Category: South Asia

Print Back to story The villagers of Dharnai in northern India had been living without electricity for more than 30 years when Greenpeace installed a microgrid to supply reliable, low-cost solar power. Then, within weeks of the lights flickering on in Dharnai’s mud huts, the government utility hooked up the grid — flooding the community with cheap power that undercut the fledgling solar network. While Greenpeace had come to Dharnai at Bihar’s invitation, the unannounced arrival of the state’s utility threatened to put it out of business. “We wanted to set this up as a business model,” said Abhishek Pratap, a Greenpeace campaigner overseeing the project. “Now we’re in course correction.” It’s a scenario playing out at dozens of ventures across India’s hinterlands. Competition from state utilities, with their erratic yet unbeatably cheap subsidized power, is scuppering efforts to supply clean, modern energy in a country where more people […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

A new pact between the U.S. and China to tackle greenhouse-gas emissions has raised the question: Could India be next to set targets? After all, the two most-populous countries in the world Continue Reading

ByAnant Vijay Kala India’s decision to end government control of diesel fuel prices will save the government billions of dollars which can be better spent on more pressing needs such as building schools, roads and ports, analysts say. India announced over the weekend that it would end a decades-old policy of controlling the retail price of diesel fuel. Providing diesel at below-market rates cost the government about $10 billion last year, hampering India’s ability to spend on other things. The government had given up control over the prices of gasoline back in 2010 but had continued to regulate prices of diesel – the primary fuel used in trucks and tractors as well as for running generators used to power irrigation pumps. “It shields the government’s finances from volatility in global oil prices, because of which the subsidy bill often went up,” said Radhika Rao, an economist at DBS Bank. […]

Click here to view full article at blogs.wsj.com

A 22 percent slump in oil prices this year and the end of state polls are emboldening India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to press ahead with politically risky decisions to lure investors and revive the economy. His government freed diesel prices of state control for the first time in over a decade and raised tariffs on natural gas over the weekend in the biggest steps to curb subsidies and spur output. The changes build on Modi’s pledge to revitalize Asia’s third-largest economy as his party made gains in two provincial elections that may help bolster his power. Modi, who has made energy security his priority, is lifting restrictions that contributed to a decline in natural gas output every month since the mid-2010, while deterring Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) from bidding for oil and gas blocks. The restraints on diesel have also idled fuel pumps operated […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

India said on Saturday that it has lifted state control on diesel prices, in a long-awaited move that economists say will help encourage investment in the country’s struggling fuel industry Continue Reading

Print Back to story OPEC must keep cutting prices to displace competing supplies from Latin America and West Africa, Indian refiners said. Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq , which account for about half the output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will sell crude to Asia next month at the biggest discounts since at least January 2009. Hindustan Petroleum Corp. and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. say it’s not enough to undercut the alternatives. The highest U.S. output in almost 30 years is reducing America’s demand for oil and giving consumers in Asia a greater choice of suppliers, from Venezuela to Alaska and Nigeria. The glut has driven futures into a bear market and prompted OPEC members to cut prices to defend their market share. “Obviously the Middle-East producers want to retain market leadership in Asia,” said B.K. Namdeo, refineries director at Hindustan Petroleum, India ’s third-biggest state […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Print Back to story There hasn’t been a better time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deregulate diesel prices. Oil prices are near a four-year low and two major state elections are out of the way. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has called on Modi to “seize this moment” while inflation is the lowest in three years and refiners are selling at a profit for the first time in recent memory. “There’s absolutely no reason for the government not to deregulate — it’s probably the easiest thing they can do, a low-hanging fruit,” Upasna Bhardwaj, an economist at ING Vysya Bank Ltd., a unit of the biggest Dutch financial-services company, said by phone from Mumbai. “The markets have been awaiting reforms, and there has been nothing big, so if they fail to do this it will be treated very negatively.” Steps to dismantle India’s subsidies would build […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

In a blow to American hopes of reaching an international deal to fight global warming, India’s new environment minister said Wednesday that his country would not offer a plan to cut its greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a climate summit next year in Paris. The minister, Prakash Javadekar, said in an interview that his government’s first priority was to alleviate poverty and improve the nation’s economy, which he said would necessarily involve an increase in emissions through new coal-powered electricity and transportation. He placed responsibility for what scientists call a coming climate crisis on the United States, the world’s largest historic greenhouse gas polluter, and dismissed the idea that India would make cuts to carbon emissions. “What cuts?” Mr. Javadekar said. “That’s for more developed countries. The moral principle of historic responsibility cannot be washed away.” Mr. Javadekar was referring to an argument frequently made by developing economies — […]

Click here to view full article at www.nytimes.com

NEW DELHI—India’s power minister said Sunday that the country isn’t on the verge of an electricity crisis even though many of its power plants are running low on coal.  Piyush Goyal —who concurrently heads the ministries for power, coal and renewable energy—told reporters Sunday that power plants are facing coal shortages because they are producing more electricity to make up for shortfalls in the yearly monsoon rains, which have crimped generation by hydroelectric power plants.  Generation by coal-powered stations between June and August was around 21% higher than in the same period last year, Mr. Goyal said. But domestic coal production and imports haven’t kept up , which has forced plants to use up their inventories. "You will appreciate that when you produce 20% more power whereas your supply has gone up by only 5% or 6%, the stocks are bound to fall," he said.  He said that stronger rains […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is closer to scrapping controls on diesel prices that led to $66 billion of losses on sales of the fuel in the past decade. The loss has fallen to 0.08 rupees (less than 1 U.S. cent) a liter from 13.4 rupees in September last year after Modi continued with gradual price increases that began in January 2013, Oil Ministry data show. The ministry will seek Cabinet approval to remove diesel controls once losses end, one of its officials with direct knowledge of the matter said last week, while requesting anonymity citing rules. Modi is vying with counterparts including Indonesian President-elect Joko Widodo to woo investors by curbing petroleum subsidies, which frees up funds to invest in infrastructure for faster growth. The government and state-run crude producer Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) bore the brunt of the 4 trillion-rupee cost of cushioning diesel in […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Day laborers load coal onto a truck at the Goladi coal depot, operated by Coal India Ltd. subsidiary Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (BCCL), in Jharia, Jharkhand, India, on Saturday, April 5, 2014. Coal India, the world’s largest producer, estimates on its website that the nation faces a supply deficit of 350 million tons by 2016-2017, thereby overtaking import demand from China, the world’s biggest coal consumer and producer. Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg “Coal is king and paramount lord of industry,” wrote India’s Supreme Court this week. Few in the country’s fuel-starved industrial economy would disagree – hence the dismay that followed when the court ruled as illegal every coal licence given to private sector companies for the past two decades. Since 2012, the threat of sanction has hung over many prominent businesses in sectors such as power and steelmaking, which had been handed exclusive use of so-called “captive” coal mines […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

British Deputy Prime Minister said energy and climate change would be near the top of his agenda during a three-day visit to India. "There is already $26.5 billion of trade every year between India and the U.K.," he said before leaving Monday. "India invests more in the UK than it does in the rest of the European Union combined, and no country in the G20 invests more in India than Britain does." The deputy prime minister led a delegation to India this week to discuss British opportunities in the growing Indian economy . His office said climate change and energy were expected to be near the top of the agenda for this week’s meetings. A report from financial firm Dun & Bradstreet said last week the Indian gross domestic product should grow by 5.5 percent next year, up from the 5.2 percent expected this year. Dun & Bradstreet India […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Miners haul baskets full of coal as they load a truck in the northeastern state of Meghalaya, in this file photo. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images NEW DELHI—India’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that all coal-mining licenses distributed since 1993 are illegal, dealing a significant blow to operators and providing another setback to the image of the country’s administration. The three-judge bench led by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha said the allotments by past governments weren’t carried out in a transparent manner and no objective criteria were followed. Guidelines were also breached, it added. However, the court didn’t immediately cancel the 200 or so licenses given out since 1993 whose fate now hangs in the balance. "Further hearing is required to determine whether there is a need for canceling all the coal block allocations," the bench said in the order. It will next hear the case on Sept. 1. The order follows […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

India ranks among the top energy consumers in the world, with demand increasing at a double-digit rate, analysis from the U.S. Energy Department found. The Energy Information Administration, a division within the Energy Department, said economic growth and modernization in India is leading to increased demand for energy . "India’s dependence on imported fossil fuels rose to 38 percent in 2012, despite the country having significant domestic fossil fuel resources," EIA said in a Thursday brief. The government in April said it expected natural gas demand to more than double by the beginning of the next decade. According to the terms of a five-year energy plan , the Indian government has said it wants to add at least one transnational pipeline to the midstream sector from either Iran, Oman or Central Asia. "Because India has not been able to produce an adequate supply of domestic natural gas and has […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

India’s dependence on imported fossil fuels rose to 38% in 2012, despite the country having significant domestic fossil fuel resources. India ranked as the fourth-largest energy consumer in the world in 2011, following China, the United States, and Russia. The country’s energy demand continues to climb as a result of its dynamic economic growth and modernization. India is the third-largest economy on a purchasing power parity basis and has the world’s second-largest population, according to World Bank data. As India modernizes and the population moves to urban areas, the country has shifted from using traditional biomass and waste to relying on other energy sources, including fossil fuels. India’s newly elected government, with the Bharatiya Janat Party as the majority party, faces challenges to meet the country’s growing energy demand, to secure affordable energy supplies, and to attract investment for domestic hydrocarbon production and infrastructure development. Petroleum and other liquids. […]

Click here to view full article at www.eia.gov

India’s reliance on domestic coal has left many of its power stations starved for fuel, forcing electricity cuts throughout the country, even as the price of coal imports slumps. Despite having the world’s third-largest coal reserves, according to the International Energy Agency, a quarter of India’s 100 coal-fired power stations are short of supply with stocks of less than four days, and some hanging onto even lower stockpiles, official and trade data showed. A prolonged summer and below-normal monsoon rains have exacerbated the situation by raising electricity demand. At the same time, global coal prices have fallen to their lowest levels in years, with ANZ predicting in a report last week that prices will drop 10% more over the next two to three years as China slows spending. […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Armed bandits are threatening villagers with death unless they deliver 35 buckets of water each day in northern India, where water is scarce thanks to an ongoing drought and a poor supply. So far, 28 villages have been obeying the order, taking turns to deliver what the bandits are calling a daily "water tax," police said. "Water itself is very scarce in this region. Villagers can hardly meet their demand," officer Suresh Kumar Singh said by telephone from Banda, a city on the southern border of central Uttar Pradesh state and caught within what is known in India as bandit country. Though the number of bandits has declined drastically in recent decades, India’s bandit tradition, which began more than 800 years ago when emperors still ruled, has continued in the hard-to-reach forests and mountains of the Bundelkhand region. The area is cut off from supply […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

India’s biggest power company said coal shortages at six of its power stations are threatening to disrupt electricity generation in 22 of the country’s states and territories. In a letter to India’s Power Ministry on Monday, Arup Roy Choudhury , chairman of NTPC Ltd. said the generating stations had coal supplies sufficient for two days or less of power production. Mr. Choudury’s letter, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, didn’t say why coal was running low. Coal shortages–mainly because of failures by the state-run coal monopoly to deliver adequate supplies–are a major cause of power outages in India, where more than half of electricity-generation capacity depends on coal. Power supplies are especially strained now, with hot summer temperatures pushing up demand and below-normal monsoon rainfall denting generation by hydroelectric plants. According to government data, as many as 46 of India’s 100 coal-fired power stations have coal stocks of […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

India’s finance minister said the country needs to double its existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure to diversify the national energy sector. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government aims to add another 9,300 miles to the existing network of about 9,300 miles of pipeline crisscrossing the country. "This will help increase the usage of gas, domestic as well as imported, which in the long-term will be beneficial in reducing dependence on any one energy source," he said Thursday. The government in April said it expected natural gas demand to more than double by the beginning of the next decade. According to the terms of a five-year energy plan , the Indian government has said it wants to add at least one transnational pipeline to the midstream sector from either Iran, Oman or Central Asia. The minister said the pipeline expansions could come through a mix of public- and private-sector […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Employees worked on a 132kv overhead electricity line along the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Fuel and power companies want India ’s new government to use this week’s budget to prove it is ready to start dismantling the system of government pricing and subsidies which has hobbled the energy industry. India’s convoluted system of taxes and fuel subsidies not only cost the country tens of billions of dollars every year, but it also discourages and delays expansion in the companies that provide fuel and power to the public. Oil and gas retailers and exploration companies are hoping the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will use the momentum following a landslide victory in May elections to deregulate the price of diesel fuel and push through other unpopular policy changes.  With companies often forced to sell at a loss, there are few incentives to explore […]

Click here to view full article at blogs.wsj.com

India’s heavy reliance on imported oil, especially from Iraq, makes it more vulnerable than most countries to the conflict there, with surging oil prices threatening to derail the new prime minister’s plans to resuscitate the economy. Crude-oil prices have shot up to a nine-month high of about $115 per barrel. India imports most of its oil and subsidizes fuel so higher oil prices are particularly painful for Asia’s third-largest economy. They could exacerbate the country’s fiscal and current account deficits as well as its already-high inflation rates. India’s benchmark stock price index has slipped from record highs while the rupee has lost ground against the dollar since June 10. New Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mobilized his ministers to try to contain the fallout from what is evolving into his first economic crisis since taking office less than a […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

India’s heavy reliance on imported oil, especially from Iraq, makes it more vulnerable than most countries to the conflict there, with surging oil prices threatening to derail the new prime minister’s plans to resuscitate the economy. Crude-oil prices have shot up to a nine-month high of about $115 per barrel. India imports most of its oil and subsidizes fuel so higher oil prices are particularly painful for Asia’s third-largest economy. They could exacerbate the country’s fiscal and current account deficits as well as its already-high inflation rates. India’s benchmark stock price index has slipped from record highs while the rupee has lost ground against the dollar since June 10. New Prime Minister Narendra Modi has mobilized his ministers to try to contain the fallout from what is evolving into his first economic crisis since taking office less than a […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Indian shares fell Friday as the turmoil in Iraq pushed up global crude oil prices, raising worries that India’s import bill could go up and hurt the government’s weak financial position. The Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex closed down 1.4% at 25228.17 points, while the National Stock Exchange 50-stock Nifty index ended 1.4% lower at 7,542.10 points. India imports about three-quarters of the oil it consumes and Iraq is among its top suppliers. Any increases in global crude oil prices push up the country’s import bill and also increase the subsidies it pays to local fuel retailers. "India is at a risk as all the fiscal control programs will go for a toss if oil prices rise further," said Daljeet Kohli, head of research at IndiaNivesh Securities. Although markets have rallied in recent months, most of the gains have been on the back of […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Thousands of people enraged by power cuts during an extreme heat wave have been rioting across northern India, setting electricity substations on fire and taking power company officials hostage, officials said Saturday. The impoverished state of Uttar Pradesh has never had enough power for its 200 million people – about the population of Brazil – and many receive only a few hours a day under normal conditions, while 63 percent of homes have no electricity access at all. But recent temperatures that soared to 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 Celsius) have caused power demand to spike at 11,000 megawatts – far higher than the state’s 8,000 MW capacity – triggering blackouts that shut down fans, city water pumps and air conditioners. Thousands of people stormed an electricity substation Friday near the state capital of Lucknow, ransacking offices and taking several workers hostage for 18 hours until […]

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

Uncertain reform of natural-gas pricing in India, if allowed to move forward, would revive oil and gas investment and help the government balance its accounts, according to a new study by IHS . Although the government has announced plans to allow gas prices to increase this year to $8.50/MMbtu from $4.20/MMbtu, it didn’t act before national elections held last month. A group led by Reliance Industries Ltd. issued a notice of arbitration when a price increase it expected under an agreement with the government covering the deepwater KG-D6 Block in the Bay of Bengal didn’t take effect on Apr. 1 ( OGJ Online, May 12, 2014 ). By weakening investment in exploration and accelerating consumption, the IHS study says, India’s policies on gas prices have increased the country’s reliance on external supply and helped make it the world’s fifth largest importer of LNG. Citing government documents, the study […]

Click here to view full article at www.ogj.com

Analysts are counting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to raise gas prices in India. European Pressphoto Agency India may soon put a floor under years of sliding investment in natural gas production as the new government is likely to increase the price of the fuel offered to gas producers and explorers. The previous Congress Party-led government had proposed increasing the price of natural gas to $8 per million British thermal units from $4.20 per mmBtu, but this was put on hold ahead of the elections . The current level is about a third of the cost of gas imported into India, with imports meeting 35% of local gas needs. Now that voting is over , analysts are anticipating that the new Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will increase gas prices as it had campaigned on the promise of economic reforms and industrial development. Proponents say this is needed […]

Click here to view full article at blogs.wsj.com

India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought three often-quarreling, energy-related ministries under one minister, hoping to crank up the supply of power the country needs to generate more economic growth. The new Bharatiya Janata Party government said Tuesday that Piyush Goyal will head the power, coal and renewable energy ministries. "The idea is clear. We need more electricity, more power," Mr. Goyal, told reporters as he became the first person to simultaneously head all three ministries. "The intention is to debottleneck the system." He said he plans to visit and study the power network of the western state of Gujarat, which is one of the few states in India with a power surplus. It was until recently led by Mr. Modi. "Narendra Modi was able to turn around the energy sector in Gujarat during his tenure as the chief minister of the state from […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s decisive win in India’s general elections should see key reforms in the oil and gas sector pushed through and could end years of under-investment in the country’s exploration sector. As a first step, analysts expect the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to swiftly raise natural gas prices — which would promote offshore investment — and deregulate diesel prices to cut the government’s subsidy burden. "The oil and gas space in India is ripe for reform, in our view," Credit Suisse said in a recent report. "Many measures have already been implemented, and a strong new government at the center can potentially continue and complete the reform process," the bank said. Analysts at Bernstein Research echoed a similar sentiment, saying that they expected a Modi election win to be positive for the oil and gas sector. "After stalling […]

Click here to view full article at www.platts.com

Reliance Industries Ltd. , the operator of India’s biggest natural-gas find, and its partners BP PLC and Niko Resources Ltd. said Saturday that they have sought arbitration with the Indian government in an effort to force implementation of a planned price increase for natural gas. India’s government sets gas prices in the domestic market. India’s cabinet last year approved a plan to increase the price of natural gas to around $8 per million metric British Thermal units from $4.20 now. The oil ministry in January said the new price would come into effect from April 1 and would be revised quarterly. India’s election watchdog in March, however, deferred the implementation of the federal-government decision, saying it could affect the outcome of national elections which began in May and end on Monday. Results are set to be announced Friday. "We have received the arbitration notice. We will take […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

India imported around 15.86 million mt of coal at 24 major ports in April, up 6.45% from March, according to data released Wednesday by Indian ship broker Interocean. The April imports consisted of 12.3 million mt of thermal coal, up 8.76% from March, and 3.56 million mt of coking coal, down 0.84%. Mundra port on India’s west coast received the highest coal shipments last month at 2.98 million mt, down 18.88% from 3.67 million mt in March. It also received the highest steam coal shipments at 2.98 million mt, up 27.26% from 2.34 million mt in March. Paradip port on the east coast received the most coking coal last month, 754,159 mt up 0.29% on the month. The surveyed ports were: Kandla, Navlakhi, Mundra, Bhavnagar, Pipavav, Muldwarka, Bedi, Magdalla, Dahej, Dharamtar, Haji Bunder, Jaigarh, Goa, Mangalore, Tuticorin, Ennore, Karaikal, Krishnapatnam, Kakinada, Gangavaram, Vizag, Paradip, […]

Click here to view full article at www.platts.com

Oman is in talks with India to buy a minority stake in Petronet LNG Ltd. ‘s planned liquefied natural gas terminal off India’s east coast, the middle-eastern nation’s oil and gas minister said Wednesday. Mohammed Bin Hamad Al Rumhy told reporters on the sidelines of an event that Oman wants to buy a 10% to 20% stake in the 5 million tonne a year LNG terminal at Gangavaram, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The stake could be bought through an investment or pension fund, he added. "Petronet’s track record in the terminal business is attractive……..There are synergies (as well)," he said. Indian state-run companies Corp. , Indian Oil Corp. , Bharat Petroleum Corp. and GAIL hold a 12.5% stake each in Petronet. French power company GDF Suez owns 10% and the Asian Development Bank another 5.2%. The rest is held by public, insurance companies and mutual funds. […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

India’s crude oil imports rose by nearly a quarter in February as demand for fuel products rose ahead of federal polls that begin from next week. The world’s third-biggest crude oil importer after the U.S. and China bought 16.42 million metric tons, or 4.29 million barrels a day of oil, from overseas last month, up from 13.37 million tons a year earlier, according to oil ministry data. Crude oil refiners say the demand for crude is up due mainly to the steady rise in demand for fuel products as political parties burn more gasoline and diesel to power their campaign for the federal elections. Fuel demand in February rose 2.4 per cent to 12.836 million tons from a year earlier. According to a senior government official, imports also rose because local refineries raised crude oil processing volumes to meet their fiscal-year throughput target. The annual crude oil contracts […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com