Microsoft Corp has restored all services -- including email access -- to Russian oil giant Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy, just before a scheduled hearing in the Delhi high court over the service suspension.
Russian oil giant PJSC Rosneft Oil Company is in early talks with Reliance Industries for sale of its 49.13 per cent stake in Nayara Energy, which operates a 20-million tonnes-a-year oil refinery and 6,750 petrol pumps in India, sources said. Reliance has held preliminary talks for acquisition of Nayara, which will help it overtake state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to become India's No.1 oil refiner as well as give a meaningful presence in the fuel marketing space.
Last June, the group had delisted Essar Energy from the London Stock Exchange as well.
rediffGURU Vipul Bhavsar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
The agreement came in after the Ruias agreed to clear most of the Rs 26,000-crore dues to the lenders on completion of the transaction.
Analysts say the Essar Group has been following a policy of delisting just when its businesses begin to record substantial upside, denying shareholders their share of decent returns.
Essar Oil is in the final stages of negotiations to raise $100 million (about Rs 407 crore) through external commercial borrowings for expansion and upgradation of its crude refinery in Khambalia, Gujarat.
IEA has forecast that in 2011 demand will grow by 1.4 million bpd to 89.4 million bpd.
A preliminary deal for sale of 49 per cent in Essar Oil to Rosneft was signed between the companies in July 2015.
Essar Oil has cut petrol and diesel prices by an average of Rs 1.50 a litre to bring them at par with that of public sector firms.
At $12-bn valuation, this will be India's largest FDI; deal to be announced on Saturday, says Dev Chatterjee.
Ruias-controlled Essar group on Thursday said it will delist its two steel and oil arms from stock exchanges to gain more flexibility in running the companies.
The derivative contracts in the underlying Essar Oil, IFCI, Rajesh Exports, Adlabs Film, Arvind Mills, Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Bongaigoan Refinery are currently in the ban period, a NSE circular said on Wednesday.
Essar Oil has received another setback after the Supreme Court rejected the company's 125 per cent sales tax deferment benefit claim on its investment in the Vadinar refinery project in Gujarat.
RIL has sent a draft GSPA to Essar Oil and the contract may be inked within the next few days.
Essar Oil Ltd plans to sell its energy division to Bin Jabr Group Ltd, an Abu Dhabi-based oil and gas service provider.
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.
Rosneft bought a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil's refinery port and petrol pumps, while Netherlands-based Trafigura Group Pte, one of the world's biggest commodity trading companies, and Russian investment fund United Capital Partners split another 49 per cent equity equally.
The bench also rejected the submission of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Essar Oil Ltd, that the hearing be adjourned for four weeks.
After the UK-based Hinduja group, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's proposed Rs 26,500-crore (Rs 265 billion) refinery at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, has found new suitors in Reliance Industries and Essar Oil.
The transaction will lead to an open offer for minority holders.
Essar Oil has agreed to the government condition of not raising any funds against the Ratna and R-series oil fields for its refinery project, so as to expedite signing of the long-delayed contract for the field.
Essar Oil announced on Friday it will spend about $6 billion (Rs 24,000 crore) to more than triple its refining capacity in three years, and that it had shelved a plan to delist the company's shares from the stock market. The company, owned by Mumbai-based Ruias, plans to expand capacity from the current 10.5 million tonnes per annum to 34 million tonnes per annum by 2010.
The government is planning to probe into diesel imports by private firms that had been given a license to retail the imported fuel but are selling it to industrial and bulk consumers.
Essar Oil has decided to cut petrol and diesel prices in the range 50 paise to Rs 2.50 per litre effective from July 16.
Ruias-controlled Essar Oil is close to acquiring two oil and gas blocks in Australia. The company has emerged as the preferred bidder for developing the blocks amidst international competition. The ruias will hold 100 per cent equity in the blocks.
In a boost to Essar group, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed it to go ahead with its Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) oil refinery project at Jamnagar in Gujarat.
In the late 1990s, the Gujarat government had issued a policy allowing deferment of sales tax/VAT up to a certain amount, with the benefit capped for a period not exceeding 17 years. Projects with investment over Rs 1,000 crore could be eligible for the tax benefit. A deferment benefit on sale tax means a dealer is allowed to postpone the payment of tax on purchase of raw materials sales of products for a fixed period or/and up to a specific monetary limit.
'He asserted in his usual jovial style that he was not an MBA like his audience at IIM-Ahmedabad but perhaps had an even better business degree: MBB'. 'He went on to explain to his perplexed, blue chip B-School audience that MBB stood for "Marwadi by birth"!' Shivanand Kanavi salutes Shashi Ruia, co-founder of the Essar group who passed into the ages on November 25, 2024 in Mumbai.
The exploration and production assets of Essar Oil will not be part of the Rosneft deal and would continue to remain with the Group.
The government should scrap the windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil as the levy is adversely impacting the capex-intensive exploration of oil and gas, the industry said in its recommendation for the forthcoming annual Budget. India first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1, joining a growing number of nations that tax super normal profits of energy companies. At that time, a Rs 23,250 per tonne ($40 per barrel) windfall profit tax on domestic crude production was levied.
Essar has entered into an agreement with Maple Leaf, a cement major there, for its supply and has already delivered 15,000 tonnes of petcoke.
The Ruias-managed Essar Oil is fast catching up with Reliance Industries in the number of petrol pumps set up by private sector retailers.