India should simultaneously prioritise domestic exploration and production of more oil and gas in the country, and ensure we retain diversified suppliers for imports, points out former foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai.
'The intensity and frequency of heatwaves will be much higher than in previous years over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.'
BP Plc has won a bid to operate ONGC's giant Mumbai High oil and gas field by offering up to 60 per cent increase in output over baseline, the state-owned firm said on Wednesday. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had in June last year floated a tender seeking foreign partners to reverse declining output at its flagship Mumbai High fields, offering a share of revenue from incremental production plus a fixed fee but not any equity stake.
Upstream majors ONGC and Oil India (OIL) results for the January-March quarter (Q4) of FY24 suggest better production in future. But OIL missed its own production targets although it delivered higher volumes and it disappointed the market in terms of Ebitda. ONGC reported standalone Ebitda of Rs 17,400 crore (up 7 per cent year-on-year or Y-o-Y) in Q4FY24, slightly below estimates due to other higher expenses.
Notwithstanding the windfall tax placing a cap on profits, oil and gas producers like Oil India (OIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have done well in the October-December quarter (third quarter, or Q3) of 2022-23 (FY23). ONGC faces the drag of poor results from its subsidiary Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, and in comparative terms, OIL is better off. Standalone net sales in Q3FY23 stood at Rs 5,900 crore - up 57 per cent year-on-year (YoY), up 2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).
Crude and gas supply concerns have eased amid reports that Israel and Hamas have struck a peace deal. The International Energy Agency estimates oil demand may drop slightly in calendar 24 but Opec probably has enough pricing power to maintain $80/ barrel Brent prices. Russia's share of India's crude imports remained strong at about 35 per cent in September 2023.
Shah Rukh Khan conducted an #AskSRK session on X recently to discuss his coming film Dunki and the release of his daughter Suhana Khan's debut film The Archies.
India's production of crude oil, which is refined to produce petrol and diesel, continued to decline in November, with lower output from state-owned firms leading to an over 2 per cent drop, official data released on Tuesday showed. Crude oil production in November was 2.43 million tonnes, down from 2.48 million tonnes a year back and 2.5 million tonnes in October 2021. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) produced 3 per cent less crude oil at 1.6 million tonnes in November due to delays in mobilising equipment at western offshore fields.
Prime Minister Modi last week called for optimal grain storage, fire audits and mock drills in hospitals as preparations for the harsh summer forecast by the meteorological department.
ONGC's January-March quarter results for the 2022-23 financial year (Q4FY23) indicated changes in the trends of the energy cycle as well as the impact of policy change in gas-pricing. The public sector oil and gas major reported standalone Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) at Rs 16,340 crore, down 12 per cent year-on-year (YoY), and down 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). There was a net loss of Rs 250 crore due to exceptional items of Rs 9,240 crore for provisions related to the ongoing dispute regarding the applicability of service tax and goods and services tax on Royalty.
According to BCM, Hyderabad-headquartered BE has licensed the recombinant protein Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed at Baylor.
The government is pushing the public sector behemoth ONGC to involve private sector companies and service providers wherever possible to help raise oil and gas production, Petroleum Secretary Tarun Kapoor said Thursday. Kapoor's comments came days after the second-highest ranked official in his ministry asked Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to give away a 60 per cent stake plus operating control in India's largest oil and gas producing fields of Mumbai High and Bassein to foreign companies. "ONGC has to explore more so that it can discover more oil and gas reserves and bring them quickly to production to raise domestic output. The government is very clear that ONGC has to do more," he told reporters.
India's crude oil import bill is set to exceed $100 billion in the current fiscal year ending March 31, almost double its spending last year, as international oil prices trade at seven-year highs. India spent $94.3 billion in the first 10 months (April-January) of the ongoing financial year that started April 1, 2021, according to data from the oil ministry's Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC). It spent $11.6 billion in January alone when oil prices had started to surge.
The government will now examine the report and decide on how and to what extend should ONGC be compensated for its gas being produced by RIL.
The petroleum ministry has told ONGC to give away 60%stake plus operating control in India's largest oil and gas producing fields of Mumbai High and Bassein to foreign companies, according to an October 28 letter to the state-owned company. Amar Nath, additional secretary (exploration) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, wrote a 3-page letter to ONGC chairman and managing director Subhash Kumar, saying productivity of the Mumbai High and Bassein & Satellite (B&S) offshore assets under state-owned firm was low and international partners should be invited and given 60 per cent participating interest (PI) and operatorship. This is the second time since April that Nath, who is part of the ONGC management as the longest-serving government nominee director on its board and often considered a potential candidate to replace Kumar next year, has written an official letter, painting a poor picture of the company's performance.
India's crude oil production fell 2.15 per cent in October as state-owned firms produced less but, natural gas output rose by a quarter on the back of output from KG-D6 fields of Reliance-BP, government data released on Tuesday showed. Crude oil production dropped to 2.51 million tonnes in October, as output from fields operated by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) dipped. While ONGC produced 4 per cent less crude oil at 1.64 million tonnes, OIL output dropped 1.46 per cent to 2,53,000 tonnes.
India's crude oil production fell 2.3 per cent in August but natural gas output rose by more than a fifth on the back of output from KG-D6 fields of Reliance-BP, government data released on Wednesday showed. Crude oil production dropped to 2.51 million tonnes in August as output from fields operated by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) dipped. India is 85 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs and the government has been for long looking at ways to raise the domestic output so as to reduce import dependence.
A company official said work stopped temporarily only at two rigs and the remaining 34 in the offshore were operational. He added there was no impact on the company's production.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday put state-owned ONGC and OIL on notice saying oil and gas reserves they hold need to be monetised through joint ventures with domain experts or the government will take them away and auction them. Speaking at BNEF Summit, he said state-owned firms cannot indefinitely sit on resources when the nation is a net importer of oil and gas. Despite India bidding out acreages to private and other companies since the 1990s, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) hold a "sizeable number of acreage for years," he said.
Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu likely to be India's most water-scarce states this summer
Russia and China have a broad consensus today on almost all core issues related to global strategic stability, which is unprecedented in modern history, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The met department said that rainfall in August is projected to be within the normal range at 97% of LPA. In August and September, India receives around 43 mm of rainfall.
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has the task of bringing clean tap water to all households by 2024.
The country's largest consumer goods company Hindustan Unilever says it has been able to reduce its water use by regular metering, monitoring and controlling of utilities consumption at all its manufacturing sites
India's energy deficit is likely to improve as hydro power stations can ramp up generation on account of adequate rainfall in the last fortnight of July, wiping out the shortfall of the previous months.
Lush agricultural lands have turned parch as groundwater levels deplete to new lows, and wells and water reservoirs go dry. While the administration points to deficient rainfall as a reason, experts and activists say the drought is mostly man-made.
Till June 30, the southwest monsoon was 33 per cent lower than normal, which is among the worst in the last five years, with 28 of the 36 meteorological divisions recording deficient rain.
The committee said whatever benefit RIL received in terms of the migrated gas is liable to be returned to the government.
Pooling will also kick-start projects of Reliance Power, Torrent, Lanco.
The mighty Brahmaputra, one of the longest rivers in the world passes through China, India and Bangladesh and has several tributaries and sub-tributaries.
Special CBI Judge K Sanal Kumar awarded double life sentence to Father Thomas Kottoor and imposed a fine of Rs 6.5 lakh. Whereas the other accused in the case, Sister Sephy, was sentenced to life and a fine of Rs 5.5 lakh was slapped on her.
This year, the monsoon was above normal in almost all parts, except in North-West India, which comprises the major grain producing states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, along with states such as Himachal Pradesh, the NCR, Uttarakhand, and J&K.
RIL had drawn 58.67 bcm from the wells up to March 31, 2015.
Officials said good rain in August - though it might not improve acreages much for most crops except urad, moong, and paddy - would help in improving yields in the crops already planted.
Sugarcane, which is grown by no more than 1.1 million farmers, consumes 70 per cent of water available in Maharashtra for irrigation. In contrast, about 10 million jowar, pulses and oilseeds farmers get only 10 per cent of irrigation water, points out Abhishek Waghmare.
The government on Wednesday said any attempt by China to set up a hydropower station on the Brahmaputra river will act as an encroachment on the entitled rights of lower riparian states like India and Bangladesh and adversely affect the availability of water in its basin during the lean season.
Here's what your favourite celebrities are tweeting.
During the webinar, 'COVID-19: Vaccination and Potential Return to Normalcy - If and When', Dr Hotez, an internationally-recognised physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development, said that the COVID-19 vaccine rollout is "India's gift' to the world in combating the virus.
The slowdown in sowing is mainly because of the delayed onset of the southwest monsoon and its slow progress in June.
RIL had drawn 58.67 bcm of gas from four wells.
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