India plans to buy more liquefied natural gas from Qatar and will expand the capacity of its Dahej LNG terminal to 10 million tonnes a year from the present five million tonnes.
Slamming the critics who 'started questioning his work' even when he had not seen his office properly, Modi said his government's programmes are mostly for the benefit of farmers and poor people, besides ending the role of middlemen, including in jobs.
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.
US private equity firm I Squared Capital is dropping out of the race to buy India's second-largest state oil firm, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) owing to a complex deal structure and lack of financial backers for the transaction, sources said. I Squared Capital through its Indian arm, Think Gas was among the three suitors that had evinced interest in buying the government's near 53 per cent shareholding in BPCL. "The company has made a decision not to participate in the financial bidding," a source with direct knowledge of the development said.
Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation LNG Limited has roped in Trectebel Engineering for conducting the front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for the former's 6.5 MMTPA (million metric tonne per annum) LNG ((liquefied natural gas) terminal project.
With India poised to receive its first import of liquefied natural gas, the government has drawn up plans to expand in a big way the CNG supplies to several urban areas in the country.
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India on Wednesday offered Qatar a 10 per cent stake in Petronet LNG Ltd to get the worlds largest liquefied natural gas exporter to sell 18 more LNG cargoes this year and agree on a long-term supply deal for meeting fuel needs of beleaguered Dabhol power plant.
Majority of PLL's long-term deals are linked to crude, which faces price challenge from other fuels. Spot LNG is moving away from this linkage, which puts a question mark on crude linked contracts.
The Centre had set up a Commission under former Reserve Bank of India Governor Bimal Jalan to suggest steps to rationalise subsidy and help the government in effectively bringing down the fiscal deficit.
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.
With India reluctant to pay a higher price for the liquefied natural gas contracted in 2005, Iran has proposed to sell the fuel to the Indian private sector.
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 may dump Iran for Yemen and Qatar as a possible source of liquefied natural gas after the ministerial level talks failed to finalise a deal for New Delhi to buy five million tonnes of LNG.
In an era of deregulation and dismantling of the government-dictated pricing system, Power Minister Anant Geete wants the Centre to regulate the otherwise free liquefied natural gas imports, its pricing and the quantity and place of import.
American refiners closed some of their production, leading to futures trade benchmarked to the West Texas Intermediate going negative.
India's dependence on imported crude oil to meet domestic demand has been a matter of concern for years. Delivering the inaugural address at the global energy summit - Urja Sangam - in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called for enhancing domestic oil and gas production to cut the import burden. He aimed at lowering it by at least 10 per cent by 2022 - to coincide with the platinum jubilee of India's independence. But this target is far from being achieved and the country's import reliance has only risen.
Iran has changed its pricing formulae for liquefied natural gas sale to India and is demanding 28 cents more per million British thermal unit (mBtu).
Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will visit Tehran early next week to salvage the LNG-for-oil field deal, which hit an obstacle after Iran sought a very high price for liquefied natural gas it plans to sell to India.
India is likely to seal a LNG-for-oilfield deal with Iran this week wherein New Delhi will buy five million tonnes of liquefied natural gas from Iran in exchange of Tehran offering it a stake in an oil field.
Pradhan met Energy Secretary Rick Perry during an unscheduled trip to the US Capitol and discussed energy cooperation between India and the US, Indian investment in Liquefied natural gas and shale sectors, and the possibility of the US exporting LNG to India from early next year.
Petronet LNG Limited is expected to deliver liquefied natural gas from its Dahej terminal at Rs 6,567 per million standard cubic metres (mscm), provided the international price of crude remains at $16 a barrel.\n\n\n\n
Indian govt must find solution to ever increasing LPG subsidy. Govt must cap LPG subsidy.
India's macroeconomic situation has benefited from oil prices' decline.
Privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Thursday said it has no intention to sell a part of its stake in Petronet LNG Ltd and Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) to help its new owner avoid making an open offer for the two gas companies. BPCL holds 12.5 per cent of the 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.
Without naming the UPA government, he attacked it over alleged corruption and flagged his government's 'honest' credentials.
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.
After grappling with the issue for two years, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas had on November 21 ordered that the margin to be charged, over and above the gas sale price, should be fixed between the seller and buyers in all sectors other than urea and LPG.
The government chose moral persuasion to make people give up subsidies, notes Rahul Khullar.
Area residents and environmental groups have resisted the coal power plant ever since it was originally proposed in 2006 due to worries about land clearance and pollution
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.
Total, which had a few weeks back exited Royal Dutch Shell-led Hazira LNG import terminal in Gujarat, will join Adani in developing a 5 million tonnes a year import facility at Dhamra in Odisha. The two will also set up a joint venture to roll out a fuel retail network of 1,500 outlets, mostly on highways, in the next 10 years, Adani and Total said in a joint statement.
Tata Motors on Monday launched the country's first CNG truck in the medium and heavy commercial (M&HCV) vehicle segment in the 28- and 19-tonne nodes. Most truck makers, including Tata Motors, currently offer CNG only in the small and light commercial vehicle segments. The company also launched a fleet of seven trucks in the intermediary and light commercial vehicle (I&LCV) segment, meant for varied applications.
