Energy News Monitor I Volume X, Issue 21

Hiddenly subsidised and polluting coal based power generation v/s Clean, decentralised and hybrid renewable energy generation Praveen Kumar Kulkarni, Director and Chairman of K K Nesar Projects Pvt. Ltd.

 

NEWS BRIEF

OIL & GAS

November 5, 2013. Videocon Industries said a well drilled to confirm an oil discovery in its Brazilian offshore block has struck 200 feet of high-quality hydrocarbon zone. Anadarko Petroleum Corp of US holds a 30 per cent interest and is the operator of BM-C-30. BP holds 25 per cent stake and Maersk 20 per cent interest. A joint venture of Videocon and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd holds the remaining 25 per cent. The Indian joint venture had acquired stake in the block from Canadian major EnCana Corporation at about ` 1,300 crore in 2007. Soon after that, oil was discovered in Wahoo well. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 4, 2013. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has refused to sign an Oil Ministry-sponsored resolution rejecting a revised investment plan for the main gas fields in the KG-D6 block, saying it does not reflect deliberations on the issue. The KG-D6 block oversight panel headed by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had on October 1 considered the reasons stated by RIL for lowering reserves in the producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields in KG-D6 to 3.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) from 10.03 tcf approved in 2006. The DGH and the Oil Ministry nominee on the panel, called the Management Committee (MC), disagreed with the geological reasons put forth by RIL for cutting the reserves and the drop in production to 10 million standard cubic meters per day from 54 mmscmd achieved in March 2010. The DGH summoned an MC meeting to sign the resolution, but RIL refused to attend or sign it. The Production Sharing Contract (PSC) states that MC meetings are convened by operators, not DGH or Oil Ministry. The MC, which has the DGH as chairman and includes representatives of the Oil Ministry and the contractors, is supposed to work as a board of directors and take decisions together. The PSC provides for the MC to remove ambiguity in decision making and to ensure that decisions are not taken by either the operator or the regulatory authority in isolation. The revised field development plan is critical in the Oil Ministry scheme of things to deny RIL the benefit of revised gas prices from April 1, 2014. It is proposing to the Cabinet that the current rate of $ 4.2 per million British thermal units (Btu) should be paid for gas from the D1 and D3 fields until it is proved that RIL did not deliberately suppress output. If the revised plan was to be accepted, it would have meant the ministry agrees with the reasons for the drop in output. A revised investment plan for the MA field in the KG-D6 block, where output has dropped by 60 per cent, has been accepted and it will get the benefit of the new gas price of $ 8.4 per million Btu. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 30, 2013. Cairn (India) Ltd will ramp up its gross production from Indian hydrocarbon concessions to 225,000 barrels per day in the current fiscal year. The MBA field in Rajasthan would account for 200,000 b/d of that output. Cairn was producing 205,000 b/d in the current 2012/13 fiscal year, an increase of 19 per cent from a year ago. Cairn would continue to monetise its hydrocarbon resources, and was planning with the Sri Lankan government to commence production from Mannar Basin's Dorado gas field by 2015. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 30, 2013. Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has inked two MOUs with Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) for import of Crude Oil & LPG and Cement Corporation of India (CCI) for setting up power plant. The estimated investment in the refinery expansion and the associated crude oil pipeline project would be in the range of ` 14000 crores which include augmenting refining capacity from current capacity of 3 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) to 9 MMTPA and the refinery plans to construct crude oil pipeline from Dhamra Port in Odisha to Golaghat in Assam. Detailed Feasibility Report for the proposed refinery expansion and the related crude oil pipeline are under preparation. According to NRL, a tripartite MOU was inked in New Delhi between Dhamra Port Company Limited DPCL, NRL & Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) for carrying out techno-commercial feasibility study for putting up 6 MMTPA Bulk Crude Oil Import facilities by NRL as well as 1 MMTPA Bulk LPG Import facilities by BPCL (to meet the market demand in Eastern India) at Dhamra Port in Odisha in the country's East Coast. The proposed crude oil pipeline route of around 1338 kms length to traverse through the states of Odisha, West Bengal and Assam has already been identified and detailed survey for construction of the same is in progress. DPCL will build the required jetty facilities along with associated infrastructure for unloading of bulk crude oil & bulk LPG carrying ships at Dhamra port at their own cost, whereas NRL will construct the bulk crude oil storage facilities as well as crude evacuation facilities through pipeline at Dhamra port. NRL has signed MOU with CCI. It proposed to enter into strategic tie-up between the two companies whereby 3,60,000 tonnes per annum of Raw Petroleum Coke (RPC), likely to be generated at Numaligarh Refinery after its proposed capacity expansion, would be used for generation of power. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 4, 2013. India has sought from Pakistan sovereign payment guarantees before it can sign a contract to export natural gas through a pipeline from Punjab. GAIL India plans to initially supply five million standard cubic meters per day of gas to Pakistan through a 110-km pipeline from Jalandhar to international border near Atari. But before GAIL enters into a gas supply contract with a Pakistani firm, New Delhi wants Pakistan to provide payment guarantees. Five rounds of negotiations have been held between the two sides and it has been found technically feasible to export gas from Punjab into Lahore. Besides sovereign guarantees, India wants sureties for three months payment and advance termination commitments. GAIL plans to import gas in its liquid form, called liquefied natural gas (LNG), on a port in Gujarat or Maharashtra. After converting this again into gaseous state, it is proposed to transport the gas through cross-country pipeline network to Jalandhar. From Jalandhar, a 110-km line is proposed to be laid to international border near Atari. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 31, 2013. Reliance Industries, owner of the world's biggest refining complex, imported 12.6 percent less oil in September compared with a year earlier and made a rare purchase of Australia's Gippsland oil. Reliance bought about 1.27 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in September, a decline of about 3.7 percent from August. Reliance's two advanced refineries in western Gujarat state can together process 1.2 million bpd of oil, about 28 percent of India's overall capacity. The complexity of these plants allows the refiner to diversify its crude slate continuously by testing new grades, and to improve refining margins. In the first nine months of 2013, the private refiner shipped in about 1.24 million bpd of oil, a slip of 2.8 percent from a year ago. From January to September, it bought about 46 percent of its oil needs from Latin America, with Venezuela maintaining its position as top crude supplier, which it has held since May 2012, followed by Saudi Arabia. The Neutral Zone, a border area whose production belongs to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, was the third-biggest oil supplier to Reliance in the first three quarters of this year. Reliance has an annual deal with Saudi Aramco to buy about 240,000 bpd oil, including 60,000 to 65,000 bpd from its fields in the Neutral Zone. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 5, 2013. The oil ministry plans to relax rigid provisions in oil and gas contracts that will safeguard energy explorers' interests if the government restricts drilling in an exploration block due to defence or environmental concerns. The government hopes that the move will help to check flight of foreign companies such as Eni and BHP Billiton. The petroleum ministry has proposed that in such cases explorers should have the option to exit from the entire block without any financial liability or their physical and financial commitments should be reduced in proportion to the remaining block area. Italian energy major Eni has virtually stopped its operations in India because of regulatory hassles. Last year, when Jaipal Reddy was the oil minister, the oil ministry decided to terminate its exploration contract in Rajasthan and slapped a penalty for incomplete work in the block. The block was awarded in 2005 but the company could not explore it fully because half of it turned out to be a restricted national park, where drilling was forbidden. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 4, 2013. After the success of pilot programmes in five metro cities, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily allowed the sale of 5-kg cooking gas (LPG) cylinders at petrol pumps across the country. The scheme, launched on October 5, allowed petrol pumps owned and operated by oil companies in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru to sell the 5-kg cylinders. Company owned and operated outlets make up for 3 per cent of the 47,000 petrol pumps in the country. Now, Moily has permitted the sale of these smaller cylinders at all petrol pumps across the country. The smaller cylinders will be sold at market rates, which are more than double the subsidised price of ` 410 per 14.2-kg cylinder in Delhi. However, the scheme will be deferred in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where assembly elections are being held in November and December. The Oil Ministry issued orders extending the scheme to other parts of the country. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 4, 2013. The 7% drop in GAIL's September quarter net profit was along expected lines. The slowdown in business and likely increase in natural gas prices from April next year remain key concerns for the transporter of the fuel, but the government appears to be actively considering a move to exempt it from having to participate in the subsidy-sharing mechanism, which will help re-rate the stock despite current woes. GAIL is required to pay a share of the subsidy that the government incurs on selling fuels at below cost. The company has been trying to cope with the dwindling domestic availability of natural gas, which persisted in the September quarter, with volume dipping to 95.2 mmscmd (million standard cubic metres per day), down 4% from the preceding quarter and 9.9% lower than in the year earlier. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 1, 2013. The government has ordered Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to pay a record ` 13,796 crore fuel subsidy for the July-September quarter, a move which will dent ONGC's profitability. The Oil Ministry on October 31 issued orders asking upstream oil and gas producers like ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) to give ` 16,729.74 crore to make up for 47 per cent of the ` 35,328 crore revenue that retailers lost on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at government controlled rates in second quarter. It is expecting the Finance Ministry to make up for the remaining by way of cash subsidy. Retailers like Indian Oil Corp (IOC) sell diesel and cooking fuel at rates which are way below cost. The losses they incur are met by government cash subsidy as well as through support from upstream firms. Of the ` 16,729.74 crore that upstream firms have been asked to pay for Q2, ONGC's share will be ` 13,796.04 crore while OIL will bear ` 2,233.70 crore. Gas utility GAIL will pay ` 700 crore. The subsidy ONGC has been asked to pay is 11.9 per cent more than ` 12,330 crore fuel subsidy outgo in July-September quarter of 2012. It is also 9.3 per cent more than ` 12,622 crore payout in Q1 of current fiscal. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 1, 2013. In what comes as respite for many, petrol price has been slashed by ` 1.15 per litre. However, in another not so pleasing development, diesel rate has been hiked by 50 paise per litre. The changes in fuel prices are applicable with effect from October 31 midnight. Following the decision, the petrol price in the national capital would be ` 71.02/litre while that in Kolkata and Mumbai would be ` 78.07 and ` 78.04 per litre respectively. The price of diesel in Delhi will be ` 53.10 per litre. In Mumbai and Kolkata, the rates would be ` 60.08/litre and ` 57.49 per litre respectively. The reduction comes on back of a ` 3.05 per litre (` 3.66 after including VAT) cut in rates effected from October 1. Prior to that, petrol prices had since June risen seven times, totalling ` 10.80 per litre, excluding VAT (` 13.06 after including state tax) as the rupee depreciated sharply against the rupee. Meanwhile, the hike in diesel price is the 10<sup>th</sup> since the January 17 and most of the losses on diesel sales should have been wiped out by now to make the fuel market priced. But the fall in rupee, around 25 per cent since April, has worsened the situation and losses mounted to ` 14.50 per litre. However, the recent firming of rupee against US dollar and monthly increases have trimmed these losses to ` 9.58. Diesel rates have risen by a cumulative ` 5.95 this year. (www.financialexpress.com)

November 1, 2013. All household LPG consumers will continue to receive subsidy even if not linked to the Adhaar card. Apprehension that subsidy for those not having the card would be discontinued from today was not true. However, the current system of subsidised LPG cylinders for non-Adhaar linked consumers would be valid only for the next three months. Indian Oil was the co-ordinator for all oil PSUs in West Bengal. Therefore, there was no reason for apprehension for HP Gas and BP Gas consumers also. An advertisement by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in the day's dailies on linking LPG subsidy to Adhar card for Kolkata, Howrah and Coochbehar districts with immediate effect, created panic among LPG consumers. West Bengal Chief Minister expressed shock and pointed out that only between 15 to 20 per cent of consumers had received Adhaar cards so far. IOC said that customers who had already linked or seeded their card number with the LPG distributor and banks for cash transfer, would be mandatorily migrated to the new system. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 31, 2013. Cairn India has been ranked as the fastest growing energy company in the world while Reliance Industries is the top ranked Indian energy firm in the global ranking. With a compound growth rate of 121 per cent in past three years, Cairn was ranked the fastest growing energy company in the world ahead of Cnooc of China, Valero Energy of the US, PetroChina, Essar Energy and Russian Rosneft, according to the Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings. Platts said Cairn, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company whose main asset are the prolofic Rajasthan oilfields, has given 25 per cent return on invested capital and is for the second year in running the world's fastest growing energy firm. Releasing the Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings for 2013, RIL has toppled ONGC to become the top Indian firm in a global ranking. RIL improved eight positions to grab the 19^th position on the ranking. ONGC held on its 22^nd ranking, the position it had in 2012, while RIL improved from last time's 27^th rank. This year's list is topped by Exxon Mobil Corp, with Chevron Corp in the second place. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 30, 2013. The government formally informed Reliance Industries that five of its controversial discoveries worth $6.76 billion in the prolific KG-D6 block are "deemed relinquished", Oil Secretary Vivek Rae said. He said the decision was taken because RIL did not adhere to the prescribed timelines for appraisal, declaration of commerciality and field development plan. Oil Minister Veerappa Moily had recently directed officials to take back the five discoveries containing an estimated of 805 billion cubic feet of gas, but he had allowed RIL to retain three other fields containing gas worth $2.9 billion at the revised gas price, striking a middle path after the directorate general of hydrocarbons recommended that all eight fields should be relinquished. The minister accepted Reliance's argument that a particular type of appraisal was initially not mandatory. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 30, 2013. A government-appointed expert panel has recommended to "immediately" hike prices of diesel by ` 5 a litre, kerosene by ` 4 per litre and cooking gas by ` 250 per cylinder, reduce annual entitlement of subsidized cooking gas cylinder from six from nine and phase out diesel subsidy in one year. The recommendations are unlikely to be implemented "immediately" because the government fear popular backlash in assembly elections of five states and the general election next year. The Contress-led UPA government would postpone any move to raise fuel rates drastically till mid 2014, when the new government would be formed at the Centre. Oil Minister Veerappa Moily says the government is not in a hurry to accept the Kirit Parikh committee recommendations. The government constituted the panel under chairmanship of former member, Planning Commission, Parikh, four months ago to advice it on issues related to fuel subsidies and pricing of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

POWER

November 4, 2013. Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) is likely to take up two power projects worth over ` 35,000 crore that have been long stalled due to environmental hurdles. Power Ministry has sought CCI intervention on NHPC's Dibang project and Reliance Power's Tilaiya project. The 3,000 MW Dibang hydro project has been stalled for a long time in the absence of environment and forest go-ahead. The estimated cost of the project is over ` 15,000 crore. The CCI may decide whether the private power producer Reliance Power's 4,000 MW ultra mega power project at Tilaiya in Jharkhand should be spared from the responsibility of providing non-forest land to compensate for the loss of forest land to be acquired for the project. At present, only central government or public sector undertakings have exemption from the obligation to provide non-forest land under the Act. This is Reliance Power's third UMPP. The company is also executing two more UMPPs -- Sasan (Madhya Pradesh) and Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh). UMPP is a big-size coal-based power plant with at least 4,000 MW capacity and is built at an approximate cost of ` 20,000 crore. CCI, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, aims to fast-track major projects and help boost investor sentiment. Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had earlier said that as many as 94 hydro power projects are languishing due to tardy progress at various levels in granting them clearances. Once approved, they can generate 37,000 MW electricity. Hydro power contributes 39,623 MW of the total 2,25,793 MW capacity in the country. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 4, 2013. Power generation at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu which was temporarily suspended last week, resumed. The 1000MWe first unit was shut down, the second such exercise undertaken by the authorities after it was synchronised with the southern grid. Unit-1 had attained criticality on July 13 this year after much delay following protests against the project by anti-nuclear activists in areas around the complex, citing safety reasons. Power generation would be increased gradually towards 1000MWe by December this year once the unit attains operational stability. Nuclear Power Corporation of India is constructing two 1,000MW units at KNPP jointly with Russia at Kudankulam in Tiruneveli district. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 1, 2013. NHPC Ltd has started reaching out to public to create favourable environment for resuming the 2000MW Lower Subansari hydro electric project along Assam-Arunachal project which is facing stiff opposition from anti dam protestors. In an exercise to reach out to public, NHPC conducted a seminar in Guwahati where several speakers drawn from various disciplines tried to dispel misgivings about the safety of the dam. Union Minister of State for Power Jyotiraditya Scindia in a letter to Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi recently stated delay in resumption of works will result in increase in tariff that has ultimately to be borne by the public and asked the Assam Chief Minister for efforts to facilitate a tripartite talk involving the NHPC, the government of India and the agitating groups so that the issue can be resolved at the earliest. Peasant organization, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) staged dharna against the NHPC's public consultation process. The ministry of power has accepted the recommendation of expert panel which suggest modification in the dam designs. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 5, 2013. Hiving off electricity grids operator POSOCO into a separate company is likely to take some more time with the Power Ministry yet to complete inter-ministerial consultations on the proposal. Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO), which ensures integrated functioning of regional and national electricity systems, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Power Grid Corp. The move to make POSOCO a separate entity comes at a time when more private players are getting into power transmission segment. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 30, 2013. Power Grid Corp said its board has investments worth ` 2,820.04 crore for four projects. The power transmission major would invest ` 1,364.52 crore in "Eastern Region Strengthening Scheme-V" project, with commissioning expected in 30 months. Besides, the company would pump in ` 1,315.90 crore in "Inter-Regional System Strengthening Scheme in WR and NR (Part A)" project, which is anticipated to be completed in 36 months. Power Grid would shell out ` 76.30 crore for procurement of telecom equipment, operation support system and other telecom network requirements among others. This project is estimated to be ready in one year from the date of award. Further, the company would be developing a "Transmission System for Solapur STPP (2x660 MW) at an estimated cost of ` 63.32 crore with a commissioning schedule of 24 months from the date of investment". (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 5, 2013. The power ministry plans to give a shot in the arm for ultra mega power projects and has approached the Cabinet to exempt the plants from a key provision of the Forests Act, 1980, that requires companies to identify land for mandatory compensatory afforestation. To facilitate this, the ministry has approached the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure seeking 'central government' status for ultra mega power projects for the purpose of acquiring forestland. Under the current system, unlike private developers, central government projects are not required to identify non-forest land for compensatory afforestation or pay any money for the purpose. The existing provision helps state companies such as NTPC to develop projects smoothly, but private firms face numerous obstacles in securing approvals and clearances required for identifying the appropriate patch of land to plant trees in lieu of forest land that a project needs. The power ministry wants now wants the same provision to be applied to all companies. However, the power ministry has proposed that developers of ultra mega power projects be asked to pay for afforestation although state governments should identify the non-forest land. Compensatory afforestation rule is one of the most important conditions stipulated by the central government under the forest conservation Act while diverting forestland and requires companies to identify an equal area of non-forest land in the same state. The proposal is part of the government's efforts to revive investment and clear obstacles that have stalled giant projects such as UMPPs. Reliance Power bagged the 3,960 MW ultra mega power project at Tilaiya in 2009 and planned to commission the first unit by May 2015. The company has not been able to start work as the state government has not handed over land to the company. The company has received forest clearance for 1,220 acres of forest land but is still awaiting final handover from the state government. Nearly 80% of land required for the project and attached coal mines fall under forest area. Reliance Power had ordered the main plant equipment for the Tilaiya project from China's Shanghai Electric, but is still in discussions with domestic and international banks for financial closure. The proposal would also benefit developers of future ultra mega power projects. The government has called bids for two such projects at Bedhabahal in Orissa and Cheyyur in Tamil Nadu. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 4, 2013. The Arunachal Pradesh government has allocated the 330 MW Kurung Kumey Hydro Power project to the North East Electrical Power Corporation (NEEPCO) for execution. The state cabinet also approved setting up of a Gas Power Plant at Miao in Changlang district and a Nursing College at the state capital. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

November 3, 2013. Having suffered loss of about ` 1,000 crore in power infrastructure due to cyclone Phailin, Odisha government has decided to take up 'disaster proofing' of the system in some parts of worst-hit Ganjam district. In the initial phase, the power distribution system would be made armoured in Berhampur, Chatrapur and Gopalpur towns. The cost of the project will be around ` 300 crore with more than one lakh consumers to reap the benefits. The idea of introducing disaster proofing system was mooted at a meeting between Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Power Grid Corporation of Indian Limited (PGCIL) CMD R N Nayak recently. The PGCIL, which has introduced similar system in certain cities, agreed to take up the matter in three towns in Odisha, the sources said adding the central PSU has been urged to prepare Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the three towns in Ganjam district. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 31, 2013. Electricity regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) on November 13 will hear Adani Power's plea seeking increase in tariff from its thermal power plant in Gujarat due to rise in price of coal from Indonesia. Adani Power had petitioned CERC for evolving a mechanism to meet the escalation in fuel cost due to enactment of new coal pricing regulation by Indonesian government. Adani Power is executing a coal-based thermal power project at Mundra in Gujarat based on domestic coal. Due to shortfall in production of coal by Coal India, the company had tied up supplies with Indonesia. CERC, in April, had said that Adani Power should be granted compensation package for its Mundra project which would provide a cushion against the escalation in cost of imported coal for the plant. The compensation in the form of compensatory tariff will be decided by a committee headed by HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, the regulator had said in its order. The committee, in its report submitted to CERC, is believed to have suggested a hike of about 50 paise per unit for the Adani Power's plant in Mundra. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 31, 2013. Ahead of a proposed strike by Coal India workers against a stake sale by the government, one of the five trade unions said it has written to Chairman S Narsing Rao seeking a meeting to discuss demands. Coal India workers deferred a planned three-day strike to December 17 from September 23 after the management said it would facilitate talks with the government about the proposed disinvestment and restructuring of the mining company. The union has not heard from Coal India on some issues, including a voluntary retirement scheme for women workers and post-retirement medical benefits for non-executives in line with a scheme for executives.

The government, which holds a 90 per cent stake in Coal India, plans to divest 5 per cent in November or December. The Department of Disinvestment revised its original plan to offload a 10 per cent stake after strong opposition from the unions. The government plans to raise ` 40,000 crore through stake sales in the current financial year. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 30, 2013. Power Ministry is awaiting response from the Karnataka government on restructuring the debt of the state's discoms, before approaching the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) with the proposal. As per the proposal by the ministry, the state electricity boards of Jharkhand, Bihar and Karnataka will be allowed to convert their outstanding loans, till March 2013, into bonds as part of an amendment to the discom debt restructuring package. At present, under the government approved Financial Restructuring Package (FRP), 50 per cent of the accumulated debt of the discoms till March 2012 can be converted into bonds to be issued by these distribution companies to the participating lenders, backed by state government guarantees. This package was approved in September 2012 by the Centre in order to bail out the near-bankrupt discoms. Karnataka along with Jharkhand and Bihar had approached the Ministry seeking this special provision. Under the FRP scheme, balance 50 per cent loans will be restructured by providing moratorium on principal and best possible terms for repayments. The support under the scheme is available for all participating state-owned discoms on fulfilling short-term mandatory conditions. The government has also stated the debt recast should be accompanied by concrete and measurable actions by discoms or states to improve the operational performance of the distribution utilities. The accumulated losses of state power distribution companies are estimated at about ` 1.9 lakh crore as on March 31, 2011, and ` 2.46 lakh crore as on March 31, 2012. The debt recast plan for the discoms was formulated based on the report of an expert group headed by B K Chaturvedi, Member (Energy) of the Planning Commission. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

OIL & GAS

November 5, 2013. Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), the state oil company, seized about $1 million worth of equipment from Superior Energy Services Inc., the Houston-based company said. PDVSA expropriated two hydraulic units that were idled after the Caracas-based company missed payments. The units operated in eastern Venezuela’s Anzoategui state. Venezuela’s oil industry generates 95 percent of the country’s foreign currency earnings, said Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, who also serves as PDVSA’s chairman. Venezuela’s Orinoco heavy-oil belt is home to the world’s largest accumulation of heavy and extra-heavy oil. Venezuela, which is producing about 3 million barrels a day, according to Ramirez, expects to reach 4 million barrels by the end of 2014. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 3, 2013. Anadarko Petroleum Corp is considering the sale of its holdings in oil and gas projects in China, in a deal that could be valued at about $1 billion. Anadarko owns about a 35 percent interest in production and development projects in China's Bohai Bay. The planned sale is part of Houston-based Anadarko's strategy to raise cash to plough money back into gas properties in the United States. (www.reuters.com)

October 31, 2013. Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest energy company by market value, will proceed with the C$13.5 billion ($12.9 billion) Fort Hills oil sands project as it seeks to increase production. The venture with Total SA and Teck Resources Ltd. will begin producing crude in 2017, adding 180,000 barrels a day of output in northern Alberta, the company said. The approval comes after Chief Executive Officer Steve Williams canceled another venture with Total in a bid to reduce costs and boost profitability. Fort Hills, which had initially been slated to start in 2016, has 3.3 billion barrels of reserves and will produce oil for about 50 years, the company said. Suncor also lowered its full-year production target to the equivalent of between 545,000 barrels of oil a day and 590,000 barrels from an earlier outlook of between 570,000 barrels and 620,000 barrels because of disruptions in Libya, planned outages at Syncrude Canada Ltd. and the sale of part of its natural gas business in western Canada. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 31, 2013. Malaysia's state-owned Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) announced new gas discoveries in three of its upstream ventures in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. The first discovery is via the Pegaga-1 well in Block SK320, offshore Sarawak, which is operated by Mubadala Petroleum through a Malaysian affiliate. Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Petronas, has a 25 percent interest in the block. (www.rigzone.com)

October 31, 2013. Total reported that its Mirawa-1 well, onshore Kurdistan, has flowed at between 3,200 and 3,900 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in three drill-stem tests after it discovered light oil in two Jurassic carbonate reservoirs. Total said that three other formation tests have confirmed the presence of gas and condensate reservoirs in the Triassic layer. Choked drill-stem tests flowed at between 20 and 30 million cubic feet of gas per day, while one formation flowed at 1,700 barrels per day of condensate. (www.rigzone.com)

October 30, 2013. Marathon Oil Corporation’s subsidiary Marathon Oil KDV B.V. made a discovery in the company-operated Harir Block in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The Mirawa-1 exploratory well discovered multiple stacked oil and natural gas producing zones. Drilled to a total depth of 14,000 feet, the Mirawa-1 well found oil and natural gas shows over an extensive gross interval of both Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs from 5,800 feet to total depth. Marathon performed an extensive drill stem test and flow rates were established from multiple zones in the Jurassic, producing high-quality oil. The flow rates totaled in excess of 11,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). In addition, non-associated gas zones in the Triassic flowed at rates totaling about 72 million cubic feet per day together with associated condensate from one zone at a rate of 1,700 bopd. (www.rigzone.com)

November 5, 2013.The average price of gasoline at the pump for U.S. drivers fell to the lowest level of the year as wide spreads between U.S. and European oil benchmarks have driven American refiners to produce more fuel than ever for this time of year. The average retail price fell 2.9 cents to $3.265 a gallon in the week ended, the lowest level since Dec. 4, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported. Prices are 22.7 cents below a year earlier. U.S. refineries produced 9.434 million barrels a day of gasoline the week of Oct. 25, the highest seasonal level in weekly EIA data going back to 1982. Gasoline’s crack spread versus West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for inland U.S. refineries, was $11.56 a barrel based on New York Mercantile Exchange settlement prices. The fuel was at a 5-cent discount versus Brent. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 1, 2013. Spot gasoline and diesel fuel weakened in the U.S. Northeast relative to futures in New York as Delta Air Lines Inc. returned a unit to planned rates at a Pennsylvania refinery. Delta, the only airline operating a U.S. refinery, restarted a fluid catalytic cracker at the 185,000-barrel-a-day Trainer refinery after shutting the unit Oct. 18 for unplanned maintenance. An FCC remains shut at Irving Oil Corp.’s Saint John refinery in New Brunswick. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. Libya plans to build two oil refineries in its east and south, where strikes have shut down crude facilities, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said. The government planned a 300,000 barrels a day refinery in Tobruk in the east where protesters have blocked the Hariga port for around two months. Another 50,000 bpd-refinery would be set up in Ubari in the remote south where workers have shut down the El Sharara oilfield. Zeidan also said oil exports from Hariga port would resume on Sunday or Monday. (uk.reuters.com)

November 5, 2013. The combined carrying capacity of oil tankers leaving Iranian ports last month dropped 22 percent from September, vessel-tracking data show. The implied capacity of departing ships declined to the equivalent of 1.02 million barrels a day from 1.30 million barrels, according to signals gathered by IHS Maritime, a Coulsdon, England-based research company. The data may be incomplete because not all ship transmissions are captured. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 1, 2013. While Pakistan is banking on funds from Iran to complete its share of the gas pipeline, the Iranian Oil Minister said the contract for the project was likely to be annulled. While Islamabad maintains that there is no official word on this yet from Tehran, the project is already in limbo since it does not have the $2 billion to complete its share. Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the project was going ahead and construction contracts were to be signed. He had also dismissed speculation that U.S. sanctions would affect the project. The pipeline was discussed with U.S. President Barack Obama during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit. Iran has already constructed more than 900 km (out of 1,100 km) of the pipeline on its territory at a cost of $700 million. Conceived in the 1990s as a “peace pipeline,” the project initially had India on board and was scheduled to be completed by December 2014. Iran had expressed concern over Pakistan’s delay in starting work. (www.thehindu.com)

October 31, 2013. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will cut crude exports through mid-November as rising U.S. output allows the nation to curb purchases from the Middle East and Africa, according to Oil Movements. OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will reduce sailings by 80,000 barrels a day, or 0.3 percent, to 23.78 million barrels in the four weeks to Nov. 16, the tanker tracker said in a report. That compares with 23.86 million in the period to Oct. 19. The figures exclude two of OPEC’s 12 members, Angola and Ecuador. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. Singapore is set to end a moratorium on new piped natural gas imports soon as robust initial demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has meant that most of the super-chilled fuel brought in via a new terminal has been taken up. The city-state has prevented its four pipeline gas importers from signing new contracts until 2018, or when demand for LNG, shipped in by BG Group Plc, hits 3 million tonnes per year, whichever is earlier. (in.reuters.com)

October 30, 2013. Three years after an oil pipeline rupture in Michigan spilled 843,000 gallons of sludge, government regulators still haven’t produced promised rules to compel operators to detect leaks. An oil spill in North Dakota last month and the continued debate over construction of TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL Pipeline have led to renewed criticism to the government’s inaction on safety measures. Pipeline safety, a little-noticed backwater of Washington policy making, has grown in attention and political importance in recent years as the boom in North Dakota and Texas oil production and the hydraulic-fracturing revolution for natural gas means the U.S. pipeline network is both expanding and increasingly active. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. Libyan crude oil exports showed little improvement after falling to a trickle, except for one tanker that was expected to load condensate from the small western port of Mellitah. Libya's two western ports of Zawiya and Mellitah suspended oil exports, on top of the closures of its eastern facilities. Exports from the OPEC producer have fallen to around 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the two offshore oil platforms, Al Jurf and Bouri, or less than 10 percent of its 1.25 million bpd capacity. Meanwhile, its eastern ports showed no sign of re-opening. Brega port in the east, which is technically open, cannot export due to low oil output at nearby fields. Production was at 20,000 bpd from Brega fields, the state National Oil Corp said. (uk.reuters.com)

November 1, 2013. Bulgaria's Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski and the chief of Russian gas company Gazprom have launched the construction of the Bulgarian stretch of a pipeline meant to transport Russian natural gas to Europe. Plamen Oresharski and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller announced the start of work on the 540-kilometer (335-mile) section of the South Stream pipeline, which is expected to start operating in December 2015. (www.downstreamtoday.com)

October 31, 2013. Risks to the public from shale-gas drilling are expected to be low as long as operations are well-regulated, a U.K. government-backed body said in a draft report. Prime Minister David Cameron’s government has proposed the world’s most generous tax system to encourage drilling of U.K. shale deposits as it seeks to cut dependence on imports, boost growth and cut consumers’ energy costs. The plans are opposed by those concerned that the hydraulic fracturing operations will contaminate water supplies, and increase traffic and noise. Fracking blasts water, chemicals and sand underground at high pressure to break open shale rock and release trapped fuel. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 31, 2013. Indonesia is looking to build a new 300,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) state-owned refinery to reduce its dependence on imported fuels. Indonesia now has about 1 million bpd of refining capacity that meets about two-thirds of its demand, meaning it has to import more than 500,000 bpd of fuel products to fill the gap. (www.downstreamtoday.com)

October 31, 2013. Egypt signed nine crude oil and natural-gas exploration agreements with companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) as the country struggles to revamp an economy battered by almost three years of political turmoil. The contracts, the first such awards since 2010, will require minimum investment of $470 million, the country’s oil ministry said. The contract winners agreed to drill 15 wells in the Gulf of Suez, the Sinai and the eastern and western deserts, the ministry said. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. Russia will open up liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports for companies other than Gazprom under a law passed by the government as part of plans to more than double its global market share by 2020. Gazprom is the world's largest gas producer but has only one LNG plant with an annual capacity of 10 million tonnes and just a 4.5 percent global market share. It plans to build new facilities, as do rivals Rosneft and Novatek, which aims to launch the first by 2017. (uk.reuters.com)

October 30, 2013. PetroChina Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., the country’s largest energy companies, increased profit in the third quarter as a new policy helped them raise fuel prices, foreshadowing Premier Li Keqiang’s plan to reduce state intervention in the economy. China Petroleum, known as Sinopec, reported a 20 percent jump in net income to 22 billion yuan ($3.6 billion), while PetroChina posted a 19 percent gain in profit to 29.8 billion yuan. The government in March mandated that domestic prices track increasing costs on global markets more closely to provide refiners reasonable margins. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. Spain’s government set local ground rules for oil and gas drillers to use hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in an effort to spur shale-exploration projects by endorsing the contested technology that they need. The 1998 law on oil exploration was changed to specifically include the water-intensive drilling technique in new legislation published. The measure also modified a 2006 law so that fracking projects nationwide must meet environmental-impact rules. That means they will be scrutinized for potential impacts on aquifers to air quality. (www.bloomberg.com)

POWER

November 5, 2013. Egypt and the World Bank signed the Helwan South Power Plant Project, a gas-fired power plant that will help deliver a more reliable supply of electricity across the country. The World Bank is an important development partner in Egypt’s energy sector which provides technical assistance and project financing. The Project is part of a broader program which aims to help the country address energy policy issues and meet the growing electricity demand in a sustainable manner. (www.worldbank.org)

November 4, 2013. Germany's energy regulator will allow 12 power generation units with a combined capacity of 5 GW to shut down. Operators applied for the closure of the units due to challenges such as rising competition to grid access from renewable energy projects and low energy prices. All but two of the power generation units are in Germany's western state of North-Rhine Westphalia. The energy regulator had to ensure closing the 12 units would not significantly impact or limit energy supply. In 2011, Germany shut down 40 percent of its nuclear power capacity, with most of the nuclear reactors located in the south where many industrial companies are located. (www.pennenergy.com)

November 4, 2013. Iran's electricity industry ranks first in the region in terms of output, energy ministry said. Iran's electricity network is the most powerful in the Middle East. Referring to the implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution, the privatization of power plants with a production capacity of 33,000 MW is on the agenda of the ministry. Iran is the only regional country with the capability of establishing power plants. The country is considered the pivot of electricity swap in the region. The total installed power plant capacity of the country exceeds 70,000 MW, noting that the country ranks 14^th in the world in terms of electricity generation capacity. (www.zawya.com)

October 31, 2013. Kenyan state-owned energy provider, KenGen, is seeking to attract Sh467 billion ($5.5 billion) in equity and debt investment to double electricity generation in the next 5 years, with strategic investors reportedly on the company’s radar. KenGen is Kenya’s largest electricity generator, providing an estimated 80 percent of the country’s total consumption with a 1,239 MW installed capacity, but plans to add a further 2,500 MW to the national grid by 2018, a move that will strengthen the nation’s push for an extra 5000 MW target. (www.ventures-africa.com)

November 5, 2013. Xcel Energy has requested the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to authorize base electricity rates increase over a two-year period, to help support investment in carbon-free energy, and service reliability improvements. The company is seeking a 4.6% hike in the average customer rates, effective 3 January 2014, followed by another 5.6% increase in 2015. Northern States Power Co.-Minnesota said the proposal provides more manageable and predictable bills while enabling the company to provide high-quality service and customer value. Approximately 45% of the increase will be invested to continue operation and increase output at the company's nuclear plants for an additional 20 years, and new wind resources. (utilitiesretail.energy-business-review.com)

November 5, 2013. Europeans are paying the steepest energy bills in four years and face ever higher payments as governments pile on extra charges to help finance a 1 trillion euro (872 billion pounds) modernisation of Europe's energy infrastructure. Politicians from Britain to Germany, Italy to Romania, under pressure from electorates squeezed by economic downturn, are promising to cap energy prices or at least draw their sting. (www.iii.co.uk)

November 1, 2013. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says radioactive water flowing into the sea from the crippled Fukushima atomic station is being contained within the plant’s harbor, a view maintained by operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. Marine scientists, Fukushima residents and Japan’s general public don’t agree. What’s more, the harbor is designed to take advantage of tidal flushing, which pushes warmer water out to sea after it has circulated through reactor cooling systems. Abe repeated that the radiation is contained in the harbor on Oct. 16 in a parliamentary response to questions from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan. This debate has dogged him since his Sept. 7 speech to the International Olympic Committee, when he said the nuclear disaster is “under control.” The next day, Tokyo won hosting rights for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 1, 2013. Nigeria began handing over the power distribution and generation companies created from the unbundling of the Power Holding Co. of Nigeria, or PHCN, to new investors. The Bureau of Public Enterprises, in charge of the privatization of state-owned companies, said that the transfer of 11 power distribution and power generation companies including Geregu, Ughelli and Shiroro to preferred bidders would be the culmination of government efforts to liberalize the electricity industry under its power privatization program. (online.wsj.com)

October 30, 2013. Development banks such as the World Bank or the African Development Bank will need to meet more stringent criteria to obtain U.S. support for coal-fired power plants abroad under new guidelines released.

Only projects in very poor nations that have no economically feasible alternatives, or in emerging markets that use carbon capture technologies, will get U.S. backing under the new criteria. The conditions aim to implement an aspect of President Barack Obama’s climate action plan released in June. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 1, 2013. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) sought response of the Centre and Uttarakhand government on a plea alleging that villages along river Alaknanda were destroyed due to closing of Vishnuprayag hydroelectric project's reservoir gate and seeking damages from Jaypee Associates which manages the dam. A bench headed by Tribunal (NGT) Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to Ministry of Environment and Forests, Uttarakhand and Jaypee Associates asking them to file their replies by November 20 on the plea, which also alleges that the destruction due to June floods was aggravated as the river's course was changed by the company to build a temple. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 31, 2013. Voltech, a testing and commissioning of electrical system company, announced a joint venture with Bonjul Management Services to expand its solar energy business in Nigeria. Voltech also bagged orders from ABB Ltd, Powergrid Corporation of India Ltd, TANGEDCO, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL), JSW, among others. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 31, 2013. Suzlon Energy has renamed its German subsidiary REpower Systems as Senvion with effect from 2014, the wind turbine maker said. REpower has been using its name under licence since 2001. The rights belong to a Swiss company that is now using this name itself. Therefore the external corporate design will be gradually changed, the company said. The Tulsi Tanti-promoted wind turbine maker, which has been severely hit by the double whammy of huge debt and slowdown in business, piled up ` 14,000 crore in debt and has reported losses for the past three years. The company recently received approval to recast debt totalling ` 9,500 crore under the Corporate Debt Restructuring programme that gives the company a two-year moratorium on principal and interest payments and additional working capital limit that would improve the company's cash position and drive execution. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 31, 2013. Reflecting sluggish demand, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) saw nearly three lakh sell bids for solar and non-solar renewable energy certificates (RECs) whereas the purchase bids stood at little over one lakh this month. IEX is the country's leading power exchange. The figures are for the trade that happened. Trading in REC takes place on last Wednesday of every month on the country's power bourses. RECs are used by entities to meet their renewbale energy obligations. Non-solar certificates were sold at ` 1,500 each. Meanwhile, in the solar segment, there were 6,548 buy bids compared to 48,515 sale bids. These certificates were cleared at a price of ` 9,300 per piece. Overall, a total of 2,073 participants are registered in the REC segment at the exchange. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

October 31, 2013. Essar Group plans to increase its India water revenue more than fourfold by 2017 to meet the rising demand for water-treatment and supply projects. Essar intends to bid for desalination plants, water distribution and sewage facility works in Asia’s third-largest economy, where the government has set aside ` 1.1 trillion ($18 billion) for water projects, said Neeraj Sanghi, chief executive officer of Essar Concessions India Ltd. Essar and Indian rivals including Larsen & Toubro Ltd. are competing with Veolia Environnement and Va Tech Wabag Ltd. for water projects in India. Clean water demand by 2030 may exceed national supplies by half as pollution and contamination makes what’s available not fit for human, industrial or farm use, according to McKinsey & Co. forecasts and a government report. The company, an arm of the construction unit Essar Projects Ltd., expects to close the financial year ending March 2014 with revenue of 2 billion rupees, Sanghi said. He expects that to reach about 10 billion rupees in five years. India has sanctioned 1,053 projects valued at 589 billion rupees to build water supply, drainage and sewage plants under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to meet clean-water demands. Per person water availability in India dropped by 15 percent in a decade, according to the government. Essar won a contract worth ` 700 million this month to build a 70 million-liters-a-day treatment plant at Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat. The company will invest 800 million rupees to build a pipeline to carry treated water to industrial customers including its own refinery, Sanghi said. The company also plans to bid for more water-treatment projects auctioned by municipalities and is looking to work with foreign companies to build desalination plants, he said. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. Demand for renewable-energy credits in India jumped threefold in October as regulators cracked down on companies ignoring government-mandated clean-power targets. Bids to buy wind, hydro and biomass credits numbered 150,640, compared with 49,831 the previous month, according to data from trader REConnect Energy Solutions Pvt. The government requires electricity distributors and large industrial companies including Coal India Ltd. and Tata Power Co. to get as much as 10 percent of their energy from renewables. Those unable to source enough locally must comply by purchasing credits from clean-power plants. The surge in demand indicates companies are responding to efforts by state regulators in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh to enforce the rules, REConnect said. On Sept. 11, Uttarakhand’s electricity watchdog threatened to fine the local state-run power distributor for failing to meet its targets in the last financial year. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. Suzlon Energy Ltd., the Indian wind-turbine maker that defaulted on bonds, reported a narrower loss in the fiscal second quarter as a cost-reduction program that included 3,000 job cuts began to show results. The net loss shrank to ` 7.82 billion ($128 million) in the three months through September from ` 8.08 billion a year earlier, the Pune-based company said. Expenses dropped 17 percent to ` 50.4 billion. The biggest turbine makers, including Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems A/S, are poised to report their first profit in years after cutting at least 9,000 jobs globally and shuttering plants. Turbine prices, which fell by a quarter from their peak amid overcapacity, are forecast to rise for the first time since 2009. Suzlon has slashed travel and consulting expenses and reduced office and factory space to rein in spending. That’s helping it make turbines more efficiently. Obstacles remain, including a debt load totaling ` 17 billion as of Sept. 30, which burdens the company with interest payments. Suzlon is “not very far from a solution” with bondholders after failing to pay $209 million in India’s biggest convertible-note default in October 2012. It’s too early for Suzlon to approach NRG Energy Inc. about recovering a $217 million payment for turbines supplied to Edison International for an Illinois wind farm in 2009. NRG Energy agreed this month to buy most of the assets of Edison International’s bankrupt wind unit. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 5, 2013. Total SA, majority owner of U.S. photovoltaic manufacturer SunPower Corp., was selected by South Africa’s Department of Energy as the preferred bidder for a $200 million solar project. SunPower will build the 86 MW solar farm in Prieska, in Northern Cape province, Paris-based Total said. It’s expected to be complete in mid-2015 and will provide enough power for about 45,000 people. Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which supplies 95 percent of the country’s power, has agreed to buy the electricity. The state electric company uses coal to generate 85 percent of its power. Total will be the largest owner of the project with a 27 percent stake. The rest will be owned by five companies including South Africa’s Calulo Investments Pty with 25 percent and Mulilo Renewable Energy with 18 percent. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 5, 2013. The European Union (EU) presented a set of recommendations for governments to improve their state-aid mechanisms in energy markets, including support programs for renewable energy. The European Commission aims to give for member states guidance on public intervention in the electricity market as end-user prices rise. The principles for state support address renewable energy and back-up capacities, which involve mainly fossil fuels, the commission said. The debate about state support comes as Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is looking for ways to reduce the cost of renewable-energy subsidies after deciding to close its nuclear power plants. The fee that German power-grid operators charge consumers to support wind and solar power has more than quintupled since 2009, helping to make the country’s household power bills the second-highest in the EU. Germany is seeking to get 80 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2050, compared with about 23 percent now. The EU has binding targets of boosting the share of renewable energy to 20 percent in 2020 and reducing greenhouse gases by one-fifth from 1990 levels. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 5, 2013. The U.K. pressed its biggest water suppliers to hold down price increases as the clamor over inflation-topping energy bills spread to water providers. Suppliers should also offer price breaks to disadvantaged customers, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said. British water companies were urged as well to review price increases after the regulator Ofwat asked whether suppliers needed to apply the full rises allowed, he said. Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband said his party would introduce new social tariffs in the water industry to lessen the pain on the poor as he sought to address the cost of living issue, including his plans to freeze energy prices until 2017. Britain’s attempt to limit water bills comes after four of the biggest six energy suppliers raised gas and power prices last month at three to four times the inflation rate. Water is the latest political battleground for the government over the cost of living after Labour pledged a 20-month price freeze on energy bills should it win the next general election in 2015. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 5, 2013. Residents along the Athabasca River, which flows through the oil sands region of Alberta, are being advised to avoid drinking from the waterway after contaminated fluids were released from a coal mine storage pond. The warning was issued after an undetermined amount of water and sediment, including shale and coal particles, spilled from Obed Mountain Mine near Hinton into the river, the Alberta Environment Ministry said. Communities notified of the incident on Nov. 1 have not been drawing water from the river as most nearby don’t use it for drinking though residents were cautioned they’d see a change in color in the Athabasca as the sediment moves downstream, the ministry said. Farmers were also asked not to let livestock drink from the river until full water-sampling test results are known. The ministry and Alberta Energy Regulator are conducting independent investigations into the environmental and health impacts of the incident and release of contaminants into the river. The Athabasca flows northeasterly from Columbia Glacier in Jasper National Park in western Alberta for about 1,200 kilometers. Coal contributes about 40 percent of Alberta’s electricity generation. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 5, 2013. Canada is doing a bad job of protecting the environment, watchdog said, suggesting a poor image for the country on green issues could harm Canadian companies seeking to export crude oil and natural gas. The damning report by Neil Maxwell, interim commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, puts more pressure on the Conservative government, which is already under fire for what critics say is a poor environmental record. The report will undoubtedly boost the spirits of green activists in the United States who want President Barack Obama to block TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude from the Alberta oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Environmentalists oppose development of the Alberta tar sands on the grounds that extracting oil from the clay-like bitumen there is very energy-intensive and greenhouse gas emissions are high. (www.reuters.com)

November 3, 2013. British energy supplier Centrica Plc is likely to drop plans to build a 2 billion-pound wind farm because of insufficient government subsidies. Centrica will not go ahead with the Race Bank wind farm project off the Norfolk coast unless proposed government subsidies are significantly increased. Offshore wind power is still in its infancy and its financing is a political issue because cash-strapped governments balk at the subsidies the industry says are necessary until economies of scale and streamlined processes can make it more competitive The subsidies will be funded by government-imposed levies including green taxes, which Britain's "big six" energy suppliers, including Centrica, say are increasing energy bills for consumers. (www.reuters.com)

November 1, 2013. The Australian opposition may support Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s bid to repeal the nation’s carbon tax if the government agrees to retain an emissions-trading program, Labor leader Bill Shorten said. Labor will look to amend legislation that Abbott has pledged to introduce when the new parliament meets this month, in order to keep a market-based emissions-trading system, now due to start July 1, Shorten said. If Labor’s amendments fail, the opposition won’t support the repeal of carbon pricing, Shorten said. (www.bloomberg.com)

November 1, 2013. African water companies lose as much as $800 million a year, or about 35 percent of total production, because of leaks, fraud and unpaid bills, according to the African Water Association. As much as 50 percent of the water produced in some African nations is never accounted for, Sylvain Usher, the secretary-general of the Abidjan, Ivory Coast-based group, said. The organization collects data on 100 private and government utilities in 40 African nations. Africa’s population will rise 66 percent to 1.2 billion people by 2050, putting a strain on the world’s poorest region, which is already struggling to meet water and sanitation metrics set by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Most of the waste is because of aging equipment and poor management of facilities, Usher said. Utilities need to use more meters and improve reading of the existing ones to reduce costs, he said. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 31, 2013. Norway’s $808 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, said that long-term returns may be impacted should the companies it invests in fail to adequately manage and mitigate water-related risks. Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) is exposed to water-related risks through investments in about 7,500 companies, it said. It has investments in water-intensive industries including food and beverages as well as oil, gas and chemicals, NBIM said. These all rely on water in their operations and supply chain. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 31, 2013. U.S. utilities agreed to buy 7.6 GW of wind capacity this year through September, as construction in 2013 slowed to a trickle after a federal tax credit expired at the end of 2012, the American Wind Energy Association said. About 70 MW of wind farms were connected to the grid in the third quarter, a 96 percent decline from a year earlier, according to a report from the Washington-based trade group. Developers rushed to complete projects last year to qualify for the production tax credit, leaving few wind farms in the construction pipeline this year. The credit expired Dec. 31 and received a one-year renewal the next day as part of a U.S. budget deal. Developers installed 13.1 GW of wind capacity last year, surpassing natural gas plants for the first time to become the largest source of new U.S. electricity. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 31, 2013. Iran may be forced to impose water rationing in Tehran should the capital’s residents fail to cut consumption by about 20 percent, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said. Water rationing is under consideration in part as levels of reservoirs outside Tehran have fallen due to a sharp decline in rainfall this year, Chitchian said. Iran, holder of the fourth-largest proven oil reserves whose population has grown to 77 million amid recent dry spells, will struggle to meet its water needs in coming years, the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies’ Water Research Programme said. Chitchian said at least 100 billion cubic meters of water have been extracted from strategic underground waters in recent years, causing wells in farmlands to turn salty. About 12 million people reside in the Tehran metropolitan area ran, suffering from drought that’s drying waterways and depleted groundwaters as its population grows, must draw up a national water-conservation plan to ensure supplies, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said. Iran’s water shortage is an “historic” issue and can only be resolved through “national will,” Rouhani said. Saving water in the farm industry through efficiencies including irrigation, curbing overuse of city tap water, protecting underground sources and preventing illegal drilling of wells must be addressed, Rouhani said. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 31, 2013. No businesses in Europe relocated production to regions without greenhouse-gas emission curbs between 2005 and 2012, according to a study for the European Commission on a process known as carbon leakage. The commission is analyzing the impact of its cap-and-trade program on competitiveness before reviewing a list of industries eligible for special protection next year. Under the EU trading system, emission permits are allocated or auctioned to polluters, which must surrender them to cover discharges or pay fines. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 31, 2013. The U.K. sought to calm voter anger over inflation-busting energy prices by studying whether to make market manipulation a criminal instead of a civil offense. The government also asked regulator Ofgem to report in the Spring on how to increase the information that suppliers give in financial accounts, around the same period as an annual review reports on competition, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said. While it’s already a crime to operate a cartel, sanctions for manipulation of electricity and gas markets, transposed from European Union law, are civil not criminal, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Criminal sanctions would allow for prosecutions and so may serve as a greater deterrent, though the burden of proof would also be higher. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 31, 2013. Solar industry manufacturers are rebounding from a two-year slump faster than technology companies recovered from the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. The benchmark BI Global Large Solar Energy Index of 15 manufacturers, which slumped 87 percent from a February 2011 peak through November 2012, has regained 55 percent of its value in the past year. The technology-dominated Nasdaq Composite index reached its post-bubble low in October 2002 and regained 37 percent of its March 2000 peak value in the next year. Suppliers including California’s SunPower Corp., which has gained more than fivefold this year, and China’s Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. are driving the rally as panel prices stabilize. Installations at power plants and on roofs will swell 40 percent this year from a 6.1 percent pace last year. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. Billionaire Alexander Nesis made a fortune from gold, silver and banking. His next target: producing rare-earth metals from material discarded as Russia developed an atomic bomb in the 1940s. Nesis’s ICT holding company is in a venture with state-owned Rostec to fast-track production of rare-earths, using thorium-bearing concentrate kept stockpiled for more than 60 years. The partners also plan to bid for Tomtor in the Siberian republic of Yakutia, a deposit that has more than 150 million metric tons of ore containing rare-earths and is among the largest in the world, Nesis said. (www.bloomberg.com)

October 30, 2013. The U.K. government is studying whether to fund the cost of green levies through general taxation instead of consumer power bills as a way to rein in energy prices. Energy Minister Michael Fallon said moving the charges that fund social and environmental programs away from consumer bills is one of the options being considered. Britain is examining each of the taxes that make up 9 percent of the typical bill covering electricity and natural gas, he said. Prime Minister David Cameron’s government is working to identify measures it could take to reduce costs after four of six largest utilities raised prices. Consumer energy bills have risen 30 percent in real terms since 2007, outpacing inflation. The utilities blamed gains on rising wholesale gas costs and levies to pay for clean energy programs. Cameron announced a competition review to probe profit levels and the cost of green regulations after the Labour opposition pledged to freeze bills through 2017. (www.bloomberg.com)

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