the current down-cycle ensures lower costs for explorers as well as future returns over four or five years once oil recovers, Technip India’s Patel said. ONGC has reduced the cost of its Krishna-Godavari basin block by almost a third from earlier estimates of about $7 billion as prices slide for the contract rate for rigs and oilfield equipment and services. Offshore jack-up rigs, which used to cost $80,000 to $90,000 a day, are now available for less than $50,000, ONGC’s Sarraf said. “We could say there is 20 percent to 50 percent reduction in the cost of goods and services.” Despite the price competition, service providers are finding that an India strategy is critical given the scarcity of spending elsewhere. Finnish company Wartsila OYJ’s Indian unit sees opportunity here given the tough global environment. “In the exploration segments, if projects are coming up of course it’s an opportunity for us,” Kimmo Kohtamaki, president and managing director of Wartsila India, said. “We have matching products and no one else is investing. Everyone is laying off, it’s a tough market.” Fred Lynn Jersey
SCI to resume sailing to Iran, transport oil cargo for HPCL
After a four-year hiatus, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) will resume sailing to Iran to ferry ‘transport crude oil’ from the Persian Gulf nation for state refiners. SCI, which was in 2012 forced to stop transporting crude oil due to unavailability of insurance cover for its ships following tightening of international sanctions against Iran, will resume sailing, initially to ferry crude oil for Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL). This follows lifting of sanctions against Iran in January. The largest domestic shipping line will ferry the first cargo of crude oil from Iran something this month. “State-run HPCL has approached SCI for deputation of a vessel for importing crude oil. In-principle, it has agreed to it,” Shipping Secretary Rajive Kumar said. However, the exact date has to be fixed for transporting the oil cargo, Kumar said. Other state refiners Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) too have contracted SCI for shipping oil from Iran. After SCI and other ship owners stopped ferrying Iranian oil, the Persian Gulf nation offered free delivery of oil to customers in India in its own vessels. This was aimed at keeping its key customers during the tough sanctions period. But with the lifting of sanctions, Iran has stopped free shipping and has since April started charing concessional rates. Essar Oil, which along with MRPL are the biggest buyers of Iranian oil, has already started making its own arrangements for shipping oil from Iran. The premier shipping line which owns and operates around one-third of the Indian tonnage, and services both national and international trades, has stopped sailing to Iran in 2012 as insurance cover for oil and cargo could not be obtained in the wake of sanctions targeting Iran’s nuclear programme. After lifting of sanctions in January, International Group of Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Clubs which insure the tanker market have been able to obtain cover from some markets, an official said. The largest domestic ship liner has a fleet of 69 vessels of which 17 are bulk carriers, 16 crude oil tankers and 14 product tankers and is planning expansion of its fleet. A Parliamentary panel has recently recommended that SCI buy fuel-efficient ships, replacing the old stock. “If the international market situations are viable, they may go for purchasing new fuel-efficient vessels in place of the old ones,” Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, headed by Kanwar Deep Singh, has said. The SCI was established in 1961, by the amalgamation of Eastern Shipping Corporation and Western Shipping Corporation. It owns and operates around one-third of the Indian tonnage, and has operating interests in practically all areas of the shipping business and servicing. Apart from being the largest shipping company in India, SCI exclusively operates in break-bulk services, international container services, liquid/dry bulk services, offshore services, passenger services. Dontari Poe Authentic Jersey
Petronet LNG plans Rs 50 billion terminal in Bangladesh
India’s biggest gas importer Petronet LNG Ltd has plans to set up a Rs 50 billion LNG import terminal at Kutubdia islands in Bangladesh as it looks to build terminals to feed demand in neighbouring countries. “We have proposed to construct a 5 million tons per annum capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Kutubdia islands off Cox’s Bazar,” Petronet Managing Director & CEO Prabhat Singh told PTI here. The terminal will be besides 3.5 MT terminal at Bangladesh is looking to set up, for which Petronet is one of the firms that has been shortlisted. “Bangladesh has huge unmet gas demand particularly to power generation. So during the recent visit of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to Dhaka, we proposed to set up a 5 million tons capacity terminal on government-to-government basis,” he said. Besides Bangladesh, Petronet has also proposed to set up 1 MT LNG terminal in Sri Lanka to meet local demand. Singh said Kutubdia islands has a natural harbor with good draft and a natural breakwater, idle for setting up LNG terminal. The proposed terminal is besides the one Bangladesh is looking to set up at Matar Bari in Moheshkhali Island of Cox’s Bazar district or Anwara, Chittagong. The terminal, to be set up on the build-own-operate basis, will supply gas to power plants. Petronet is one of the five global energy firms shortlisted for setting up this LNG import terminal. The others shortlisted include Anglo-Dutch super-major Shell, China’s Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering, Tractebel Engineering of Belgium and Japan’s Mitsui. Bangladesh is looking at importing gas to ease its energy crisis in southeastern Chittagong region, which was once almost self-reliant in natural gas but started facing a supply crisis in 2006 as output diminished from the Sangu gas field. The country’s sole offshore gas well, Sangu-11, was permanently closed in October 2013. As a result, some plants are running below the capacity and a few have been shut due to non-availability of gas. Sources said the LNG terminal will supply gas to a proposed 1,000 MW combined cycle power plant as well as the existing power plants in Raozan and Sikalbaha through a planned pipeline. Brandon Sutter Authentic Jersey
OIL-IOC deal spoils OVL’s Vankor deal negotiations
OIL-IOC-BCPL combine’s USD 2.02 billion deal to acquire 23.9 per cent stake in Russia’s Vankor oilfield has spoilt ONGC Videsh Ltd’s chance of negotiating down the price for additional 11 per cent it is buying in the same field. OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), had in September last year bought 15 per cent stake in Russia’s second biggest oilfield of Vankor for USD 1.268 billion. In March this year, Rosneft agreed to sell another 11 per cent to OVL. Simultaneously, it struck a deal to sell 23.9 per cent in Vankor to a consortium of Oil India Ltd (OIL),Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and a unit of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL). Sources said the board of OVL wanted the price of the additional 11 per cent stake to be renegotiated downwards. Going by the September 2015 agreement, OVL would have to pay about USD 930 million for the additional stake. But the company board was of the opinion that since it was picking up a sizeable stake in the field operated by US-sanctioned company, the asking price has to be renegotiated. But as OVL sought renegotiations, the OIL-IOC-BPCL consortium last month signed definitive agreements for buying 23.9 per cent stake in Vankor for USD 2.02 billion OIL-IOC-BPCL consortium has also agreed to pay interest to Rosneft till such time the deal is closed and all payments made, which is likely by September 30. Sources said Rosneft is now arguing that when the buyer of larger 23.9 per cent stake is willing to pay a price in line with the September 2015 deal, there remains no scope for negotiating it with a buyer who is picking up less than half, about 11 per cent. The 23.9 per cent stake would be split in the ratio 33.5-33.5-33 between IOC, OIL and Bharat PetroResources Ltd (a subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd) — IOC and OIL will take 8 per cent stake each while the remaining 7.8 per cent stake would go to BRPL. Darren Fells Womens Jersey
KGLNG gets green nod for Rs 1,270-cr expansion project in AP
Krishna Godavari LNG Terminal Pvt (KGLNG) has got green nod for development of an offshore LNG floating storage and re-gasification unit at Kakinada Deep Water Port in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of 12.70 billion. Due to shortage of domestic supply of natural gas, the net gas supply made available to Andhra Pradesh is very low. KGLNG’s proposed project is aimed to boost natural gas supply for various industries like fertiliser in the state. “Based on the recommendations of theExpert Appraisal Committee (EAC), the Environment Ministry has given clearance to KGLNG’s proposal,” a senior government official said. The clearance is subject to certain conditions, including obtaining prior permission from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife, the official added. As per the proposal, KGLNG — a special purpose vehicle of US-based VGS Group Inc — will set up offshore LNG floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) in two phases with a handling capacity of 3.60 million tons per annum (mtpa) in phase-I and ultimate capacity of 7.20 mtpa in phase-II to meet natural gas demand in the state and project region. The total cost of the project is Rs 12.70 billion while that of phase-I will be Rs 8.70 billion that will be commissioned in 1 year after obtaining due clearance. The phase-II project, which will cost Rs 4 billion, will be commissioned in 24 months after the commissioning of phase-I. Among other conditions specified, KGLNG has been asked to obtain the ‘consent to establish’ from the State Pollution Control Board and comply with the conditions of the AP Coastal Zone Management Authority. It has also been told to operate the terminal for 270 days in a year. Cam Newton Jersey
LPG costlier by Rs 14 in Assam after subsidy withdrawal
Assam government has withdrawn the partial subsidy of Rs 14 on domestic LPG cylinders and hiked the price of petrol by 76 paise per litre and diesel by Rs 1.67 a litre. The state government has also increased VAT to 6 per cent from 5 per cent on 127 household goods with immediate effect. According to a Gazette notification, the government withdrew “the partial exemption granted to the oil companies on sale of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for domestic use within Assam” with immediate effect. When contacted, Assam Commissioner and Secretary (Finance) Ravi Kota told PTI that the withdrawal of the subsidy will result in increase in prices of LPG cylinders by Rs 14 each. This decision was taken at the last Cabinet meeting and has come into effect from yesterday, he added. “…the price of petrol will increase by 76 paise and diesel by Rs 1.67 per litre,” Kota explained. The government has also increased VAT on 127 items under Second Schedule to 6 per cent from 5 per cent earlier. The Second Schedule items include most of the day-to-day household goods such as agricultural implements, all types of yarns, all kitchen utensils, bamboo items, all types of cycles and their parts, bulk drugs, coffee beans and seeds, coir products, edible oils, paper, plastic footwear, printed material, readymade garments and renewable energy devices. Some other important items, whose prices will go up due to the new tax structure, include skimmed milk powder, all spices, tractors, vanaspati, vegetable oil, embroidery or zari articles, processed meat, poultry, fish, processed or preserved vegetables and fruits, golditems, glass bangles, hand made soap, pure ghee, sweets, baby feeding bottles and nipples, dry fruits, soya nuggets, jute and jute products. Prices of medical diagnostic kits, x-ray films and other diagnostic films, medical equipments, devices and implants, spectacles, spare parts of motor vehicles, medicines, honey, glucose, sugar and CFL bulb have also been raised by revising the VAT rates northward. Chris Jones Authentic Jersey
Brent oil falls below $50 as Nigeria ups production
Oil prices retreated in Asia Tuesday, with Brent easing below $50 on news of increased production from Nigeria following the repair of infrastructure damaged in militant attacks. Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, pumped an average 1.53 million barrels a day last month, up around 90,000 a day from May. The Nigerian state minister for petroleum resources, Emmanuel Kachikwu, said last month that a ceasefire with rebel forces had allowed the Nigerian government to repair the damaged oil pipelines, Bloomberg reported. At around 0325 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was down 67 cents, or 1.37 percent, to $48.32 and Brent crude for September eased 42 cents, or 0.84 percent, to $49.68 a barrel. “Oil prices are pulling back on easing supply disruption concerns, as markets reacted to news that Nigerian production has increased last month,” IG Markets analyst Bernard Aw told AFP. “Nonetheless, oil prices remained relatively stable around the $50 mark. This will be welcomed by the oil sector.” Despite the increase in production, a recent resumption of attacks on Nigerian oil pipelines has underscored the volatility of the situation in the country. Crude prices had edged up on Monday after Nigerian oil militant group Niger Delta Avengers on Sunday claimed five attacks on the country’s oil and gas infrastructure in a revival of their sabotage campaign after a recent lull. The Avengers are fighting in the Niger Delta region for a bigger share of crude revenue and greater political autonomy. British bank Barclays said prices will also remain under pressure from the impact of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, which is yet to fully unfold. “The dire warnings about the effect on global financial markets and risk appetite from a UK vote to leave the EU are yet to manifest themselves in commodity markets, which in general have performed robustly over the past week,” it said in a market analysis. “Whether this proves to be the calm before the storm depends on the extent of negative contagion,” it added. “The deterioration in the global economic outlook, financial market uncertainty and potential ripple effects on key areas of oil demand growth are likely to exacerbate already-lacklustre industrial demand growth trends.” James Develin Womens Jersey
Indian Oil Corporation refuses stake sale offer in Nagarjuna oil project
Indian Oil Corporation has rejected an offer to buy a stake in a project of the financially-stressed Nagarjuna Oil Refinery and help resurrect it, arguing that the project’s technical configuration and financial burden were a hurdle, according to company executives and officials. Indian Oil took the decision recently following a due diligence on the proposed refinery. At a recent meeting, Indian Oil executives conveyed this to officials of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), sources said. More than six months back, the government had suggested Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum consider buying a stake in the Nagarjuna refinery project. All three were hesitant but Indian Oil undertook a due diligence. It had considered investing in the project in Tamil Nadu more than a decade back. Nagarjuna Oil Refinery, which is setting up the refinery, is controlled by Nagarjuna group that owns about 35% of the firm. The group, led by KS Raju, also has fertilizer units. “There has been no construction activity at the project site for almost four years since the time cyclone hit the place, while the financial burden has been mounting,” said a source. The project suffered damage in December 2011 cyclone and hasn’t been able to overcome its impact since. The company has been engaged with multiple potential investors but hasn’t clinched a deal yet and arrange necessary finance to complete the project. The 6 million tonne refinery, spread over 2,100 acre and including a captive port and power plant, was originally scheduled for commissioning in April 2014 at a cost of Rs 11,500 crore. Capacity was to be eventually doubled. The project has design and foundation in place already. “Undoing design and foundation is very complicated,” an Indian Oil executive said. “Had the configuration suited us, we could have accepted the project.” “Even with concessions, it could have been a challenge to resurrect the project,” he said. Part of the refinery would comprise older units relocated from Germany, which further diminished its attraction. The refinery is configured to produce Euro-III and IV standards fuel, which essentially means it can’t sell in the domestic market after April 2020, the government-set deadline after which only Euro VI fuel can be sold. To upgrade to Euro VI would require more investment. Moreover, Indian Oil and other state firms are themselves engaged in capacity expansion. Brandon Saad Authentic Jersey
Petrobras’ Indian partners fight delay in troubled Brazil oil project
Petrobras has warned its Indian partners in a huge offshore project to not expect oil from the site until 2022, according to sources, a fresh sign of how low oil prices and the state-owned company’s corruption scandal and mountain of debt are dragging on Brazil’s energy industry. The previously unreported, four-year delay in the “super-giant” discovery off the northeastern coast of the Brazilian state of Sergipe is forcing India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp and IBV Brasil Petroleo Ltd to seek ways to speed up the Petrobras-led project which has cost them $2.1 billion with no return in sight. The delay and pressure from the Indian partners is just one of many challenges for new Petrobras Chief Executive Pedro Parente, named by Brazil’s interim-President Michel Temer in late May amid an ongoing financial crisis. In the face of a massive bribery and kickback scandal and Petrobras’ $126 billion of debt, Parente has pledged to run the company in a more market-friendly way but has declined to comment on individual projects. He has also promised a revamped investment plan by the end of October – though it is unclear whether it will address the Sergipe offshore standoff. In April, Petrobras told IBV, a 50-50 joint venture between state-owned Bharat PetroleumBSE -0.81 % Corp and privately held Videocon IndustriesBSE -0.33 % Inc, that there will be no oil output from Sergipe “until at least 2022,” an IBV executive told Reuters. A year ago, Petrobras’ promised first oil by 2018. Hoping to speed up development, IBV told Reuters it has offered to arrange up to $10 billion in loans from Indian and other international development banks to finance the Sergipe development – Brazil’s biggest oil prospect outside the prolific subsalt region near Rio de Janeiro where Brazil is pinning hopes of energy independence. “It’s a common and simple loan structure, if Petrobras is willing to provide future output as collateral, it won’t have to pay a penny until oil starts flowing, something we could can probably do by 2020,” the IBV executive said. “But we get the feeling that Petrobras has yet to accept its new, more restricted circumstances,” the executive added. Petrobras told Reuters it has yet to receive a formal proposal from its Indian partners to finance the project. Asked about the delays, Petrobras said in a statement it has invested about $3.5 billion on exploration in the Sergipe blocks it owns with ONGC and IBV. It expects to complete a development plan for the areas by 2020 but has no date for the first production of oil. All development decisions have been made in conjunction with its partners, Petrobras said, and delays have been the result of “considerable” deepwater technical challenges, efforts to reduce costs and a lack of infrastructure to transport the area’s natural gas. After investing $2.1 billion in the offshore finds since 2007, the Indian partners are getting impatient. “We can’t put off a return forever,” the IBV executive, whose company has spent $1.6 billion in Sergipe, told Reuters. “We’ve been investing for nearly a decade. They now say we’ll have to wait at least four years more. In our experience with Petrobras, it will probably be longer.” An ONGC executive, who also declined to be named, said the partners hope the new Parente regime will speed up development plans “so that we can monetize and unlock the potential at the earliest.” The company did recently relinquish its stake in one of two proposed production areas in the Sergipe block that it owns a quarter of to partner Petrobras. SHARED BLAME FOR DELAYS In nine years, ONGC has invested $500 million exploring with Petrobras off the coast of Sergipe. It has spent another $2 billion elsewhere in Brazil and produces about 12,000 barrels a day in the country, a small amount considering the outlay so far. The expected prize, though, is Sergipe. The BM-SEAL-11 block, 40 percent controlled by IBV, holds more than 3 billion barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas, enough to supply all the world’s petroleum needs for more than a month. There are no public estimates for the two adjacent blocks, one fully owned by Petrobras and the other owned 25 percent by ONGC, but people involved with them say the volumes of oil and gas are very large. The Sergipe project’s problems have also been compounded by IBV and ONGC’s own failures. Two sources involved with the Indians in Sergipe exploration said IBV and ONGC often missed deadlines to pay their share of costs, only paying after Petrobras threatened legal action. The Indians confirmed the delays, which they blamed on partner Videocon, which has cash flow problems and may sell its IBV stake. Videocon executives were not available for comment. Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of Videocon told the Business Standard Newspaper in June that his company was considering the sale of its oil and gas assets to pay debt. Both IBV and ONGC also declined to invoke clauses in the blocks’ contracts allowing them to move ahead with development on their own if Petrobras demurred. “Unfortunately, everybody in Brazil is afraid to challenge Petrobras, even if they have a case. They know Petrobras, and perhaps the government, will retaliate,” said John Forman, a geologist and former director of Brazil oil regulator ANP. “Court fights can drag on for years, so you lose even if you win.” Whatever the reason for delay, Brazil may be the biggest loser. While ONGC and IBV bought their Sergipe stakes in 2007 from existing leaseholders Petrobras and Encana, Brazil’s oil regulator ANP has allowed partner Petrobras to delay a start to production by extending exploration rights in the areas repeatedly. Had the ANP enforced tighter deadlines, designed to prevent companies from hoarding assets without developing them, Sergipe might be producing, or near first production, today and providing revenue for Brazil’s cash-strapped Treasury, Forman said. The tendency to give Petrobras such wide latitude underlines Brazil’s conflicted priorities as it tries to revive both its economy and largest company,
Bloated LPG import bill fear
The country’s LPG import bill is likely to increase substantially as non-domestic consumption grew 25.8 per cent during the first two months of the fiscal. It can rise further following the government’s efforts to push cooking gas to BPL (below poverty line) families and transfer the subsidy to the bank accounts of consumers. According to the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), LPG consumption grew 7.4 per cent in May and 7.8 per cent during April-May. However, domestic consumption rose only 5.7 per cent in May and 6.1 per cent April- May. Non-domestic consumption increased 21.5 per cent in May, with a cumulative growth of 25.8 per cent during April-May. A non-domestic 19.2-kg LPG refill costs Rs 1,035 in Calcutta, while a subsidised 14.2- kg domestic LPG cylinder costs Rs 423.16. India plans to almost double its LPG imports in the next three years to over 16.5 million tons (mt). The country is looking to import from Bangladesh and Iran besides its traditional sources in West Asia. LPG imports rose 1.6 mt during April-May this fiscal against 1.4 mt last fiscal. The country had imported 8.8mt of LPG at $3.8 billion during 2015-16. However, the spurt in global crude prices can jack up the import cost, analysts said. Brent prices will average around $40 per barrel in 2016 and is expected to average $65-$70 per barrel by 2020. The country imports 40 per cent of its 21mt LPG requirement. This will go up as demand rises by double-digits following the new connections. The high growth in the consumption of non-domestic LPG and the increase in its market share can be attributed to its easy availability, low price and curbs on the diversion of subsidised domestic cylinders. The diversion of cheaper and subsidised cooking gas meant for households towards commercial use has stopped after the government launched the PAHAL scheme for direct transfer of subsidy to the consumers from January 2015. Under this scheme, LPG is being sold to consumers at the market rate while the subsidy is directly credited to their bank accounts. Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said more than Rs 210 billion of subsidy has been saved by implementing PAHAL. Besides putting an end to the black marketing of cheap LPG, 33.4 million duplicate, inactive and ghost accounts were detected and blocked. Bulk LPG registered a positive growth of 22 per cent in May and a cumulative growth of 24.2 per cent during April- May. The percentage share of bulk LPG in total consumption went up to 2 per cent in May from 1.7 per cent in the same period a year ago. Rodney Gunter Jersey