Bharat Rakshak

TSP proposes a separate gas pipeline but Iran wants to wait for India

TSP is beginning to feel the squeeze. It badly needs gas especially during winter when its big hydroelectric power projects in Tarbela, Mangla, Ghazi Brotha generate next to nothing. There are no big thermal power projects to name. Several gas-based IPPs have shut down recently due to non-availability of gas and there is a severe power shortage.

OVL plans $2bn bid for 15% in Yukos unit

Iran quotes higher price for LNG:

I saw a ticker on CNN this morning about India and Iran signing a LNG deal worth $40 Billion, and India getting Iranian oil fields to develop.

Any Confirmation?

Confirmed.

The deal is confirmed!

India signs pact with Iran to import 7.5 mt LNG



This formula of 1.2 + (0.065 * Brent) is higher than what we wanted ($0.92 + 0.04 * Brent) or what Iranians wanted ($0.92+ 0.065 * Brent) as per earlier reports. The significant change is that the Brent Crude price subject to an upper ceiling of $31, resulting in the Max price of $3.215/MBTU.

Also:

Mani Shankar Aiyar

Ajit,
How does that price compare with the Sino-Iranian deal ? Any ideas.

Meanwhile, the faithful attack the not so faithful in the Land of the Pure.

Three killed as Sui gas pipeline is attacked in Balochistan

Indo-Iran LNG deal price competitive, say experts

Here are some prices for comparison.

I assume that the Iran price is pre-regassification which means another 0.65 USD per mBTU and transportation charges by GAIL through pipelines.

Sui gas pipeline blown up

http://www.dawn.com/2005/01/08/top9.htm

I do not know why Hon'ble Minister Sankar Iyer is not able to reduce the prices when the international prices has reasobly gone down. He is the sort of congressmen who makes people to hate congress. He needs to be taught the the government cannot sustain the anger of middle class if the government is putting her hands into the middle class pockets. I would suggest before the assembly elections the central government has someone to advise on this to reduce the prices of Petrol accordingly. If it goes up again the prices in India can go up again? If you are internationalising prices and regulate the prices according to the international standard, then why are not coming down when the international prices are coming down. I think Mani Sankar's pocket is filled by the Oil suppliers.
Katta

Katta,
Its sheer economic idiocy to beleive that the Govt should subsidise the Indian populace indefinatly. Indian govt has to ride the highs and the lows of oil/gas international pricing but the progressive trend should always be towards a more accurate reflection of the world supply/demand pricing structure. Any other way lies economic madness. The Ma-Baap govt that you advocate while critisizing Congress is laughable palpable nonsense.

Saudis can sell cheap subsidised petrol and gas to thier populace but India if it wants to pull out of low growth low investment regime must aim for a truer and transparent reflection of oil/gas pricing, painfull as it may be.

Unfortunately I did not find any details of the China-Iran deal anywhere. Most of the news reports are of the following generic variety:



The deal is apparently not very open, with probable under-the-desk defense deals enmeshed in the agreement, which is probably why there are so few details publicly available.

BRites please be on the lookout for any such details...

SureshP,

It is a myth that govt subsidizes any of the petro-product to its citizen on a net cost to govt. All govt does is first charges inhumane taxes on all petro-products pushing the cost sky high and than uses that same tax money to subsidize and even cross subsidize selected products. If taxes are rationalized and brought down to US level there won't be a need for subsidizing anything. It'll cost what it costing right now after subsidy.

This information was given by Mani Shankar Aiyar to the parliament few days back. Price without any taxes would be lower than the current subsidized cost for even the kerosene and LPG.

Katta,
Do you have any, but any idea how much fuel is taxed in Europe. The US has traditionally run a low tax regime because oil's mass usage came at the same time as the discovery of oil in the US. The US citizen sees it as his birthright to have cheap oil. India imports 70% (soon to rise to 80%} of its oil and the oil wells in India are coming to thier end of useful life with little to no prospect of major discovries in the future. If I was an Oil minister in India, I would be raising taxes on oil imports to ensure a healthier competition for alternatives and ensuring that the balloning Oil bill is capped to a managable level and promoting effeciencies and competition in transport refining and sale of oil products.

Two Sui gas pipelines blown-up by the faithfuls.

Security tightened around Sui

Pak view of the deal:



From: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2005_pg3_1

This is going out of control.

A jawan killed and 8 injured in another Sui attack.

ONGC looks for methane buyers

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050109/a ... 231421.asp

LNG imports to double domestic gas supply by 2009

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdat ... wsno=26557

Continuiing Rocket attacks on Sui infrastructure

its astounding how much the pakistanis are willing to give up to promote their policy of fanaticism towards India.

this bugti thing is one more nail in the coffin of piped gas - not that it ever was a consideration to begin with.

they have lost billions by being hostile to india. The taiwanese, koreans and japanese put aside their issues with China and trade their way to prosperity. The dumb as a doornail pakistanis have a tribal & feudal mentality.

Hell they gave up their identity and civilizational heritage (Indian Muslims) at partition.

What is a few billion dollars against that.

Yes, but that was only a tactical retreat. The Mughal Empire shall rise and rule again.

After oil, Cairn now finds gas in Rajasthan

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story ... t_id=62520

Asian ministers plan gas pipeline

I would like to quote an Indian strategist:

Pakistan is a Army with a country, not a country with a Army. If the Army gives up its hostile position, would not the country take over?

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GA13Df05.html

Reliance Industries Ltd, India's sole private sector oil refiner, will export close to US$4.5 billion worth of petroleum products this fiscal year.

[/url]

From Daily Pioneer

Myanmar to export natural gas to India

New Delhi

Myanmar will export natural gas to India by a pipeline through Bangladesh, according to a joint statement issued after a meeting of energy ministers of India, Bangladesh & Myanmar in Yangon.

Deal reached on Myanmar gas for India via Bangla

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story ... t_id=62679

Within a week of India sealing a $40 bn LNG deal with Iran, Bangladesh today agreed to make space for a $1 bn 290-km gas pipeline that will run from Myanmar all the way to Kolkata.

As part of the agreement, Bangladesh, which had sought the right to access hydro-electricity from Nepal and Bhutan through Indian territory and a corridor to supply commodities to these countries, has reserved the right to inject and siphon off gas from the pipeline.

Briefing reporters from Yangon, Aiyar said that while Bangladesh can transit its own gas, India can use the line to move gas from North East to West Bengal and Bihar.

Bangladesh will earn about $125 million annually as transit fee of the pipeline, which will run though Arakan in Myanmar, Mizoram and Tripura before crossing Bangladesh to Kolkata. India will also ‘‘favourably’’ examine Bangladesh’s request for transit right to Bhutan and Nepal, Aiyar said.

Aiyar said the pipeline is one of several options being considered by India to access gas reserves at a Shwe field block in offshore Myanmar, as well as volumes that are expected to be discovered in the adjacent block.

‘‘Some gas might come in form of compressed natural gas (CNG) in ships, which can make two round trips from Myanmar to east coast of India every day. We could also do it by putting up a liquefication plant (in Myanmar) and exporting LNG to India and other countries,’’ said Aiyar.

Myanmar has huge natural gas reserves and ‘‘we are keeping all options open and neither is mutually exclusive,’’ said Aiyar.

India, Bangladesh and Myanmar also agreed to form a techno-commercial committee to go into issues such as size, length, routing, pricing and quality of gas.

‘‘The route of the pipeline may be determined by mutual agreement of the three governments with a view to ensuring adequate access, maximum security and optimal economic utilisation,’’ said Aiyar.

However, the Minister did not indicate any timeframe for the construction of the pipeline. ‘‘The pipeline construction, operation and maintenance will be taken by an international consortium,’’ said Aiyar, adding that details would be worked out by the committee.

PM cites China: oil PSUs can do with new look, compete abroad
Restructuring: Govt clears panel, gives two months to suggest ways

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story ... t_id=62872

The idea of an LNG regas terminal on the East Coast is one that should be advocated. IT provides an secure alternative from Pakistani attack, opens us up to Indonesian and Myanmarese gas and can create an entirely new chemical industry base in the east.

IIRC, when I mentioned the same thing a couple of months ago on the IPI pipeline thread, you questioned the merit of the idea.

That aside, IMHO Tamil Nadu alone will need and use up the entire output of a Dahej-size LNG import terminal in the future.

from yahoo.co.in:

Sunday January 16, 8:39 PM

Saudi Aramco eyes Indian refining, retailing sector

By Himangshu Watts

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco, the world's top oil exporter, said on Sunday it wants to enter India's oil refining and retailing sector and invited Indian firms to invest in a refinery that may be built in Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom was also keen to strengthen ties with Indian firms, which buy more than 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, Abdallah Jumah, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, told an oil and gas conference in New Delhi.

Saudi Arabia was considering building a new 400,000 bpd refinery and Indian firms could consider investing in it, he said, but did not elaborate.

"We are thinking. It is just an idea," he told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

Jumah said he was scheduled to meet the chairman of state-run Indian Oil Corp, the country's largest refiner, to discuss business opportunities.

"Hope it won't be long before we conclude something," he said.

In 2003, when the Indian government offered a controlling stake in refining and retailing firm Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd, Aramco was ready to bid, Jumah said, but the Indian government withdrew its offer after stiff opposition from political parties and trade unions.

Jumah said Aramco had not given up hope and valued investment opportunities in India's downstream sector.

"Besides strengthening oil supply relationships and commercially benefiting both parties to the agreement, such joint ventures will also assist us in establishing closer ties with the Indian end-users of our petroleum."

Saudi Aramco has already invested in Japan's Showa Shell, South Korea's S-Oil Corp and Philippine refiner Petron Corp, as it seeks stable outlets for its crude in the face of competition from other Middle East producers such as Iran and Oman.

Jumah said the investment in Japan followed a decade of efforts by Aramco to develop a partnership in a major market.

"I think our involvement in Showa Shell is indicative of Saudi Aramco's willingness to wait until conditions are ripe."

He said the company was prepared to wait for the right moment in India also.

"I think the example of Japan is an important one when it comes to assessing and analysing Saudi Aramco's intentions in India," he said.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Kutty Abraham)

Business Week.

Hydrogen Cars Are Almost Here, But...
There are still serious problems to solve, such as: Where will drivers fuel up?

At the January auto show in Los Angeles, U.S. car enthusiasts got their first look at the H2R, a race car from BMW. Building it took just 10 months, but the race it's designed to win will last for the next 10 years and beyond. It's the race to stem pollution from vehicles that burn gasoline and diesel fuels.

The H2R runs on hydrogen, the gas that lights the sun. All carmakers are scrambling to harness this clean fuel, driven by long-term worries about oil supplies as well as environmental harm. Washington and other governments share the concerns.

When it comes to hydrogen vehicles, most car companies are counting on little under-the-hood chemical refineries known as fuel cells. Trouble is, a fuel-cell system powerful enough for a car would add roughly $100,000 to sticker prices today. And then there's an even tougher problem: Where would drivers get the fuel? Fewer than 100 filling stations in the whole world now pump hydrogen. So it could be a couple of decades before fuel-cell cars become popular enough to make a dent either in pollution or in petroleum consumption.

BMW is taking a shortcut that addresses these issues, at least in part. Its H2R race car has an ordinary internal-combustion engine -- but it burns hydrogen. It's basically the same engine used in the carmaker's 760i luxury sedans. Running on hydrogen, it develops 286 horsepower and propels the H2R from from zero to 60 mph in under six seconds. And the car hit 187 mph last September at the Miramas racetrack in France. "The message we wanted to send is that you can have fun driving and be environmentally conscious at the same time," says Tom Purves, CEO of BMW of North America LLC.

As for the dearth of hydrogen filling stations, that ceases to be quite as big a problem. The same BMW engine can run on either hydrogen or gasoline, so simply adding a second fuel system can create a bi-fuel car. For daily trips around town, you would burn hydrogen to minimize urban pollution, says Anton Reisinger, manager of BMW's hydrogen program. "But out on the motorway, you could punch a button and run on gasoline." If a trip on hydrogen goes beyond that fuel's 215-mile range, he adds, the car would automatically switch over to gasoline, giving you up to 500 more miles.

The downside to burning hydrogen in a combustion engine is that it produces some pollution -- a small amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx). Fuel cells, on the other hand, spew out nothing more noxious than water. But BMW asserts that its out-the-tailpipe NOx levels will be well below even California's strict Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle standard.

Another consideration is that BMW bi-fuel cars will use liquid hydrogen, which must be kept very cold, below -423F. The car's onboard cryogenic system takes care of this automatically. But if the vehicle isn't started up for three or four days, says Reisinger, the liquid will begin to boil, and hydrogen gas will escape through a vent. That, however, sounds like a bigger worry than it actually is. Despite persistent myths, hydrogen is less dangerous than gasoline. It disperses quickly, so even when a container leaks explosions are next to impossible.

When will zippy bi-fuel BMW 7 Series sedans show up at dealers? It's not a sure bet, but BMW CEO Helmut Panke says he plans to put small numbers of them on the road, probably in Europe, within three years. A U.S. launch is more likely to happen around 2010.

By then, there could be multiple hydrogen filling stations serving major cities. The German government is sponsoring development of filling stations with their own hydrogen generators. That way, the lack of hydrogen pipelines and delivery trucks won't hold back the early transition away from gasoline and diesel to hydrogen cars -- and to the ultimate goal of pollution-free fuel cells.

The hydrogen comes from a familiar resource: water. Here's how it works. Water molecules are split into their hydrogen and oxygen constituents by electrolysis, or by shocking them with an electric current. Then, after the hydrogen makes a trip through a fuel cell, it recombines with oxygen in the air and reverts back to water. Refueling stations with electrolyzers have been built in Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich. And others have been installed as part of the Clean Urban Transport for Europe program in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Reykjavik, and Stockholm.

Hydrogen filling stations are also getting sprinkled across the U.S. Last April, the Energy Dept. said it would spend $190 million over five years if industry chipped in a similar sum to build hydrogen-and-gasoline stations and other infrastructure projects. Results weren't long in coming. In November, Shell Oil Co. (RD ) and General Motors Corp. (GM ) cut the ribbon on a new hydrogen station in Washington. It's just the first of a string of stations between the capital and New York, says outgoing Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

In California, Energy has awarded a contract for the construction of two dozen stations to a team led by Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (APD ) The company has already built 30 hydrogen stations around the globe and is the No. 1 producer of hydrogen. (The fertilizer and chemical industries consume millions of tons of the gas each year.)

Not to be upstaged, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger last spring called for a "hydrogen highway network" by 2010. He envisions at least 150 fuel stops at regular intervals along major highways. The California Fuel Cell Partnership, composed mainly of transportation agencies and carmakers, has so far built 13 hydrogen stations, and the group has more on the drawing board.

BIOMASS: THE TICKET?
Some of the upcoming fuel stations may also have water-electrolysis systems. However, while that technology makes sense in Europe, where gasoline is twice as expensive, it's not so attractive in the U.S. Electrolysis takes a lot of electricity. It costs at least $2.50 to produce a kilogram of hydrogen, which contains the same amount of energy as a gallon of gasoline. But the next generation of wind turbines and solar cells could supply cheaper electricity and make electrolysis more feasible for certain areas of the U.S.. Germany is already experimenting with wind-powered electrolysis at filling stations. Energy's goal for hydrogen from water is $2 per kilogram by 2010.

In the U.S. heartland, biomass is the long-term ticket. This refers to leftover crop plants plus lumber and logging waste. Coaxing biomass to give up its hydrogen now costs more than $3 a kilogram. But researchers expect to shrink that to $2.60 around 2010. A few years later, hydrogen could compete with gasoline.

Total up all the potentials, and the U.S. has more than enough domestic resources to supply the energy it needs to replace all automotive fossil fuels with hydrogen -- using renewable resources only. So it would no longer be necessary to extract hydrogen from finite supplies of natural gas, which is the source of 90% of hydrogen today.

Once hydrogen is bountiful, says Raymond Freymann, BMW's managing director of research and technology, "we can go to a mono-fuel engine and not only extend the range [of the vehicle] but also improve the performance." So the H2R's 187 mph and 6-second acceleration may be just the start. But it seems like a good beginning.


By Otis Port in New York

India proposes wide-ranging o&g cooperation with Malaysia including Ennore LNG project