Rouble continues gains as oil approaches $50 per barrel
The Russian rouble strengthened further on Tuesday, continuing gains from Monday as the international oil price hit new 2016 highs close to $50 per barrel. At 0800 GMT, the rouble was 0.7 percent stronger against the dollar at 64.44 and had gained 0.6 percent to 73.03 versus the euro. Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was up 0.7 percent at $49.3 a barrel, after touching a 2016 high of $49.47 earlier on Tuesday. The oil price is being supported by supply disruptions and a bullish report by investment bank Goldman Sachs which said the oil market had shifted from surplus to deficit earlier than expected. “We regard the reaction of the rouble to oil market optimism as extremely restrained,” ING analyst Dmitry Polevoy said in a note. “Our estimates of the fundamentally justified rouble exchange rate give an even lower range of 60.50-62.50 per dollar for oil at $50 per barrel.” Despite the stronger oil price, Russian share indexes fell on Tuesday, losing momentum after gains on Monday and hit by a report that top gas producer Gazprom would pay a lower-than-expected dividend. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.5 percent to 925 points, while the rouble-based MICEX was 1.2 percent lower at 1,897 points. Shares in Gazprom were down 2.9 percent, after newspaper Vedomosti reported the company had persuaded the government to let it pay just over 20 percent of its profit under international standards as dividend, rather than a previously proposed 50 percent. Timothy Chandler Womens Jersey
To revive power plants govt to ink gas deals with Gulf countries
In a bid to fuel stranded gas based power projects the government is negotiating long term contracts with leading gas suppliers in the Gulf region. The plan is to enter into contracts for importing 70-80 million metric standard cubic metres (mmscmd) of natural gas through long-term contracts of 10-15 years and at affordable rates. Given the price sensitivity of fueling a power project, the government wants these long term contracts in the price range of $5 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu). “With excess coal-based power available for states to buy at a little over Rs 2, the cost of fuel to power plants is the most important factor and so the government’s effort and insistence on long-term gas purchase agreements at low costs” explains a government official, who did not wish to be named. During his recent visit to Qatar and other Gulf countries, oil minister, Dharmendra Pradhan had re-negotiated contracts for importing gas, bringing down the price from earliar highs of $16 per mmBtu to less than $5 per mmBtu. “Similar long term contracts are being negotiated that will enable India to operate its idle gas-based power capacity” says an official in the know of the matter, who did not wish to be named. The source further explained that the government is unlikely to pay anything more than $5 per unit of gas, keeping the global slide in prices in mind. Top sources say that discussions with Oman and Iran are already underway. An internal report of the government circulated in early 2015 showed that power projects worth Rs 500 billion were stranded due to lack of gas linkage and warned that these would turn into non-performing assets. Of these stranded projects 13000 MW belonged to private developers. Through various initiatives including reverse auction of gas, some of these stuck projects have been pumped back into life. But still gas-based power projects with capacity around 12000 MW are stuck due to lack of fuel. This proposal to rescue stranded power plants involves power and oil ministries, and sources say that it has already been discussed and approved by the prime minister’s office. Top sources in these ministries without wanting to be quoted said that prime minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia and forthcoming to Iran will further discussions on these contracts. “In the interest of 24×7 power for all and to ensure that investments made in these idle power plants don’t turn bad, the government is trying to provide cost-effective fuel linkages” said the source quoted earlier. Jonathan Quick Authentic Jersey
LPG connections to reach 50 million women through Ujjwala Yojana: Oil and Gas Minister
Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said new LPG connections would be reaching 50 million women at the below poverty level (BPL) during the next three years through the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), a scheme for providing free LPG connections to women of BPL households. We have set a target of giving a new LPG connection in next three years to 50 million women at BPL with government assistance. For that 80 billion funds have been allocated. This financial year, the Finance Minister has budgeted 20 billion rupees for this purpose and we have a target of giving 15 million connections this year,” Pradhan told ETV News head Jagdish Chandra in an exclusive interview here.”5,00,000 women in India, every year, lose their life due to domestic smoke. Millions of rupees are spent for treatment. Woman have to make lot of efforts to collect woods. So, after this LPG connection they will be relieved from all such effort and their health condition can be improved,” he added. On selecting woman consumers, Pradhan said a list has been prepared on Socio Economic Caste Census to segregate women population. “Under instruction of Supreme Court, both Centre and State government have jointly prepared a list based on Socio Economic Caste Census. From this financial year, both Centre and State government have agreed to implement many schemes based on this. Our department has also accepted SECC as base for implementing the scheme. There are seven deprivation point for rural areas in this SECC. Anyone who fulfills even one of the seven point, then she will be eligible for beneficiary. There are different point for urban areas. We are going by that,” he said. Talking further on publicising the Ujjwala scheme he said: “We are improvising the scheme regularly. We are rectifying from whatever reviews we get from different sources including media. Social media plays an important role in this. They are able to directly come in our contact through social media and we are acting upon it. There are 18 thousand distributors. 167 million consumers are there. In coming three years another 70-80 million consumers will be added. So, there will be some issues, which we will be happy to resolve.” Corey Liuget Womens Jersey
Petronet LNG Q4 net down 20% to Rs 2.39 billion on tax adjustment
Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL), India’s state-owned largestnatural gas importer, today posted a 20 per cent decline in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 2016, on account of reversal of tax expenses that had jacked up profit in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal (2014-15). The company reported a net profit of Rs 2.39 billion for the three months ended March as compared to profit of Rs 3 billion in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal. “The net profit figure of the quarter is not comparable with the net profit of corresponding quarter. However, the Profit Before Tax (PBT) figures are comparable,” Director-Finance R K Garg said at a conference call. The company’s PBT jumped two-and-a-half times to Rs 3.51 billion during the fourth quarter last fiscal (2015-16) as against Rs 1.30 billion in the corresponding quarter. However, the slide in net profit by a fifth came despite a 19 per cent reduction in expenses to Rs 56.98 billion as compared to expenses of Rs 70.21 billion in the same quarter previous fiscal. Total income of the company during the quarter also dipped 15 per cent to Rs 60.65 billion as compared to 71.61 billion in the corresponding quarter. “Results were broadly in line with or estimate with Earnings Before Interest, Depreciation, Tax and Amortization (EBIDTA) at Rs 4.40 billion, a growth of 44 per cent quarter-on-quarter, while Profit After Tax came in at Rs 2.40 billion growing 34 per cent quarter-on-quarter,” equity research firm Emkay Global said in a note. For the full financial year 2015-16, Petronet’s net profit rose by a marginal 3.6 per cent to Rs 9.14 billion as compared to Rs 8.82 billion in the previous fiscal. Total income of the company dipped 31 per cent to Rs 273.03 billion from Rs 396.55 billion in the previous financial year. Petronet LNG is jointly promoted by state-owned firms GAIL (India), Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Bharat petroleum Corp (BPCL). The firm operates a 10 million ton per annum (MTPC) LNG terminal at Dahej in Gujarat and a 5 mtpa terminal at Kochi in Kerala with IOC, BPCL, GAIL and GSPC as key customers. The company had earlier this year renegotiated its long-term contract with RasGas of Qatar for purchase of 7.5 million ton LNG for 25 years, bringing down the price to less than $5 per million British thermal units from $12 per mmbtu. Petronet is currently working on a project to expand the flagship Dahej terminal’s capacity by 5 mtpa to 15 mtpa at a cost of Rs 24 billion. The company said it has already spent more than Rs 16 billion on the project and plans to spend additional Rs 6 billion this fiscal to ensure the project is completed by the end of this year. The Dahej terminal processed higher-ever quantity of LNG in the fourth quarter at 149 trillion British thermal units (TBTUs) as compared to 138 TBTUs in the corresponding quarter. For the full financial year 2015-16, the terminal processed 566 TBTUs translating into a capacity utilization of 111 per cent. However, lack of pipeline connectivity impacted volumes at Kochi terminal that handled only 14 TBTUs of LNG. Analysts said they were upbeat on the stock due to the pickup in long-term volumes, particularly after the RasGas contract renegotiation, completion of expansion of Dahej terminal and a likely solution for the issues of pipeline connectivity at Kochi terminal. Dante Fowler Jr Womens Jersey
KPMG to advise Modi govt on first oil block auction
The blocks have been classified into 46 cluster areas and will be bid out based on the recently announced revenue sharing model. Global accounting and consultancy firm KPMG has been chosen by the Modi government to advise on its first ever auction of oil and gas blocks set to kickstart next week. KPMG has been chosen from a group of consultancy firms based on an expression of interest floated by the upstream regulator Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) for selection of a knowledge partner for the first round of discovered fields bidding to be launched by oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on 25 May. “KPMG has been selected by the government to manage the marginal fields bidding round. The scope of the work includes taking the blocks to the market and suggesting ways to attract investor interest during the international roadshows that will begin soon,” said an executive close to the development. He added the entire process will be run over the next three months. The government will auction 67 discovered fields that were earlier relinquished by state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) amid a historic downturn in global crude oil prices. The marginal fields house more than 89 million ton of reserves worth over Rs 770 billion, according to the oil ministry. The blocks have been classified into 46 cluster areas and will be bid out based on the recently announced revenue sharing model as against the earlier controversial cost recovery regime. India conducted its ninth and last bidding round under the New Exploration Licensing Policy in 2012 awarding 256 blocks to exploration firms. Although the investment sentiment in the oil sector has been impacted by low crude oil prices, Vedanta-owned Cairn India Ltd, the private operator of India’s largest on-land oil and gas block in Rajasthan, said it would study the data of available blocks on offer for participation in the bid round. “We will evaluate data from the blocks being offered, to gain further understanding, for firming up our strategy for the same,” Cairn India Chief Executive Mayank Ashar told Business Standard. Of the 67 blocks on offer, 28 discoveries are in Mumbai offshore and 14 are in the Krishna Godavari basin off the Andhra coast. Also, 10 discoveries are located in the Assam shelf area, according to the oil ministry. Sean Rodriguez Jersey
Petrol price hiked by 83 paise , diesel up by Rs 1.26
Petrol price was today hiked by 83 paisa a litre and diesel by Rs 1.26 per litre, the second increase in rates this month. Petrol in DELHI will cost Rs 63.02 per litre from today, while a litre of diesel will cost Rs 51.67, said Indian Oil Corporation ( IOC), the nation’s largest fuel retailer. Rates were last hiked by Rs 1.06 a litre on petrol and Rs 2.94 a litre on diesel on May 1. “The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and the rupee-US Dollar exchange rate warrant increase in price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision,” the IOC said. State-owned fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd ( BPCL ) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd( HPCL ) revise rates of the fuel on 1st and 16th of every month based on the average oil price and the foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight. “The movement of prices in the international oil market and the rupee-USD exchange rate shall continue to be monitored closely and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes,” the company added. Dustin Colquitt Authentic Jersey
Saudi Aramco awards Hasbah gas expansion contract
Saudi Aramco has awarded a $1 billion-plus contract to India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Singapore-based Emas AMC for the expansion of the offshore Hasbah sour gas field, industry sources said. Increasing its supply of gas is a top priority for Saudi Arabia. Many industrial firms have complained about a shortage crimping expansion plans, while the kingdom is trying to use more of the fuel for power generation and water desalination instead of burning crude oil, which it wants to export. Work on the expansion scheme includes building platforms and pipelines, with the field’s supply feeding the Fadhili gas plant, a $6 billion complex that will include a gas processing unit and sulphur recovery. Saudi Aramco declined to comment. L&T did not respond to emailed requests for comment, while Emas was not available for immediate comment. It is the second major contract win for the duo in recent months: Emas AMC, a unit of Ezra Holdings, also teamed up last year with the Indian firm to secure a long-term contract with Aramco to work on offshore facilities. The expansion of Hasbah will supply 2 billion standard cubic feet per day (scfd) of gas to the Fadhili plant, for which Aramco awarded a construction contract last year. The remaining 500 million scfd of supply for the plant will come from the onshore Khursaniyah field. Hasbah already feeds Wasit, another major gas plant. Aramco said in March it had started producing natural gas from the offshore field ahead of peak summer demand in the world’s largest oil exporting country. An industry source told Reuters the Wasit plant would reach full capacity in July of processing 2.5 billion scfd of gas. Filip Forsberg Jersey
Nitin Prasad to head Shell India
oyal Dutch Shell Plc announced that Nitin Prasad will take over from Yasmine Hilton as the Chairman of Shell Companies in India from October 1, 2016. Hilton, who is also VP IT Project Excellence, Royal Dutch Shell will end her assignment on September 30, 2016 and draw the curtains on a career spanning 37 years with the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas major. Prasad is currently Cluster General Manager for Lubricant Sales and Market for India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. “An electrical engineer from Georgia Institute of Technology, USA and a management graduate from INSEAD, Prasad took up his current appointment in 2011 as General Manager, Shell Lubricants in the third largest lubricants market in the world,” the company said in a statement. “He has been instrumental in turning around Lubricants business in India. His previous roles in Shell include Chemicals where he was General Manager APME Supply Chain and Senior Advisor on Downstream Strategy,” the statement added. Vernon Hargreaves III Authentic Jersey
IOC Reluctant to Supply LPG To Nepal From Paradip
Shortage of liquefied petroleum (LP) gas is unlikely to end soon as the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) – the sole supplier of petroleum products — has showed reluctance to make additional supply from its Orissa-based Paradip refinery. Interestingly, IOC itself had proposed to NOC to make additional supply from Paradip refinery for the time being. It had proposed to export some 10,000 tons a month from the refinery for at least three months. But IOC seems to be unwilling to make supply LP gas to Nepal from Paradip refinery, according to NOC officials. “We recently wrote to IOC to finalize rates and sort other technicalities for importing LP gas from the new refinery. But IOC is yet to respond to our letter,” a high-ranking NOC official told Republica, preferring anonymity. NOC was preparing to import 10,000 tons of LP gas from the Orissa-based refinery for some months. This additional import was expected to end prolonged shortage of cooking fuel. “It seems that IOC wants us to import cooking fuel from the new refinery on permanent basis,” the official added. NOC currently imports LP gas from Barauni, Haldia and Mathura refineries of IOC. As these refineries failed to supply cooking gas as per demand, both IOC and NOC had turned their attention to Paradip refinery. The state-owned petroleum monopolist has IOC to make monthly supply of 38,000 tons for some months. However, IOC has managed to supply only around 28,000 tons from Barauni, Haldia and Mathura refineries. IOC is unlikely to increased supply of LP gas to Nepal in May as well. Speaking at a program a week ago, NOC Managing Director Gopal khadka had said that preparation was at the final stage to import 8,000 to 10,000 tons of cooking gas per month from Paradip refinery. Some NOC sources say that IOC, under pressure from the Indian government, has showed reluctance to supply LP gas from Paradip refinery on a temporary basis. They say that the Indian government wants to increase commercial activities in Orissa by supplying fuel to Nepal from the refinery on permanent basis. Interestingly, India’s Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, is also from Orissa. Meanwhile, LP gas bottlers say that the current supply cannot import supply of cooking fuel. “The demand has increased manifolds as consumers now own multiple cylinders,” Shiva Ghimire, president of Nepal LP gas Industry Association, said, adding: “There is no other alternative to increasing supply to address shortage.” According to NOC, IOC is supplying around 50 bullets a day to Nepal against the daily demand for 60 bullets. Adam Lowry Jersey
IndianOil to reach 10 million ton refining capacity this fiscal
Oil refiner cum retailer Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) aims to reach a refining capacity of 9-10 million ton (mt) in this fiscal at its 15 mt crude oil refinery at Paradeep. “We were aiming to achieve 100% capacity capacity utilisation at our Paradeep refinery this fiscal. But the refinery will take time to stabilise and reach its full rated capacity. In this fiscal, we aim to achieve a refining capacity of 9-10 mt,” said Sanjiv Singh, director (refineries), IOCL. IOCL has invested Rs 350 billion on the Paradeep refinery. The unit has commenced operations in February this year. The Paradeep refinery is capable of processing 100% high sulphur, including 40% heavy crude oil of low cost. The refinery would churn out a wide gamut of petroleum products like petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation turbine fuel, propylene, sulphur and petroleum coke. The refinery has unique INDMAX (Indane Maximization) technology with 4.17 million ton capacity capable of delivering up to 44% LPG. The Paradeep refinery product mix would consist of 37.5% high speed diesel, 25.3% motor spirits, 13.1% ATF, 5.2% propylene+LPG, 8.1% petroleum coke and 1.8% sulphur. The products would be predominantly consumed in the domestic market except few quantities of motor spirits which would be exported. IOCL is also investing Rs 340 billion on the petrochemical complex, roughly the same amount it spent on the refinery. Though IOCL had conceptualised the oil refinery and petrochemical complex at the same time, the petrochemical complex was kept in abeyance due to recession. The entire petrochemical complex is slated to be commissioned by 2021. The first unit of this complex- the polypropylene unit is scheduled to be completed by December this year. The unit estimated to cost Rs 31.50 billion got the investment approval of IOCL board in March 2014. The polypropylene unit would make use of Spheripol Technology from Basell, Italy. The unit will be capable of producing different grades of polypropylene but will commence with production of only homo grade initially. The major facilities envisaged under the project are coker LPG treater unit, ware house for polypropylene storage and other associated facilities like flare and cooling tower. Polymer units feel the polypropylene complex would be a huge boost to the local units that are currently dependent on raw material imports from Haldia and Surat. Davon Godchaux Womens Jersey