The virtual meeting between the two leaders came in the midst of some disquiet in Washington over India's position on the Ukraine crisis as well as its decision to procure discounted Russian oil.
Both the countries have increased prices of gas recently.
Privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) may sell a part of its stake in Petronet LNG and Indraprastha Gas (IGL) to shed its promoter status to obviate the need for its new owner to make open offers for the two gas companies, sources said. BPCL holds 12.5 per cent of shareholding in India's largest liquefied natural gas importer, Petronet, and a 22.5 per cent stake in city gas retailer, IGL. It is a promoter of both the listed companies and holds board positions. As per the legal position evaluated by Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) - the department running the process for sale of government's entire 52.98 per cent stake in BPCL - the acquirer of BPCL will have to make an open offer to the minority shareholders of Petronet and IGL for acquisition of 26 per cent shares, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.
In 2017, a consortium led by Russian state oil company Rosneft agreed to buy Essar Oil for $12.9 billion in India's biggest foreign acquisition of a homegrown company. Rosneft's buyout of Essar's assets was meant to herald a wave of energy investments in India - over six decades after Esso, Caltex and Shell invested in India's refining sector in the 1950s. But the government has tripped up in its efforts to sell Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), formerly Burmah Shell, a blue chip public sector company. Bidders include a couple of global funds and resources firm Vedanta.
French oil and energy group Total has agreed to a $2.5 billion deal that includes buying a 20 per cent minority stake in Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL) from Adani Group, as it builds up its presence in the renewable energy sector. The deal involves Paris-based Total getting a board seat in the largest solar energy developer in the world, as well as a 50 per cent stake in a 2.35 gigawatts portfolio of operating solar assets, the two firms said in statements. Total had in 2018, agreed to buy a 37.4 per cent stake in Adani Gas Ltd - the city gas distribution firm of the Adani Group, and a 50 per cent stake in the billionaire Gautam Adani-run ports-to-energy conglomerate's under-construction Dhamra LNG project in Odisha.
Petroleum Minister Ram Naik sought, on Thursday, excise duty cut on petroleum products to check adverse impact of excessive volatality in international crude oil prices on domestic prices
Lack of access to the cosmonaut training programmes would also be a hindrance for ISRO's planned manned missions, explains Devangshu Datta.
India Gas Solutions Pvt Ltd -- the equal joint venture between the Mukesh Ambani-led firm and Europe's second largest oil firm - is among the three companies shortlisted by Gujarat government for giving out 25 per cent stake in the Mundra terminal.
The President said he made the decision in consultation with European allies but added they may not be in a position to join the US in banning Russian energy imports.
Weeks after confusion over three Mauritius-based funds whipsawing shares of Adani group firms, billionaire Gautam Adani on Monday said that "twisted narrative" seems to imply that companies have regulatory powers over their shareholders and can compel disclosures. Shares of port-to-energy group nosedived last month after reports that accounts of three of the six Mauritius-based funds that have invested most of their money in Adani group firms had been frozen by the national share depository. The three funds owned about $6 billion of shares across the conglomerate.
Petrol and diesel prices, which have been on a freeze for the past four months in view of assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh, need to be increased by over Rs 12 per litre by March 16 for fuel retailers to break even. International crude oil prices shot above $120 a barrel for the first time in nine years on Thursday before retreating a little to $111 on Friday, but the gulf between cost and retail rates has only widened. With international oil prices - on which domestic fuel retails are directly benchmarked - spiking in the last two months, state-owned fuel retailers "need a massive price hike of Rs 12.1 per litre on or before March 16, 2022, just to breakeven and a price hike of Rs 15.1 is required" after including margins for oil firms, ICICI Securities said in a report.
Every 10 per cent rise in crude oil price will shave off around 0.2 percentage point (pp) from India's GDP growth and widen the current account by 0.3 per cent, says Nomura.
India's total purchase of oil from Russia in a month is probably less than what Europe does in an afternoon, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.
Petrol and diesel prices are likely to be hiked this week as oil companies prepare to pare losses accumulated from keeping rates steady for over four months in the run-up to assembly elections in five states, including UP, despite international oil prices jumping to a 13-year high of $140 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the US oil benchmark, rose to $130.50 per barrel on Sunday evening, its highest since July 2008, before retreating. The international benchmark, Brent crude, hit a high of $139.13 at one point overnight, also its highest since July 2008.
Petrol and diesel price hikes are likely to resume after state elections get over next week to bridge the Rs 9 a litre gap created by international oil prices soaring past $100 a barrel. International crude oil prices shot above $110 a barrel for the first time since mid-2014 on fears that oil and gas supplies from energy giant Russia could be disrupted, either by the conflict in Ukraine or retaliatory western sanctions. The basket of crude oil India buys rose above $102 per barrel on March 1, the highest since August 2014, according to information from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the oil ministry.
International oil prices retreated from an over seven-year high but was still above $100 a barrel and continue to pose threat to India's inflation rate and current account deficit. While there are no supply concerns as the oil route remained open, consumers will feel the pinch when PSU oil firms start passing on the increase in international rates through a revision in petrol and diesel prices, which have been on a pause for over three-and-a-half-months in view of elections in Uttar Pradesh and four other states. The government is "closely monitoring the situation" and will "take appropriate steps as and when required", a top official said. Brent crude oil surged past $105 per barrel on Thursday for the first time since August 2014, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
By 2025, natural gas will comprise 20% of the Indian primary energy basket. Natural gas will substitute crude oil for a host of applications due to its non-polluting and economic nature.
International oil prices surged close to $100 a barrel on Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, but petrol and diesel prices in India continue to be on freeze and are expected to rise once assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh end. Amid fears of supplies being disrupted because of Russian aggression, the price of futures contract for Brent crude oil with April delivery on London's ICE rose by 4.18 per cent to $99.38 per barrel on Tuesday morning, before paring some gains to settle just above $98. The last time Brent exceeded $99 per barrel was in September 2014. Russia makes up for a third of Europe's natural gas and about 10 per cent of global oil production.
Russia will significantly boost the supplies of Liquefied Natural Gas to energy-hungry India from 2016, President Dmitry Medvedev has announced. Mentioning the success of ONGC Videsh Ltd venture in Sakhalin-1 offshore oil block, Medvedev, who along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed a CEOs' forum of the top companies of the two countries in Moscow on Friday evening, also expressed Russia's interest in expanding cooperation with India in hydrocarbons.
BP and Reliance Industries Ltd are leading the race to pick up a 25 per cent stake in Gujarat State Petronet Corporation and the Adani group's five million tonnes per annum liquefied natural gas terminal at Mundra.
'The business continuity clause will mean the Tatas will have to keep running the airline for three years, and cannot exit the flying business.'
Only a few thousand chargers dot the Indian landscape, some in working condition, others not, with some held hostage to the power supply vagaries of local utilities, reports S Dinakar.
Govt's move will facilitate entry of global giants such as Total SA of France, Saudi Arabia's Aramco, BP Plc of the UK, and Trafigura's downstream arm Puma Energy.
The company is building floating LNG terminal in joint venture Reliance Power.
The proposal to hive off the LNG terminal at the revived Dabhol power plant in Maharashtra is likely to be scrapped, with promoters and financiers agreeing to pump in Rs 24 billion to restart construction work at the plant.
The joint venture will participate in exploration and production of gas and oil globally. It will also develop natural gas infrastructure projects.
Ratnagiri Gas will be an equal JV between NTPC and GAIL if MSEB which has been offered a small stake does not pick up equity
Pakistan is once again becoming a frontline State in big-power rivalry. But this time around, Pakistan stands to gain out of its geography, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A drastic reduction in expenditure has boosted the net profit of Essar Oil, India's second largest petroleum refiner, to Rs 169 crore, a jump of 450 per cent in the first quarter ended June 30, 2009. The company, which processed 2.76 MMT of crude in the same quarter, had reported a profit of Rs 30 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago.
India's wheat exports could touch a new record of 10 million tonnes in 2022-23, up from a record seven million tonnes in the current financial year, if global market conditions remain choppy and no curbs are imposed on outbound shipments. That is the bullish estimate by officials from global trading firms and market watchers who say the Russia-Ukraine crisis has not only attracted global buyers to India but also pushed the price of Indian wheat from around $320 per tonne (FOB) to over $360 per tonne in less than 10 days. Food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told reporters that wheat exports till February-end have already reached 6.6 million tonnes and by the end of March, outbound shipments will reach seven million tonnes.
This supply is likely to start in the next few weeks. A proposal to hive off the terminal was turned down by the government last year after it was opposed by NTPC Ltd and Gail, which hold 28 per cent each in the project. The terminal has an LNG regassification capacity of five million tonnes per annum. It will, however, be fully operational only after the completion of the breakwater facilities in 2011.
India on Tuesday pitched for a stake in vast oil and gas fields as well as LNG terminals in the frozen Artic of Far East Russia as it looked to import more oil from the former Soviet republic as part of a strategy to diversify its energy basket.
During his nearly 25-minute speech, Trump praised Modi's economic reforms and said these reforms have lifted more than three million people out of poverty. "And that is an incredible number," he added.
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Union government has the exclusive jurisdiction to enact law on the supply and regulation of natural gas and liquefied natural gas and quashed a Gujarat legislation purporting to regulate
India will take a decision on freeing the pricing of heavily subsidised gas by July, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik told a gas industry seminar in Mumbai on Wednesday.\n\n\n\n
Russian authorities on Wednesday resumed search operation for 10 missing sailors, including four Indians.
Energy supermajor Exxon Mobil Corp is in talks to buy a stake in producing oil and gas fields in India, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday showcasing efforts to raise domestic output to cut imports. Exxon Mobil had in October last year signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to offer its expertise and technology for developing resources in offshore blocks.
Union oil and petroleum minister Ram Naik will travel to Tehran to discuss the prospect of importing liquefied natural gas and to boost bilateral cooperation in the energy sector.