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Iranian State Oil Company in Talks With India’s ONGC Over $10 Billion Gas Project

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp. EQONGC -0.33 % is in talks with Iranian state company Pars Oil and Gas Co. to return to a $10 billion gas project that it abandoned because of American pressure, a top official in Tehran said Wednesday. The Indian company, known as ONGC, approached the Iranians last week during an energy conference in Tehran, said Ali-Akbar Shabanpour, the managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Co., in an interview. ONGC is interested in returning to Farzad B, a giant natural gas concession in the Persian Gulf overseen by Mr. Shabanpour’s company. ONGC discovered gas in the field in 2008, but left the project after 2010 as the U.S. pressured countries to quit doing business with Iran because of its nuclear program. “They came to us” to discuss reviving the deal, Mr. Shabanpour said. "We will get the history and documentation of the project” […]

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Green worries keep foreign banks away from $3.3 billion Coal India sale

Labourers work inside a coal ball factory in Kolkata November 4, 2010. India’s plan to raise as much as $3.3 billion from selling a 10 percent stake in Coal India Ltd could be thrown off course by global investment banks under pressure from environmental groups to steer clear of the share sale. Several senior executives at foreign investment banks in Mumbai said ‘green’ concerns had clouded Coal India since its listing five years ago, and few were keen to take on a deal that could tarnish their public image. The pressure in a country where economic growth frequently trumps environmental concerns comes at a convenient time for banks. Many operating in India are under pressure to be more selective when it comes to roles that are heavy on staff but light on returns. The government pays a fee of just 1 rupee ($0.015). Banks’ reluctance, say people directly involved […]

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Waits Stretch for Days as Nepal Confronts Fuel Shortage

Photo Lining up for fuel at a gas station in Kathmandu, Nepal, this week. Credit Hemanta Shrestha/European Pressphoto Agency KATHMANDU, Nepal — In recent days, during peak tourist season in Nepal , visitors here have been confronted with a strange sight: miles of double- and triple-parked cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles along the ancient city’s avenues. The lines snarl through narrow streets and block main intersections on the ring road. Drivers stretch out in their back seats, snoring. Others join impromptu card games on car hoods or pass the hours with their cellphones. Food vendors cook and sell water on the pavement. The destination for all these vehicles? Gas stations. On Tuesday, after a two-week ban — imposed amid a fuel shortage stemming from unrest over Nepal’s new Constitution and a dispute with neighboring India — the government briefly allowed them to provide fuel to private vehicles. In a […]

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OMV finds gas in Pakistan

Austrian energy company OMV finds more gas at inland block in Pakistan. Graphic courtesy of OMV VIENNA, Oct. 12 (UPI) — Austrian energy company OMV said a new natural gas discovery in Sindh province in Pakistan means it could potentially boost production in the energy-starved country. OMV announced the discovery of natural gas in the Latif South-1 exploration well in Pakistan. Preliminary testing yielded about 2,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day. "We are very pleased with this exploration success," Johann Pleininger, an OMV board member in charge of exploration and production, said in a statement. "The appraisal and development of this discovery will potentially enable us to enhance the production in Pakistan." Pakistan’s aging infrastructure means the country lacks a reliable power sector. The Asian Development Bank last month backed a provisional assistance package of at least $1.2 billion per year on average through a partnership with Pakistan […]

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Indian refiners set to pay second $700 mil tranche of Iran oil dues: sources

Indian refiners with outstanding dues for the import of crude oil from Iran are set to make their second tranche of payments, pegged at the rupee equivalent of $700 million, on Tuesday, two oil industry sources said Monday. The payments by Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd, two of India’s biggest importers of Iranian oil, would be similar to the amounts they paid in the first tranche on September 30, sources said. Essar Oil paid $335 million in its first instalment, one source said. The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control granted approval in September for Indian refineries to pay $1.4 billion of the $6.5 billion they owed in past oil dues to Iran. The second tranche of payments is being made to the government in Indian rupees and the Reserve Bank of India will then arrange for its onward remittance to Iran, one source said. […]

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Blockade, energy shortages goad country into looking for solutions

Long vehicle queues are seen on the either side of the road near Sajha petrol pump in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, on Sunday. Surbindra Kumar Pun Oct 5, 2015- The fuel crisis created by the unofficial blockade of Nepal by India has launched a discourse on the country’s energy security. As Nepal is completely dependent on India for petroleum products, a halt in fuel shipments has led to an acute shortage, forcing the government to ration gasoline, implement an odd-even system for vehicular movement and stop providing fuel to private automobiles altogether. In this context, stakeholders have stressed the need to reduce the dependence on a single supplier and single source of energy. They said that efforts should be made to import fuel from multiple countries, maintain ample stocks and work on boosting self-reliance in energy by promoting hydropower and exploring for oil in the country. They also emphasized the need […]

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Nepal Restricts Driving to Head Off Fuel Shortage

Photo A transport worker sat at the India-Nepal border on Sunday. Supply trucks from India stopped entering Nepal last week. Credit Prakash Mathema/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal started imposing restrictions on vehicles’ movement on Sunday amid concerns about limited supplies of fuel and other essential commodities from India. Trucks carrying supplies from India stopped entering the country last week as protests followed the adoption of Nepal’s new Constitution. To address the shortages, officials in Nepal said cars would be permitted to run only on alternate days based on the last digit of their license plate number. Siva Tripathi, an official at the Nepal Ministry of Supplies, said Indian security personnel and customs officials had barred supply trucks from entering Nepal, citing orders from New Delhi. “Transportation has come to a complete halt since Thursday,” he said. “So we are facing the shortage of some essential […]

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Indian Oil Said to Plan $3 Billion Petrochemicals Unit in Iran

Indian Oil Corp. is seeking to build a $3 billion petrochemicals plant in Iran, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. The plan hinges on assurances from Iran that the 1 million-ton-a-year project will have access to cheap natural gas as feedstock, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. A company spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment by phone, text message and e-mail. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is eyeing energy and infrastructure investments totaling billions of dollars in Iran, including upstream gas production and port developments. India has sought to secure ties with Iran and ensure access to its abundant hydrocarbons as years of sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation may be nearing an end. Economic and financial restrictions on Iran, once the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, left it in need of […]

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With Iran’s Help, India Eludes China in Race for Gas Riches

Anyone looking for the biggest immediate impact from Iran’s nuclear deal may want to turn away from the Middle East and toward the Indian subcontinent. With U.S. sanctions easing, India is racing to build a port in Iran that will get around the fact that its land access to energy-rich former Soviet republics in Central Asia has been blocked by China and its ally Pakistan. “We’re seeing the latest manifestation of the Great Game in Central Asia, and India is the new player,” said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. “It’s had its eyes on Central Asia for a long time.” While the world focuses on what Iran’s opening means for Israel and Arab nations, the ramifications are also critical for Asia. Closer Iran-India ties would allow New Delhi’s leaders to secure cheaper energy imports to bolster economic growth and […]

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Analyst: Iranian gas no panacea for Pakistan

Building a pipeline from Iran may help Pakistani energy issues, but it won’t be a cure-all for chronic woes, analyst says. UPI/Hamid Forotan/ISNA BATH, England, July 30 (UPI) — Completing a natural gas pipeline from Iran won’t be the "silver bullet" expected by the government in Islamabad, analysis finds. Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, finalized a deal July 14 that restricts Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for relief from sanctions targeting its energy sector. For Iran, it may open the spigot on natural gas reserves , which could help address chronic energy shortages in neighboring Pakistan. Oliver Coleman, deputy head of Asia programs at analytical firm Verisk Maplecroft, said in a briefing that while both sides of the pipeline have lauded its benefits , it won’t address the long-term issue completely. "A steady supply of gas from Iran would not be a […]

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