In a bid to woo investors back to West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Monday there would be no land hurdle for setting up industry in the state and her government would not allow any bandhs and blockades."If you want to invest in Bengal, land will not be a problem and anybody holding land in excess of the ceiling can send us proposals. We have cleared seven such cases," the Chief Minister said at the inauguration of 'Bengal Leads 2012 and investment' seminar.Banerjee told the industry heads that Bengal was No.1 in industry in the not-too-distant past, but regretted that because of reasons known to everybody the state now lagged behind."Our vision is to make the state flourish with industrial activities," Banerjee said.She said that not only large industries, there was ample scope for investment in fisheries, healthcare and the small scale sector in the state.In addition to this, she said the state had cheap and good human capital, natural resources like forests and rivers offering immense opportunity for investment.Taking a jibe at the previous Left front government, she said, "I play the bat directly and not for match fixing".She said Bengal was also a good stepping stone for investors who serve Northeastern states and neighbouring countries like Bangladesh.Prominent industrialists from outside West Bengal who attended the seminar include Llyod chairman Atul Punj, DLF Vice-Chairman Rajeev Singh, Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel along with local industry captains like Y C Deveshwar of ITC, RPG Sanjeev Group Chief Sanjiv Goneka, GP Goenka of Duncan Group, Purnendu Chatterjee from TCG, M K Jalan of Kevenkar Agro, Harsh Netio of Bengal Ambuja among others.(PTI)
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Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy said it is difficult to implement deregulation of diesel prices and that the government will take a decision on increasing diesel prices at an "appropriate time"."The price of diesel can be increased only in small installments. Economy is largely depending on diesel price. Any increase in price will have a cascading affect. Therefore, any increase should be done carefully," he said."At the moment the inflation is coming down. Therefore, we will wait for the appropriate moment and will talk to state governments and take decision at appropriate time," he added.Replying to a query on deregulation of diesel prices, the minister said it cannot be implemented soon. "It is for economist to give advice. For politicians, it is difficult to implement," he said.Reddy also denied that the decision on diesel price hike is linked with the ensuing assembly elections in five states.The government had in June 2010 deregulated or freed petrol prices from all price controls, but diesel prices are regulated and are highly subsidised.On the payment issue to Iranian oil companies, Reddy agreed that issue is problematic and the government is trying to resolve it."New problems are no doubt arising with the sanctions. However, I would like to assure everybody there will be no supply problems of oil and oil products for the consumers. We are trying to solve the problem of payments to Iran," he said.India gets about three-quarters of its crude needs through imports and Iran is its second-largest supplier after Saudi Arabia.Trouble started for Indian oil companies after US President Barack Obama signed a Bill into law late last month empowering US authorities to impose penalties on foreign banks dealing with the Central Bank of Iran to settle oil import payments.(PTI)
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A UAE pipeline to export oil from its east coast terminals, avoiding the Iran-threatened Straits of Hormuz will be made operational by June, the country's oil minister said."The pipeline is almost complete. It will be operational by May or June," Mohammed bin Dha'en Al Hamili, the UAE energy minister told reporters.The new crude oil pipeline that will bypass the strategically sensitive Strait of Hormuz is almost finished, Al Hamili was quoted as saying by the Khaleej Times on the sidelines of World Petroleum Congress in Doha.The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline project aims to ship crude from the UAE's main oil producing region to the port of Fujairah on the country's Gulf of Oman coast. That would allow some of the OPEC member's oil to avoid the Strait of Hormuz, access to which is shared by Iran and Oman.The minister's comments come in wake of threats by Tehran to close the strategic waterway at the entrance of the Gulf, if the US and west presses ahead with a threatened embargo on its oil exports.Al Hamili also said that UAE's decision to go in for a nuclear plant to be commissioned in 2017 would allow for greater hydrocarbon exports in the future.(PTI)
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Faced with acute power shortage in the state, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa Friday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention for allocating 1000 MW of additional power to tide over the crisis.In a letter to Singh, Jayalalithaa recalled that she had taken up with him the matter during their meeting on June 14 last year when she visited Delhi after assuming power.Jayalalithaa said she had requested 1000 MW of additional power for the state for a period of one year till the central power utilities, which supply power to Tamil Nadu, commenced their production. Of this, only 100 MW was recently allotted, she said."This inaction and non-responsiveness to our repeated requests during this unprecedented power crisis only shows callousness and indifference on the part of the Centre," she said in her letter to Singh.She said major power projects to be executed by Central PSUs such as BHEL, NLC and NTPC were 'inordinately delayed' and to offset the part of the deficit, the state government was trying to procure power from other states with fair amount of success."However, non-availability of a Transmission Corridor has deprived Tamil Nadu of receiving the contracted power. To cite some examples, Tamil Nadu has contracted a capacity of 500 MW from Gujarat. Of this, only 203 MW could be transmitted. The 727 MW of Night Power contracted from Dadri Power Station (Uttar Pradesh) of M/s NTPC was also curtailed," she said.The state had contracted around 1750 MW of power from outside for March this year, she said."The power deficit situation in Tamil Nadu has been aggravated by the prevailing corridor congestion. The problem of corridor congestion has also been represented to the Central authorities several times", Jayalalithaa said."I request you to kindly intervene in the matter and ensure that the required quantum of 1000 MW of power transmission lines is released to enable Tamil Nadu to receive power contracted by Tamil Nadu Electricity Board", she told Singh."The amazing alacrity shown in superimposing fetters on the rights of the states may also be bestowed on concern for the essential needs of the states and attention to fulfilling them," she said.Acute power shortage had affected the industrial units in the state even as the state government has revised load-shedding duration besides announcing power holidays for manufacturers.The fate of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, which was due to have gone on steam by now, also hangs in the balance following months of protests by locals led by an anti-nuclear lobby.(PTI)
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Reliance Industries will shut several units at its newer 580,000 barrels-per-day Jamnagar refining complex for a three-week maintenance in February, traders said on Friday.The shutdown will reduce its appetite for crude and also cut back gasoline output, tightening supply of the motor fuel in Asia."Gasoline supplies are going to be tight," said a trader."Not only will there be less coming out of India, but Taiwan has also cut back but demand from the Middle East has been firm recently."Reliance will shut a 290,000 bpd crude distillation unit or half of the crude processing capacity at the Jamnagar complex, traders said.Other units such as a 70,000 bpd coker, a catalytic reformer and a residue fluidised catalytic cracker or gasoline-making unit may also be idled during the February turnaround, traders said. A CCR converts naphtha into reformates used in gasoline blending.The company's spokesman Tushar Pania confirmed the maintenance, but declined to specify which units will be shut.Based on Reuters' 2008 data, Reliance has a 110,000 bpd CCR and a 200,000 bpd RFCC at the newer complex, which analysts had said could produce 8 million-10 million tonnes of gasoline a year.Taiwan's CPC will also be shutting a 50,000 bpd RFCC in February for a two-month maintenance, while Formosa will only restart a 84,000 bpd RFCC in the later half of January.Reliance, owner of the world's biggest refining complex, also operates an older, 660,000 bpd refinery at Jamnagar.Traders said it plans to shut another 300,000 bpd CDU for maintenance this year but the schedule was not immediately clear. (PTI)
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Shares in oil marketing companies - HPCL, BPCL, IOC - fell on fears the much anticipated fuel price hike would get delayed, two dealers said.Soaring oil prices will also lead to higher under recoveries, added an institutional dealer. The Congress party's setback in crucial state elections is widely feared to keep reforms on hold and reverse a slowdown in economic growth."There is a buzz in the market that fuel price hike would be delayed due to the election outcome," said Anup Chandak, senior manager, advisory, at Sharekhan. In a report on February 27, Macquarie said that investors should brace for on oil shock in India.At 11:49 am, shares of HPCL, BPCL and IOC were down 1.3-2.6 per cent.(Reuters)
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Decades ago, the citizens of Japan's Futaba town took such pride in hosting part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex that they built a sign over a promenade proclaiming that atomic power made their town prosperous.Now, they are scattered around Japan with no clear sign of when they might return to their homes, and their story has become a cautionary tale about the dangerous allure of nuclear power."Nuclear Nation," a documentary that premiered at last month's Berlin film festival, follows the residents of Futaba who were evacuated after a series of explosions set off by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami at reactors some 3 km (2 miles) away in neighboring Okuma.With Futaba hit by high levels of radiation, its former residents don't know when, or even if, they will be able to return to their homes within the 20 km (12 mile) exclusion zone around the plant. In the broader region, tens of thousands were forced to flee."You tend to think about the resolution of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, but you have to look at the people," the film's director, Atsushi Funahashi, told Reuters."The people who got the most damage are the most ignored, and that's (what) you have to show."Besides "Nuclear Nation", two other March 11-themed documentaries also screened at last month's Berlin film festival, as filmmakers start focusing their lenses on the worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986.Funahashi began filming last April at an abandoned high school in a Tokyo suburb where 1,400 Futaba evacuees were living in classrooms and had set up town administrative offices.Based on interviews over the course of the year, the film captures the monotony of their daily lives as they bide their time in cramped conditions with nowhere to go and the mayor describes a "refugee feeling.""The thing that I really wanted to depict in 'Nuclear Nation' was the waiting time of these people," Funahashi said."They're going to get compensated eventually for the land and homes they lost. But they're not going to get paid for the time they lost, and that's one of the tragedies."Their only chance to return home was for one two-hour visit last summer, clad in protective suits and masks to collect belongings and pray for ancestors in tsunami-flattened cemeteries."Nuclear Money"They express anger at the government, regulators and plant owner they feel had assured them of the power station's safety.That's a far cry from the sentiment of the late 1970s when the town of 8,000 suddenly found itself flush with funds from property taxes and government subsidies after plant owner Tokyo Electric (Tepco) began construction in Futaba on two reactors.With this "nuclear money" to burn, Futaba spent big on an athletic center, a library and other infrastructure, while residents were able to work in town at the plant and get bigger houses - the power plant was seen as a godsend.In one scene, the camera lingers on a sign that proclaims: "Atomic Energy Makes Our Town and Society Prosperous."Under depreciation rules, however, the reactors were worth almost nothing after 15 years, and Futaba nearly went bankrupt under a pile of debt, becoming one of Japan's poorest towns by the late 2000s, according to the film.Futaba nearly tapped new nuclear money to help fix its financial woes, with Tepco set to begin construction on two new reactors, in April 2011."We thought Futaba's future was at stake without that money," Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa said in the film. "Now I realize the cons far outweigh the pros ... I've come to think it was wrong to invite the nuclear power plant into our lives."Some 500 people are still living in the high school, and Funahashi said he has already started work on "Nuclear Nation 2," about their lives in the second year since the disaster."I really feel a strong urge that I have to follow them until they go back home," he said."Nuclear Nation," produced by Documentary Japan and Big River Films, has secured distribution rights in the United States and is set to screen at Hong Kong and other film festivals. France's Wide House is handling global sales. (Reuters)
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Oil slipped to around $123 per barrel on Monday as worries over a supply crunch eased after China lowered its economic growth target for 2012 and Iraq boosted production.China cut its 2012 growth target to an eight-year low of 7.5 per cent, lowering its long-standing annual goal of 8 per cent, causing a fall in Asian shares and raising questions over oil demand.Last month, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney had said: "The rise in gas prices is clearly the effect of a variety of factors on the global price of oil. They include unrest in certain regions of the world. They include growth in areas like China and India." Meanwhile, Citigroup said in a note that though rising oil prices are bad for economic fundamentals but history suggests India's performance rises with crude's early rise and ebbs with crude's further rise. Citi has maintained its target of 18,400 for the 30-share benchmark index for December 2012, saying investors should look not just at crude oil but the market's fair value and portfolio positioning as well."A graphical view ... suggests that a Brent crude level of about $110 is where India switches from an outperformer to an underperformer," Citi said in a report on Friday.Earlier, research house Macquarie had said that India should brace for an oil shock as crude oil has hit an all-time high in rupee terms and that could raise macro concerns leading to a de-rating of Indian equities.Brent crude oil futures for April fell 99 cents to a low of $122.66 before recovering to trade around $123.00 by 1025 GMT. US April crude on Monday fell $1.20 to a low of $105.50 per barrel but then rebounded to around $105.78.Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, said the Chinese announcement has focused the international markets on the global growth outlook but pointed out Iran is a dominant factor on the supply side."Lower expectations for China growth are one dampening factor. Lower China growth means lower commodities demand. That is weighing on sentiment," he said.Sanctions against Iran, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, have made oil trading more difficult and the country's biggest customers including China, Japan and India are reducing imports from Tehran, supporting prices.India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), one of Iran's biggest customers, announced plans to cut its yearly Iranian oil import deal by as much as 44 percent to 80,000 barrels per day in 2012-2013.India, China and Japan buy almost half of Iran's estimated 2.6 million barrels per day of oil exports, but a raft of US. and European sanctions aimed at choking off funding for Iran's controversial nuclear programme are squeezing Tehran's oil supply lines.State-run Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, or MRPL, could reduce imports to as little as 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the fiscal year starting April 1, the sources said. That would be down around 44 per cent on the average annual purchase of 150,000 bpd.Like other Asian nations, India appears to be trying to wean itself off Iranian crude before the sanctions take effect on June 28. MRPL is the third Indian refiner planning import cuts."There will be a drastic reduction in volumes from Iran," said one source. "For the next fiscal year, MRPL plans to restrict its term deal to 80,000-100,000 bpd."Another source said the refiner planned to only import 80,000 bpd, with the option to buy more.Iran is the biggest crude supplier to India after Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia's current spare capacity is 2.5 million bpd while production is now at 9.8 million bpd, the country's deputy oil minister Abdul Aziz Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said last week, adding that his country's main concern was to keep the global oil market well supplied.Saudi Raises PricesIn a possible response to additional demand, Saudi Arabia has raised the price of its flagship Arab Light crude oil for customers in Asia, who buy more than half of its crude exports, by $1.25 a barrel for April.Iraqi officials said oil production had risen above 3 million bpd, up from Reuters estimates of around 2.7 million bpd in February, boosting global oil supply at a time when energy market weigh the impact of Iranian sanctions.Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani added Iraq will begin long-awaited exports from its first off-shore floating oil terminal within three days.A delay of up to four more days in restarting Enbridge Inc's oil pipeline system in the US Midwest also provided support.Tobias Merath, head of Global Commodity Research at Credit Suisse Private Banking, said it should be no surprise that oil prices are retreating slightly as geopolitical risks have not intensified any further."Nevertheless, oil markets remain tight and there are still plenty of risks to the supply side. Thus, the downside risks to oil prices are probably limited," he said.For the week ahead, CPI data out of China and US jobs data, both due on Friday, are focal points for the market.The latest data out of China showed that its services sector ran at its fastest pace in four months in February -- contrary to an official report on Saturday that signalled that the sector was shrinking.(BW Online Bureau & Agencies)
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