Coal India, the world's largest coal miner, will sign a five-year agreement with its workers' unions to increase wages by 25 per cent, which will add about Rs 4000 crore to its annual wage bill, a senior executive said.The state-run company has been in negotiations with its five recognised unions, representing most of its 360,000 workers, for several months. The new accord will be signed by the last week of January, he said."It is in line with our expectations. We have already made provisions," said R Mohan Das, director of personnel, adding the company had started making provisions from the September quarter.The agreement, effective from July 1, 2011, provides for a minimum three percent increase in wages annually, while increase in other allowances will push this up further, he said.(Reuters)
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India will keep doing business with Tehran and sees no reason to seek a waiver that would protect buyers of Iranian oil from a fresh round of US sanctions, a senior Indian cabinet minister said on Thursday."Why should we seek waiver from the US? We have done business with Iran earlier and will continue to do business," the minister, who has knowledge of the matter but did not want to be named as the matter is confidential, told Reuters.The minister said government officials would visit Iran next week and find ways to pay for oil without contravening US financial measures designed to hinder the trade.The comments partly echo industry sources who told Reuters on Wednesday that New Delhi may not seek a waiver from the latest US sanctions.India, which imports about 12 per cent of its oil needs, or 350,000-400,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Iran, has been struggling to pay for it owing to sanctions on dealings with Iran, government officials have said previously.New US laws authorised on Dec 31 impose sanctions on financial institutions dealing with Iran's central bank, the main clearing house for the country's oil payments. That is widely expected to make it even tougher for importers to pay for Iran crude.India's Iran oil imports are worth about Rs 62,040 crore annually.India currently pays for Iran crude through Turkey's Halkbank, a mechanism government officials have said may be cut off by the latest round of sanctions.Halkbank has already refused to open an account for state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp for oil from Iran.The US law, however, allows waivers to firms in countries that significantly reduce dealings with Iran, or at any time when it is either in the US national interest or necessary for energy market stability.An Indian delegation will visit Tehran from Jan 16-21 to explore alternative routes of payment to ensure supplies without breaching sanctions, government officials said on Wednesday."I believe our officials are quite capable ... There are capable people (in the finance ministry and the central bank) going (to Iran)," the Indian minister said."This a technical issue but I am confident they will find a solution and a payment mechanism option soon."Earlier on Thursday an Indian oil ministry official denied comments to Reuters from industry sources saying the government had asked refiners to reduce Iranian oil imports, adding the existing mechanism through Turkey was working but that India was also looking for alternative supplies.He didn't explain why India was looking for alternative supplies.The United States and its allies in Europe and elsewhere are trying to put pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear programme, worried that Tehran is attempting to develop its own atom bomb.Tehran says it is only seeking to produce nuclear power.Japan and South Korea intend to seek waivers on the sanctions from the United States.Indian refiners have gradually started raising supplies from other sources such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.(Reuters)
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State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) has not heard from the government about potentially rolling back an increase in petrol prices, its head said on Monday.It would reduce prices on its own if there was over-recovery on fuel sales, HPCL Chairman S Roy Choudhury said to reporters at a press conference.The oil refining and marketing firm posted a quarterly loss of 33.6 billion rupees last week and raised petrol prices by 2.7 percent soon after, in tandem with other state fuel retailers Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp.(Reuters)
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India is in the process of holding technical level discussions with France and the US for its civil nuclear programmes, a senior Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) official said on Wednesday."We are also talking to the French right now. The French regulators' report post Fukushima has come just a couple of days back, and we are studying it. Thereafter, we will again have a detailed technical discussion with the French vendors and we wish to go for that reactor, that is offering 1650 MW from one unit, a very large capacity," Shiv Abhilash Bhardwaj, Director (Technical), NPCIL told reporters here.As for the US collaboration, he said, "In the next plan, what we propose is that we will make eight units of 700 MW each and eight units of light water reactors, which includes four reactors of United States technology (two each, with two vendors from the US). We are talking to them on technical level."Strongly believing in the nuclear option to cater its energy needs of the country, the Centre has already approved plant proposals in many states, he said."Government has approved two locations in Madhya Pradesh, one each in Haryana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal...Right now, we are looking at Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, where two sites have been offered. And we hope that within this year, we should be able to start work there. So there will be four units of 700 MW," he said.Bhabha Atomic Reseach Centre was carrying out a research on effects of the mild radiation and mild temperature of the nuclear waste on hard rocks over which they were stored, he said, replying to a query on the storing of nuclear waste.Talking of the country's first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), being built in Kalpakkam, Bhardwaj said commissioning of the plant will take around two years."The construction will be completed between March and June and then the commissioning starts. But, we must realise that we are leading the world in this. So, we have to go every step very cautiously. So, the commissioning time is going to be very long for this...I would say, two years or so. It is going to be a long drawn process, as far as the commissioning of the first unit," he said.Once the country's first PFBR starts working, the government has plans to open two more units of fast breeders in the country."We will have two more plants in the next 12th plan, which starts from this April, but we have to be cautious that this plan is working. The real work for those two reactors once this first reactor is commissioned. That is after two years from now."Asked about the delay in some of their projects, he said, "the projects are getting delayed because of acquiring land.Government land acquiring policy and resettlement & rehabilitation policy is in the Parliament. So, unless that is settled down, the state governments and others are waiting to know what is the final procedure. I would say, that is holding us back."(PTI)
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Reliance Industries (RIL) and the central government are having a tug-of-war and every move is tightening the rope. On the one hand, RIL wants to deploy global oil giant BP's expert team at the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin to revive gas production, which fell to an all-time low of 39.80 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) on 15 December due to technical snags. On the other hand, the government is planning to bill the developer (RIL) for fall in production as India aims to increase the usage of natural gas with prices of crude oil spiralling.But the government — largely the petroleum ministry and the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) — has not approved BP's plans of becoming a partner in the production sharing contract (PSC) of 20 blocks operated by RIL. Although BP has completed payment of $7.2 billion and formed an expert team to tackle the reservoir issues, it has been waiting for almost 10 months for approval."Every two months DGH or the oil ministry comes up with questions on the deal. First, they wanted audited numbers of BP and that was given. Next, they found the land line and fax numbers of BP are missing. After that they suggested that the government should be included as partner along with RIL, BP and Niko Resources," says an executive close to the development.Last month, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani criticised the government for its slow functioning. Attending the India Economic Summit in Mumbai, he suggested that both central and state governments should move fast.Soon after, RIL sent an arbitration notice to the oil ministry over the government's move to disallow some of the expenditure the company has incurred in the KG-D6 gas fields as punishment for falling output.The government's move is based on the advice of the solicitor general of India. In the arbitration notice, RIL stated that the move to limit the amount of expenditure the company can recoup from its flagging KG-D6 fields is illegal and outside the PSC. According to reports DGH later recommended that the oil ministry disallow partial cost recovery of RIL in this financial year and the next. That's a whopping $1.2 billion.As there is a contrary view that RIL intentionally keeps production low in order to fetch a higher price when gas prices are revised in 2014, the government is cautious in its move. According to the 2006 field development plan, where capital expenditure in D1 and D3 fields was hiked to $8.8 billion from $2.47 billion, RIL was meant to produce 61.88 mmscmd of gas from 22 wells by April this year and 80 mmscmd from 31 wells by 2012. But RIL has drilled just 18 wells for production, but shut down four due to technical problems.RIL's view is that drilling new wells will only add cost at $8-10 million per well. "We are looking for optimal utilisation of resource based on the joint study of BP and RIL," says an executive.(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 26-12-2011)
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State-run explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp beat street estimates with a 60 per cent jump in quarterly profit, bolstered by lower subsidy payments and gains from high crude oil and gas prices.ONGC said net profit for its fiscal second quarter ended September rose to 86.42 billion rupees ($1.76 billion), compared with 53.89 billion rupees a year earlier.A Reuters poll of 11 brokerages had on average expected net profit of 65.1 billion rupees for the quarter.Net sales rose to 226.2 billion rupees from 181.9 billion a year earlier. ONGC is required to partially subsidise crude oil sales to state-run refiners, which in turn sell fuel products at state-set, below-market prices.Shares in ONGC, valued at $48.4 billion, closed 0.4 percent lower at 276.80 rupees ahead of the announcement. The stock has declined 14 percent so far in 2011, matching a similar fall in the main stock index.(Reuters)
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India could partially roll back a 2.7 per cent hike in petrol prices, a source in the ruling Congress party said on Friday, as the move angered opposition and government allies at a time when inflation is hovering around double-digit.State-run fuel retailers raised petrol prices on Thursday to cut the impact of high global oil prices on their bottomlines."The congress party is very concerned about the hike and calls upon the government to look into the matter. We hope and trust that the government will find ways and means to give relief to the common man," the source told reporters.He said there would be a meeting on petrol prices when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returned from a G20 summit."There may be a partial roll back," the source said.(Reuters)
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Trinamool Congress, a top ally of the ruling coalition, threatened to quit on Friday unless Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reversed a rise in petrol prices, testing the government's commitment to a move sorely needed to cut the fiscal deficit.Trinamool Congress said it would wait for Singh to return from the G-20 summit in France and reconsider the increase in petrol prices, the fourth time this year.If the party were to quit the coalition it would reduce Singh's government to a minority at a time when it is already buffeted by corruption scandals and stubbornly high inflation."When the prime minister is out of the country, I don't want to take a decision that can lead to the fall of a government," said Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, whose 19 lawmakers provide Singh with a parliamentary majority."Let the PM return then our party will go to him and tell him our view ... that if this goes on like this we don't want to stay in the government. We have tolerated enough but we are not willing to accept this burden on the poor any more."In a first indication that the government could cave to its ally's demand, a source in Singh's Congress party said on Friday that a partial rollback of the petrol price rise was possible.Banerjee's threat could force the government to delay a rise in diesel, cooking gas and kerosene prices even though it desperately wants to cut subsidies to stay in sight of the 2011/12 fiscal deficit target of 4.6 percent of GDP.But with headline inflation topping 9 percent for nearly a year despite 13 rate hikes by the RBI since March 2010, government allies such as the Trinamool have become uneasy with their ties to the increasingly unpopular federal coalition.Singh's Congress party is itself nervous about angering its core constituency, the rural poor, ahead of a string of state elections beginning early next year. In the past it has given in to street protests over reform moves such as freeing up farm prices.In India, the government sets retail prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene to help control inflation and protect consumers, particularly the poor, from sharp fluctuations in energy prices.It granted autonomy to state-run firms last year to fix retail prices for petrol and has said it is considering giving up control of other fuel prices to help rid itself of a crippling subsidy burden.Raising diesel prices is a political hot potato as the fuel, which accounts for over a third of refined oil products' demand in the country, is widely used by the farm sector and industrial users and has a cascading effect on the economy.(Reuters)
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