Honeywell Process Solutions on Thursday (18 September) announced the release of Digital Suites for Oil and Gas, a set of software and services that can help oil and gas producers boost production performance by 3 to 5 per cent while improving operational safety.The offering, which has been validated through customer testing, allows oil and gas producers to turn data into digital intelligence that helps operators make critical decisions faster by capturing, managing and analyzing the right production information at the right time.“Upstream oil and gas producers tell us they have access to more real-time data than ever, but access to that data alone is not enough to improve performance – they also need digital intelligence to make sense of all the data being collected,” said Ali Raza, vice president and general manager, Honeywell Process Solutions. “By using these new tools, operators can get better productivity, higher uptime and more efficient remote operations, and they can produce a return on investment in as little as six months.”Yahoo Weather Comes Alive In iOS UpdateYahoo on Thursday announced the latest iOS update by taking the award-winning experience on the Yahoo Weather App even further. By using technology typically only experienced in video games, we’re bringing weather to life on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch through animations that appear directly in the Yahoo Weather Today widget as well as in your app. It’s the same beautiful design and location-based weather photos from Flickr, now combined with amazing weather effects.Now when you check the forecast during a hot summer day, you will actually see the haze come across your screen. You’ll also see the rain, snow, and fog –with even more effects coming soon.These animated effects will make checking the forecast daily more delightful than ever. So take the opportunity to explore the weather in your favorite places around the world, and see for yourself. Update your app or download the latest version in the App Store. Dell Unites Indian FamiliesDell India, India’s leading technology brand, launched two brand new TVCs designed especially for the Indian festive season. Premiering on September 20th in 7 different languages across leading English entertainment and movie channels, Hindi entertainment, movie and music channels and Regional language channels, the television commercials are a testament to the essential inseparability of the Indian family.Taking forward Dell’s global message for consumers of ‘Easy and Connected’ always, Dell understands that in India the Festival season is a time to go home and celebrate with family and friends. In a unique combination of two separate television commercials that recreate the highly emotive spirit of the festive season, Dell positions its range of Inspiron PCs and Venue tablets as enablers that help families stay connected when not everyone can make it home in time for the festivities.Conceptualized and executed by GREY group, the Dell TVCs bring alive Dell’s message “Stay Connected - Dell Se” because “Apnon ke bina tyohaar kaise” in the context of a festive occasion which is a cultural high point for Indian families. Working on the insight that no matter where in the world they are, Indians families yearn to be together during festivals, both TVCs try to capture the emotion of situations that almost all of us have faced or face in the festive times and how technology can play a role in connecting and bridging the distance. PayU Launches New Version Of Merchant DashboardPayU India released a new version of its merchant facing dashboard which aims to give a better understanding into consumers' purchasing behaviour to a merchant. The new technology platform includes a visually exciting analytics tool which makes data representation not only easy to understand but helps merchant deep dive into conversion rates, payment method and device preferences, card vault usage, refunds, offers etc. Interestingly, for each feature - there is a well-defined information display that a merchant can grasp in one-go at a macro level. For eg. when the merchant clicks on Payment Methods - all the information regarding the relevant payment method for the selected period are displayed at the top. It will show the total number of payments, success rate and what percent of the payments happened through net banking or credit/debit cards, cash cards or PayUMoney. Further, to get a deeper understanding on how each of the payment methods are performing, the merchant can click on a specific payment method.
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Indian imports of Iranian oil rose by nearly half to 271,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January-August from a year ago, when refineries cut purchases due to worries about insurance coverage for processing crude from Tehran, data from trade sources shows. World powers and Iran are working to resolve a decade-old dispute over the OPEC nation's nuclear programme, with an interim deal that eases some sanctions on the country extended by four months to late November. India, the Islamic state's top client after China, had boosted imports in the first quarter of this year to make up for the cuts in 2013 and to hit its target of importing 220,000 bpd from Iran in the fiscal year to March 31. India shipped in 273,500 bpd of Iranian oil in August, up 30 percent from the previous month and about 81-percent higher than a year ago, the data showed. Shipments in August were bolstered as Indian Oil Corp, the country's biggest refiner, bought Iranian oil after a two-month gap, shipping in nearly 2 million barrels. State-run IOC is not a regular buyer of Iranian oil as it has a deal to buy only 24,000-25,000 bpd, or about 9 million barrels, from the country in 2014/2015. In August, IOC also received its first cargo of Caspian Sea oil from Kazakhstan, the data showed, joining private refiners Essar Oil and Reliance Industries in buying the grade. Essar was Iran's top Indian client in August, followed by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd , the data showed. Essar and MRPL are the regular buyer of Iranian oil. Chennai Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp have halted Iranian oil imports since 2013/14 due to worries over whether their insurance policies would cover refining the cargoes. But other refiners have stepped up purchases drawn to discounts offered by Tehran, risking possible disputes with insurers in the case of an accident. MaintenanceUnder the interim agreement with world powers, Iran's total crude exports were to be held at just above 1 million barrels per day (bpd), after surging as much as 40 percent above that level in the early part of the year. Iranian oil's share of India's total crude imports rose to 7.1 percent in the first eight months of the year compared with 4.6 percent last year, the data indicated. Overall, India took in 14 percent less crude in August than a year ago, the data showed, as HPCL-Mittal Energy did not ship oil during the month due to the closure of its 180,000 bpd Bathinda refinery in northern India for maintenance. The refinery is expected to resume operations by the end of this month, said a source with direct knowledge of the matter. He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak with media. India's total crude imports for the January-August period fell nearly 3 percent, the data showed. Latin American oil's share of India's overall imports rose slightly to nearly 20 percent in the first eight months of 2014, while Africa's increased to about 16 percent, the data showed. Purchases from the Middle East accounted for about 60 percent of overall intake during the period, down from 64 percent a year ago. (Reuters)
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Indian Oil Corp, the country's biggest refiner, has cut throughput at five key plants after heavy rains curbed demand for diesel in northern and eastern India, a company source with direct knowledge of its operations said. A late revival of monsoon rains this month has alleviated power shortages thanks to improved hydroelectric supply, reducing demand to run generators needed to keep the lights on or use diesel pumps to irrigate crops. Devastating flooding has also hit fuel demand in Kashmir. Diesel accounts for over 40 percent of refined fuels consumed in India, but demand growth has weakened, in part due to sustained price rises. Diesel demand grew by just 1.7 percent in April-July, the first four months of this fiscal year, after contracting last year for the first time in more than a decade. "We have cut throughput of our Mathura, Barauni, Koyali, Haldia and Panipat refineries due to low demand for fuels," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. IOC and subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corp together control about a third of India's 4.3 million barrel per day (bpd) refining capacity. The five refineries account for about 93 percent of IOC's directly owned 1.08 million bpd of crude processing capacity. A sustained rise in diesel prices has steered industrial consumers to alternate fuels and led to a rise in sales of gasoline-powered vehicles. During the monsoon season industrial activity slows, putting further pressure on local diesel demand. "We have to cut runs," the source said. "Product is not getting lifted, there is no demand, our inventory is full and we can not export product as these are landlocked refineries." IOC is operating its 120,000 barrel-per-day Barauni refinery in Bihar at half-capacity as it has shut two crude units at the plant, the source said. "The other four refineries are operating at about 80 percent capacity," the source said, adding the 150,000 bpd coastal refinery at Haldia in eastern India is facing a problem with a lack of storage space for diesel and bitumen. IOC's fuel depot at Dumad area in flood-hit Gujarat is under water and storage tanks are full, forcing the refiner to cut runs at its 274,000 bpd plant, the source said. Sanjiv Singh, head of refineries at IOC, confirmed cuts to throughput at a few refineries, but said the impact was temporary and seasonal. "This year it got worse and (more) visible because of the delayed monsoon, and heavy rains are confined to a shorter duration. The situation will be shortly improved," Singh said. He added IOC was "using this opportunity to carry out maintenance work". Officials at other state refiners including Bharat Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Chennai Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals said there were normal operations at their plants, as they are mainly on the coast. BPCL offered its first Euro III diesel export cargoes, which had been meant for domestic use, last week as the domestic inventory is at high levels due to lower demand. (Reuters)
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