In a major technological breakthrough, oil retailer IBP Co Ltd has developed cryogenic trucks for transporting liquefied natural gas that eliminates need for conventional gas pipelines.
The government on Friday said companies wanting to import liquefied natural gas will have to use Indian-flagged vessels - a stipulation which may further delay commissioning of Royal Dutch/Shell's Hazira terminal in Gujarat.
The dreary, cold months from December to February may prove to be the undoing of many a nation as they grapple with sky-high fuel prices - a result of the Ukraine conflict and the pandemic. Many - Europe, South Korea, Japan, and China - will still pull through on the strength of their wealth or because of strong storage infrastructure. But India will have its back to the wall. Signs of liquefied natural gas (LNG) rates hitting new records this winter are already evident.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik said on Wednesday that an agreement with Qatar had been finalised for supply of liquified natural gas from next year.
Iran on Tuesday denied existence of any contract for export of liquefied natural gas to India while stating that it cannot wait endlessly for New Delhi to join the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.
Iran may put the $22 billion deal to sell liquefied natural gas to India on the backburner as New Delhi refuses to re-open the contract sealed two years ago, according to an assessment by the petroleum ministry.
The acquisition of stake in Progress Energy Resources Corp for 1 billion Canadian dollars ($900 million) mark IOC's maiden entry into North America.
State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd on Wednesday said it was in advanced stages of talks with Shell India for picking up stake in its Hazira LNG terminal in Gujarat and a deal was possible this fiscal.
The companies are in talks with Shell, Petronet LNG to book capacity
Lower crude oil costs and higher marketing margins are expected to raise the fortunes of oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24), while city gas distribution (CGD) companies could also benefit from lower spot prices of liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, in a break from the past, growth trends are expected to diverge for various segments within the broad energy sector. Analysts expect the earnings from gas production to go down for upstream national oil and gas companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) due to the introduction of the new domestic gas pricing regime on April 1. After showing steep losses over the first half of 2022-23 (FY23), the marketing margins of OMCs have steadily recovered in four months.
Large quantities of liquefied natural gas will start flowing into the country from the Dahej Terminal in Gujarat when it becomes operational from January next year, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Ram Naik said on Thursday.
India's first liquefied natural gas importer Petronet LNG Ltd will debut on the stock markets on March 26 when 260 million equity shares will be listed on the Bombay and the National stock exchanges.
On February 24, when Vladimir Putin announced a military operation on Ukraine, few would have thought that Indian government-owned GAIL India would feel the impact. The tensions over gas supplies were essentially a Europe-Russia problem, related to the sanctions western economies imposed on Moscow. But the EU depends on Russian imports for 40 per cent of its gas stocks, an over-dependence that Russia has underlined with Kremlin-owned Gazprom cutting its supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 20 per cent, citing maintenance issues.
India will make another attempt to salvage the $22-billion deal to import LNG from Iran when Petroleum Minister Murli Deora meets the Islamic country's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Thursday.
India on Tuesday said its vote against Iran's nuclear plans will not affect the prospects of the proposed $7.4 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline and its $22 billion deal to import LNG from Tehran.\n\n
Qatar has agreed in-principle to hike the supply of liquified natural gas from the current five million tonnes to 20 MT within the next ten years to India and both the countries were likely to sign an agreement to this effect by May this year.
Dredging of the sea-channel leading to the Dabhol terminal is likely to be completed by end of 2011 but the construction of a breakwater that will guard ships against high tides, was not likely before 2013-14.
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There is no payment problem for Russian crude, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday. He said there is no proposal to cut retail fuel prices at the moment. Addressing a press conference, the minister said India enjoys a buyers' position and foreign suppliers are approaching Indian companies with offers to sell oil.
GAIL (India) Ltd has pre-poned the supply of gas from the US and is looking to contract more LNG next year as it doubles down efforts to secure affordable energy supplies to meet the needs of Asia's third-largest economy, chairman Manoj Jain said. India's No.1 gas transporting and marketing firm has long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply contracts from the US to Australia and with Russia, supplementing domestic gas supplies. "In 3Q (October-December 2021) we preponed a couple of cargoes (LNG shiploads) from supplies that we were to receive next year and we did it again in the current quarter," Jain told PTI. This is because US LNG costs one-third of the price of gas available in the spot or current market.
British oil and gas major BG Group Plc on Monday committed to investing more in oil and gas exploration in India and setting up LNG import project.
Asian Development Bank and ExxonMobil-promoted RasGas of Qatar have taken 10 per cent equity each in Petronet LNG Ltd, the public sector joint venture firm which will begin importing liquefied natural gas from January next year.
Russian energy giant Rosneft has appointed a former Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) director to its board in signs it may be looking at boosting trade links with India. G K Satish, who retired as director for business development at IOC in 2021, is one of the three new faces appointed to the 11-strong board of directors of Rosneft, according to a statement issued by the Russian firm. Satish, 62, is the first Indian to be appointed to the board of Rosneft.
State-owned Indian Oil Corp and GAIL Ltd are looking at picking up an equity stake in LNG projects in Africa to meet growing energy needs of the country, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Friday.
The price of cooking gas piped to household kitchens in the national capital and adjoining cities was hiked by Rs 2.63 per unit on Friday, the second increase in rates in less than two weeks. Piped cooking gas in Delhi will now cost Rs 50.59 per standard cubic meter, as against Rs 47.96 previously, according to Indraprastha Gas Ltd - the firm that retails CNG to automobiles and piped cooking gas to households in the national capital and adjoining towns. The increase is to "partially offset the increase in input gas cost," IGL said in a tweet.
The government should bring natural gas under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for a gas-based economy and raising the share of the environment-friendly fuel in India's energy basket, an industry body that represents the likes of Reliance Industries as well as state-owned firms, has said. Natural gas is currently outside the ambit of GST, and existing legacy taxes -- central excise duty, state VAT, central sales tax -- continue to be applicable on the fuel. In its pre-Budget memorandum to the finance ministry, Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), which boasts of members from across the oil and gas spectrum, also demanded rationalisation of GST on transportation of natural gas through pipeline as well as on re-gasification of imported LNG to help bring down cost of the environment friendly fuel.
The Russian embassy in Warsaw said by email that it "does not comment on such topics".
The Asian Development Bank will invest $75 million in Petronet LNG Ltd for taking 5.2 per cent equity stake even as ExxonMobil-promoted RasGas of Qatar desired to pick 10 per cent stake in India's first liquefied natural gas importer.
The shares of Petronet LNG Ltd were on Friday listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and first trade was struck at Rs 16.50 per share for 500 scrips.
Around 15 years ago, when Reliance Industries (RIL) struck natural gas in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin off the east coast, the government made plans to supply that fuel cheaply to scores of generators that sprang up in India triggered by the discovery. Most of the plants, which account for 6 per cent of India's total generation capacity, operate sparsely after the KG-D6 area first failed to meet production targets, and then finally shut shop. Affordable domestic gas was why those thermal plants came up and the rate of the fuel today is why those generators hardly operate. Record liquefied natural gas (LNG) rates may yet again unravel India's ambitions to expand use of gas in industries, households and vehicles. Rates, while volatile, may stay strong this decade as developed nations with higher purchasing power embrace gas as the transition fuel.
The government has also set targets for the next 25 years. We are working on the target of becoming a $5-10 trillion economy as well as taking exports to a record high, he said.
The medium-term scenario for oil marketing companies (OMCs) is high risk due to the surging crude and gas prices. Apart from OPEC-plus cutting production, the Hamas-Israel conflict has caused fears of supply disruption. The July-September quarter of 2023-24 (Q2FY24) saw positive surprises for OMCs. Strong gross refining margins (GRMs) more than offset weak marketing margins.
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