Category:

India’s Dec coal imports fall 4% on month to 12.2 mil mt: Interocean

India’s coal imports via major ports across the country dropped 4% month on month in December, to around 12.2 million mt, data released late Tuesday by Indian ship broker Interocean showed. In November, imports totaled 12.7 million mt. Of the total imports in December, 2.6 million mt was coking coal, up 53% from 1.7 million mt in the previous month, while steam coal comprised 9.6 million mt, down 13% from 11 million mt in November, the data showed. Mundra port on India’s west coast received the largest quantity of coal shipments in December, at 2 million mt, down 17% from 2.4 million mt in November. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Coal Trader International International Coal Report Platts Coal Trader International is the only daily publication where you can access Platts proprietary price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

India's Dec coal imports fall 4% on month to 12.2 mil mt: Interocean

India’s coal imports via major ports across the country dropped 4% month on month in December, to around 12.2 million mt, data released late Tuesday by Indian ship broker Interocean showed. In November, imports totaled 12.7 million mt. Of the total imports in December, 2.6 million mt was coking coal, up 53% from 1.7 million mt in the previous month, while steam coal comprised 9.6 million mt, down 13% from 11 million mt in November, the data showed. Mundra port on India’s west coast received the largest quantity of coal shipments in December, at 2 million mt, down 17% from 2.4 million mt in November. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Coal Trader International International Coal Report Platts Coal Trader International is the only daily publication where you can access Platts proprietary price assessments for coal trading in the Atlantic and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

India urges Asian unity for fair LNG pricing

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged Asian buyers of imported liquefied natural gas to unite to demand fair pricing. LNG prices in Asia are higher than those in Europe and North America because the cost in Asia is linked to crude oil prices under long-term contracts. Speaking at the dedication of Petronet’s Kochi LNG terminal in Kerala Saturday, Singh said Asia "has been the driver of the global LNG demand in recent times. It is therefore important that major buyers of LNG in Asia come together to demand a fair pricing mechanism for gas being imported from outside of Asia." "I hope to see India contribute towards an effort of this kind in the future," the prime minister added. Gas buyers from India, China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan met in December to discuss how they could use their collective purchasing power to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Reliance Industries To Up Output from India’s Richest Gas Deposit

Reliance Industries Ltd. will raise natural gas output from a new well in India’s richest gas deposit from this month, which could help it to reverse months of declining output. The company is expecting to add between 1.5-2 million metric standard cubic metres a day (MMSCMD) by this month from its current output level of around 12 MMSCMD. The additional output will come from the well located in MA field in the east coast Krishna-Godavri D 6 block, a company spokesman told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Production in the east coast KG D-6 block has declined from around 61 MMSCMD in 2010, he said. Reliance says the decline in natural gas output from the east coast block is due to geological complexities. Any additional natural gas output would be welcomed by India, which imports nearly 75% of its energy needs to feed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Reliance Industries To Up Output from India's Richest Gas Deposit

Reliance Industries Ltd. will raise natural gas output from a new well in India’s richest gas deposit from this month, which could help it to reverse months of declining output. The company is expecting to add between 1.5-2 million metric standard cubic metres a day (MMSCMD) by this month from its current output level of around 12 MMSCMD. The additional output will come from the well located in MA field in the east coast Krishna-Godavri D 6 block, a company spokesman told The Wall Street Journal on Friday. Production in the east coast KG D-6 block has declined from around 61 MMSCMD in 2010, he said. Reliance says the decline in natural gas output from the east coast block is due to geological complexities. Any additional natural gas output would be welcomed by India, which imports nearly 75% of its energy needs to feed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

India may face gas shortage

A Parliamentary standing committee has expressed fear that India could witness acute shortage of natural gas in two years, which may not be met even through imports due to lack of infrastructure. “As the government pursued the economic policy to achieve high growth, the demand for natural gas has also sharply increased in India during the past few years, and is expected to escalate further,” said the Parliamentary standing committee on petroleum and natural gas in a report. “As during 2012-13 there was only 134 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas available including the imported LNG against the demand of 286 mmscmd. Thus there was huge unmet demand of 152 mmscmd,” it said. It said that in 2015-16, the expected gap would be to the tune of 300 mmscmd. “As against the demand of 439 mmscmd, the available gas supply would be 139 mmscmd […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

India inflation soars to 14-month high of 7.5 pct

India’s worrisome inflation rose to 7.52 percent in November, driven by soaring food and fuel prices, data showed Monday. The highest level in more than a year increases pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates this week. The wholesale price index was up from 7 percent in October. The sharp increase was the highest since September 2012 and was led by food prices jumping by 19.9 percent over the previous November, dashing hopes that favorable monsoon rains would slow the runaway food inflation. Prices for fuel were also up 11.1 percent. Higher prices for food and fuel hit the hundreds of millions of poor Indians living on $2 per day particularly hard because they spend roughly half of their income on the staple items. The grim inflation numbers increase the likelihood that the Reserve Bank of India will raise interest rates when it […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

India Considers Importing More Iranian Crude

India is exploring the possibility of increasing crude-oil imports from Iran, following a recent deal between Tehran and world powers that is expected to ease sanctions on Iranian crude, an Indian official said. While sanctions on Iran’s sales of crude oil are yet to be eased, observers say the deal is likely to lead to a gradual loosening of existing restrictions on dollar-based payments that would enable importers such as India to buy more crude from Iran. India and Iran presently have a barter trade system in place to bypass payment problems caused by the Western sanctions. Under an agreement last year, India pays for about half its crude-oil imports from Iran in Indian rupees instead of U.S. dollars. Indian and Iranian officials had detailed discussions on the possibility of increasing crude-oil imports from Iran, India’s Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters after a meeting with an […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Why Nuclear Rules Scare Foreign Companies

India wants to boost its nuclear power-generation by more than ten times over the next two decades to cut dependence on imported fossil fuels, but there’s one problem: global companies don’t want to sell India the equipment it needs to run nuclear power-plants under existing rules. Foreign equipment-makers are worried about an Indian law, passed in 2010, which would make them liable to pay compensation in the event of an accident, says Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, a Mumbai-based partner at Indian law firm Verus, and one of the few lawyers in the country who specialize in India’s nuclear liability law. Mr. Bandyopadhyay says that in most other countries, if there is a nuclear accident, the damages are borne only by the company which runs the nuclear plant, not companies which supplied equipment to the plant. Still, given the large size of India’s market for nuclear power, some equipment-makers are negotiating with […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Cairn Seeks Oil Swaps to Circumvent Export Ban: Corporate India

Cairn India Ltd., the nation’s biggest onshore crude oil producer, is proposing swap deals in the commodity to help skirt the government’s ban on exports that yield higher margins. Some Japanese utilities and Singapore-based refiners are interested in the high-wax crude extracted from Cairn’s fields in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, Chief Executive Officer P. Elango said in an interview. The company has sought India ’s approval for a tripartite agreement that would replenish the exported volume with no loss to any of the parties including the government, he said. Billionaire Anil Agarwal , who controls Cairn India, is seeking to increase the best profit margin among the biggest Asian oil companies as his metals and mining businesses founder in the South Asian country. Shipping to customers who are best equipped to process the low-sulfur crude may help the company command a premium versus a 15 percent discount on […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple