State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp's overseas arm and Oil India Ltd are considering a joint bid for a 20 per cent stake in a Mozambique gas field, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. US oil and gas explorer Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Indian billionaire Venugopal Dhoot have launched the auction of a 20 per cent stake in Mozambique's Rovuma gas field that could fetch $4.5 billion, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. ONGC Videsh head D. K. Sarraf declined comment. Oil India Director Finance T. K. Ananth Kumar said all options were open for the company.(Reuters)
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Natural gas supplies from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 block to power plants has completely stopped after output from the eastern offshore fields dropped to an all-time low.Beginning this week, none of the 25 power plants that were allocated gas from KG-D6 fields, are getting any supplies, industry sources said.This follows KG-D6 output dipping to an all-time low of 17.3 million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) this week.Of this, about 15.2 mmscmd was supplied to top priority urea-making fertiliser plants and about 2 mmscmd was consumed by state-owned GAIL India Ltd's LPG extraction units.The rest was used to fire the East-West pipeline that transports the fuel from its landfall point at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Brauch in Gujarat.This left no gas for power plants, which are placed third on the priority list of consumers receiving KG-D6 gas.A RIL spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comments.(PTI)
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Anadarko Petroleum Corp of the US and industrialist Venugopal Dhoot have launched the auction of a 20 per cent stake in a Mozambique gas field that could fetch $4.5 billion, sources familiar with the matter told news agency Reuters. India's state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp and Oil India are considering a joint bid for the 20 per cent stake.Shares in Videocon Industries gained 8.6 per cent on 21 February, 2013 after the consumer electronics and oil company had told private TV channel ET Now that it is in talks to sell its 10 per cent stake in an oil and gas block off the coast of Mozambique and Tanzania. Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot had said the company was in talks with multiple potential buyers, including Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd, for its Rovuma gas field, confirming earlier media reports. Videocon's board had approved splitting and selling its oil and gas assets in August 2012.The Rovuma offshore field is a hot property after recent discoveries boosted Mozambique's gas reserves to around 150 trillion cubic feet, enough to supply world number one importer Japan for 35 years. The east African country is expected to eventually compete with Australia and Qatar as a major provider of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia.Last year, Thai state oil company PTT Exploration and Production PCL trumped Royal Dutch Shell Plc in a hotly contested battle for Cove Energy Plc and its 8.5 per cent of the field. The $1.9 billion price tag for Cove implies the stake now on offer could fetch about $4.5 billion.Dhoot, who controls consumer electronics to mobile-phone services conglomerate Videocon Group, is leading the process and has hired Standard Chartered and UBS to handle the sale, the sources added.Both banks declined to comment.First round bids are due on March 14 after an information memorandum on the sale was sent to potential bidders in early February, one of the sources said.US oil and gas explorer Anadarko is the operator of Mozambique's offshore Area 1 with a 36.5 per cent interest, while Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd is the second-biggest holder in the block with a 20 per cent stake.India's state-owned refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and a unit of Dhoot's Videocon Industries own 10 per cent each, while PTT has an 8.5 per cent interest and Mozambique's state-owned ENH 15 per cent.Shares in Videocon Industries, which has a market value of $1.2 billion, rose as much as 4.6 per cent on Tuesday, outpacing a near 1 per cent gain for the Mumbai market index."The move to monetise its holding in the Mozambique gas block to reduce debt is a positive trigger for the company and the stock," said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities. "That's a good asset and it should get a good valuation."Graphic on Mozambique's gas consortia, blocks http://link.reuters.com/rug64tOther SuitorsPetroChina, Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp are among suitors expected to submit indicative proposals, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.India's state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp and Oil India are considering a joint bid for the 20 per cent stake, two separate sources said. The companies would hire an adviser once they decide on bidding, one of the sources said.Shell and Exxon declined to comment. PetroChina officials were not available for comment. ONGC Videsh head D. K. Sarraf declined comment, while Oil India Director Finance T. K. Ananth Kumar said all options were open for the company.Videocon is seeking about $2.5-$3 billion for its 10 per cent stake, though sources warned buyers are unlikely to pay a huge premium over what PTT paid."PTT paid what was a good price, but to get to a $3 billion price tag is difficult," a person familiar with the process said.A spokesman for Anadarko did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, while Dhoot declined to comment.Dhoot, who ranks 38th in Forbes' India rich list with a net worth of $1.5 billion, paid $75 million for the Rovuma 1 stake in 2008. His company is expected to use some of the sale proceeds to pare debt of more than $5.5 billion.Anadarko CEO Al Walker last month told an earnings conference call that the company was looking to sell a 10 percent interest in the block, taking the firm's stake to 26.5 per cent.Together with ENI SpA, which owns an adjacent field and is cooperating on building gas liquefaction facilities, Anadarko hopes to ship out first LNG in 2018.(Agencies)
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Petrol price was hiked by Rs 1.40 per litre on Friday, 1 March, 2013, the second big increase in rates in as many weeks.A rise in international oil prices and depreciation in rupee have necessitated a Rs 1.40 per litre increase in price of petrol with effect from midnight tonight, said a statement by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).The hike is excluding local sales tax or VAT and the actual increase in rate for consumers will be higher after including the tax incidence.The previous petrol price hike was Rs 1.50 a litre excluding VAT on February 16.The increase in price for consumers in Delhi will be Rs 1.68 per litre and the new rate will be Rs 70.74 a litre from tomorrow as against Rs 69.06 a litre currently."The price increase has been necessitated by two factors -- the international gasoline (petrol) prices have increased from USD 128.57 per barrel to USD 131.00 a barrel since the last revision; and the rupee has depreciated from Rs 53.43 to Rs 54.15 per US Dollar during the period," the statement said.Petrol in Mumbai will cost Rs 77.66 a litre as against Rs 75.89 per litre currently."The trends of international oil prices and Rupee-USD exchange rate shall be closely monitored and the same shall be reflected in future price changes," said IOC, the nation's largest oil retailer.Apart from losses on sale of petrol, oil firms are suffering under-recovery (revenue loss) on sale of diesel of Rs 11.26 per litre, kerosene of Rs 33.43 a litre and LPG of Rs 439 per cylinder. The loss on diesel has risen from Rs 10.72 a litre on February 16, when its rates were increased by 45 paisa excluding VAT.IOC said it will end the fiscal with a revenue loss of Rs 86,500 crore on sale of diesel, LPG and kerosene. The industry, comprising of IOC and two other state firms, will be Rs 163,500 crore during current year.(PTI)
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Petrol price was hiked by Rs 1.50 per litre and diesel by 45 paise a litre with effect from midnight on 15 February.While petrol rates have been revised in step with the steep rise in international rates, oil firms used the newly accorded freedom to increase diesel price in small dozes to effect the second price adjustment in one month.The increase announced is excluding local sales tax or VAT and the actual hike for consumers would be more after the incidence of duty is included.Petrol price in Delhi will go up by almost Rs 1.80 per litre after taking into account 19 per cent VAT. Diesel rates would go up by 51 paise.New rates for petrol in Delhi would be Rs 69.05 per litre, while a litre of diesel will cost Rs 48.16.Petrol price was last revised on January 18 when the price was cut by 30 paise to Rs 67.26 a litre in Delhi.The reduction in rates on that day coincided with the government decision to give oil firms freedom to raise diesel prices in small monthly dozes to eliminate all of the losses on the fuel. Oil firms hiked diesel price on that day by 50 paise to Rs 47.65 a litre in Delhi.Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, said international petrol prices have since last revision gone up.Crude oil price has increased from USD 109.08 per barrel to USD 113.24, while international gasoline or petrol prices have risen from USD 119.59 a barrel to USD 128.57.State-owned companies have been "compelled to pass on the increase in petrol prices to consumers as the they have already suffered losses on sale of petrol so far and trends in international oil market as well as rupee-US dollar exchange rate indicate continued strength."In fact, currently petrol prices are hovering around USD 132.80 per barrel. "The trends of international oil prices and INR-USD exchange rate shall be closely monitored and the same shall be reflected in future price changes," IOC said in statement.The company said diesel prices were last revised upward by Rs 0.45 per litre (excluding VAT) on January 18, which resulted in losses on sale of nation's most consumed fuel reducing to Rs 9.15 per litre."However, since the last price revision, international diesel prices have also shown continued uptrend. As a result, under-recovery (loss) has gone up to Rs 10.72 per litre which now, with current upward revision of HSD prices by Rs 0.45 per litre, shall stand reduced to Rs 10.27," it said.In addition to loss on sale of diesel, state-owned fuel retailers are losing Rs 31.60 per litre on kerosene and Rs 481 per 14.2-kg cylinder of domestic cooking gas (LPG)."Projected under-recovery of IOC on three sensitive products is expected to cross Rs 86,000 crore and of the industry (IOC plus BPCL and HPCL) beyond Rs 1,63,000 crore during current year," the statement added.
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Coal India Ltd, the world's largest coal miner, posted a 9 per cent increase in quarterly profit, beating market expectations, helped by strong sales volumes and lower-than-expected rise in costs. The state-run miner said its October-December net profit rose to Rs 4,395 crore from Rs 4,040 crore a year earlier. Net sales rose 13 per cent to Rs 17,325 crore. On average, analysts had forecast net profit of Rs 4,000 crore, according to Thomson Reuters Starmine data. (Reuters)
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Petrol price may be hiked by about Re 1 a litre and diesel by 50 paise a litre by this weekend as oil firms begin to exercise the recently accorded freedom to adjust rates in step with cost.State-owned oil firms are losing Rs 1.32 a litre on petrol as international oil rates have firmed up during the last two weeks. They intend to pass on most of the loss to consumer at the next review due on February 15.Also, diesel prices may be increased by 40-50 paise a litre in line with the freedom given by the government last month to raise rates of India's most consumed fuel in small dozes every month till such time that the Rs 9.22 a litre loss is completely wiped out."Gasoline (petrol) prices in international market are rising. The trend shows that we will have under-recoveries (losses) on petrol," said R S Butola, Chairman of Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer."We will review the prices at the fortnightly review (due on February 15)," he said. "We won't say there is no possibility (of a price increase) but I cannot say what we will decide in that review." .Sources said FOB price of gasoline have risen from USD 123 per barrel, against which the retail petrol rates are benchmarked, to USD 131.Petrol price was last revised on January 18 when the price was cut by 30 paise to Rs 67.26 a litre in Delhi.The reduction in rates coincided with government decision to give oil firms freedom to raise diesel prices in small monthly dozes to eliminate all of the losses on the fuel. Oil firms hiked diesel price on that day by 50 paise to Rs 47.65 a litre in Delhi."We will review the prices when they are next due. I cannot say if we will change them or not," Butola said.Sources said the oil firms may decide not to pass on the entire loss on petrol in one go and the likely increase could range anywhere between 50 paise to Re 1. Diesel rates in all probability are likely to be hiked by 40 to 50 paise a litre.Butola said oil firms are currently losing Rs 9.22 a litre on diesel, Rs 31.60 a litre on kerosene and Rs 481.03 per 14.2-kg LPG cylinder.(PTI)
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Things have been going right for Reliance of late. On Tuesday, 12 March, Iraq shortlisted Reliance Industries and six other firms for developing its Nasiriya oilfield and the construction of an associated 300,000 barrels per day refinery. Earlier on 11 March, ending weeks of stalemate, the Defence Ministry cleared Reliance producing KG-D6 block and gas discovery area NEC-26 along with most of the areas where it had either barred any oil and gas activity or put stringent conditions. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch also upgraded Reliance Industries as outlook for refining margins improves. The target price for the stock has been increased by 9 per cent to Rs 893.Coming back to the Iraq fields, besides RIL, French energy giant Total, Russia's Lukoil, CNPC of China and American firm Brown Energy have been shortlisted for the project, according to Iraq's Oil Ministry.Russia's Zarubezhneft and JGC & Tonen General of Japan are the other two shortlisted from 14 companies that expressed interest in taking up the multi-billion dollar project.The seven qualified firms will now be invited to review data packages and discuss contract terms. Iraq intends to award the project by year end.The OPEC nation has three main refineries - Baiji, Daura and Basra -- with a total capacity of around 567,000 barrels per day (bpd). It wants to increase the refining capacity to 750,000 bpd through improvements in existing plants.It also plans four new refineries in Karbala, Kirkuk, Missan and in Nassiriya."The Al-Nasiriya Integrated Project contemplates the development of the 4+ billion barrel Nasiriya oil field in Thi-Qar province together with the construction and operation of a new 300,000 bpd refinery," Iraq's Petroleum Contracts & Licensing Directorate (PCLD), part of the Ministry of Oil, said.The international engineering and construction firm Foster Wheeler recently completed a Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) study for the refinery.The Nasiriya project marks re-entry of RIL into Iraq.The company's Dubai-based arm Reliance Exploration and Production DMCC had in 2007 taken a 100 per cent stake in the Rovi and Sarta blocks in Kurdistan.Baghdad termed the award of exploration contract to RIL and other firms by the autonomous Kurdistan region as illegal and threatened to blacklist any firm that dealt with the Kurds.A year after the blacklisting threat, RIL did not apply for being shortlisted for development of oil fields in Iraq.Thereafter, it did not figure in the list of companies applying to bid for successive licensing rounds of Iraq.RIL finally got rid of the Kurd blocks in July last year when it sold its stake to Chevron Corp for an undisclosed sum.With the Kurd baggage off its back, the company is back at doing business with Iraq and applied to be qualified for the Nassiriya project.After years of war and sanctions, Iraq aims to produce 5-6 million bpd of crude by 2015 against a current output of 3.4 million bpd, the highest in three decades.Defence Ministry Clears Oil Blocks Of RIL, OthersEnding weeks of stalemate, the Defence Ministry has cleared Reliance Industries' producing KG-D6 block and gas discovery area NEC-26 along with most of the areas where it had either barred any oil and gas activity or put stringent conditions. In all 8 blocks, including RIL's Krishna Godavari basin KG-D6 block and gas discovery area of NEC-25 in the North East Coast (NEC) region, were declared "No-Go" zones for reasons like overlapping with proposed Naval base or being close to missile launching and Air Force exercise area. Stringent conditions were put for another 32 exploration areas. At a meeting taken by National Secretary Advisor Shivshankar Menon and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pulok Chatterji on February 27, RIL blocks were fully cleared for exploration and production and stringent conditions for most of the 32 other blocks relaxed, sources said.RIL's KG-D6 was fully cleared for oil and gas activity with the total area of 7,645 square kilometre reduced by 495 sq km to meet defence needs, sources said. Similarly, its NEC-OSN-97/2, where six gas finds have so far been made, was fully cleared with the "hold harmless" clause for any accidental debris. RIL's KG-OSN-2001/1 was also cleared but the block had already been relinquished by the operator.(BW Online Bureau & Agencies)
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