Energy News Monitor | Volume XI; Issue 43

[Local Pollution and the Politics of Outrage]

                             “This is not to argue that Delhi is not polluted or that even if Delhi is polluted we should not do anything about it. It is to ask whose priorities are being addressed at whose cost? Would the poor get the same response if they ask for a healthy meal or a school for their kids or a roof above their head? What is the use of clean air in an empty stomach? The wealthy clamouring for clean air in urban areas have a ready-made response. They say that it is out of concern for the poor that they are seeking action against pollution. According to them dirty air is more dangerous than poverty and if we don’t act now the poor will die of dirty air before they die of poverty…”

Energy News

[GOOD]

If giving up LPG subsidy is made as fashionable as giving up traditional clothes, subsidies will become a thing of the past!                                   

                                                                                              [BAD]

Pushing solar water pumps to Punjab farmers despite their lack of interest is bad for the economy and no good for the environment!

[UGLY]

Private firms will be interested in nuclear power when it needs no subsidy crutches!   

NEWS BRIEF

[NATIONAL: OIL & GAS]

April 7, 2015. Reliance Industries' most significant recent gas discovery MJ-1 in KG-D6 block may hold 1.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas resources, roughly half of the reserves in the block's main gas fields. Located about 2,000 meters below the producing D1-D3 field in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block, MJ-1 may hold contingent resource of between 0.988 Tcf of gas and condensate (low estimate) and 2 Tcf (high estimate), according to the firm's minority partner Niko Resources of Canada. The estimate compare to the downgraded reserves of 3.10 Tcf in the main Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields, which have been on production for six years now. If proved correct, MJ-1 would the third biggest gas field in KG-D6 after D1&D3 and R-Series which holds about 2 Tcf of recoverable reserves. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which is the operator of the Krishna Godavari basin KG-D6 block with 60 percent interest, has so far made 19 gas discoveries, of which D1&D3 were put on production in April 2009. MA oil and gas field was put on production in September 2008. The Canadian firm holds 10 percent interest while the balance 30 percent is with BP plc of UK. Niko, which had put up for sale its stake in the KG-D6 block, got resource estimation done on its own and RIL and BP were not party to the exercise. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 6, 2015. Indian oil and gas producer Essar Oil said it has become India's largest coal-bed methane (CBM) gas producer as its gas unit in Raniganj in West Bengal crossed production of 5 lakh standard cubic metres per day recently. The company said that with an investment outlay of ` 4,000 crore for the project in Burdwan district in the state, it has placed nearly 100 wells on gas production and an additional 155 wells have been drilled and are at various stages to further gas production. It has built compression stations and in-field pipelines of 120 km and another 60 km to ferry gas to end-users. Also, investments have been made for gas conditioning facilities. The company anticipates completing the development programme ahead of the May 2016 deadline as per the contract with the central government. Gas from this project shall be the feedstock to the priority fertiliser sector with the anchor customer being Matix Fertiliser & Chemicals Ltd located in West Bengal, the company said. It has two gas blocks in Assam in the prolific Assam-Arakan frontier basin. (www.newkerala.com)

April 5, 2015. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is among three dozen global energy majors vying for oil and gas (O&G) blocks in Mexico's maiden licensing round. ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) was among the international firms which signed up to pre-qualify for Mexico's inaugural Round-1 bid offering at the end of deadline on March 31. The company is pitched against the US majors ExxonMobile and Chevron, Anglo-Dutch firm Shell as well as national oil companies and Mexican players for 14 shallow water exploration blocks in the country's southern region. OVL has interests in 33 oil and gas assets in 16 countries and contributes to 14.5 percent and 8 percent of oil and natural gas production of India, respectively. In terms of reserves and production, it is the second largest petroleum company of India, next only to its parent ONGC. (www.dnaindia.com)

April 5, 2015. Cairn India plans to treble natural gas production from its predominantly oil-rich Rajasthan block to 3 million standard cubic meters per day by mid-2018. Cairn currently produces around 1 million standard cubic meters a day (mmscmd) of gas from the Raageshwari gas field in the Barmer district block RJ-ON-90/1. In an application to the downstream regulator Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) seeking approval to lay a pipeline to Gujarat for transporting gas, Cairn said it plans to drill a minimum of 42 more wells to augment and sustain the gas supply in the next three years. The gas produced from the Raageshwari Deep Gas (RDG) field would be gathered and treated at the proposed RDG terminal at Gudamalani in Barmer district, from where it will be evacuated through a new 194-km, 24-inch pipeline to the nearest available gas grid which is the GSPL's Gujarat Gas Grid with connectivity at Palanpur terminal. The field has recoverable gas reserves of 359 billion cubic feet (10.25 billion cubic meters). Cairn is the operator of the block with 70 percent interest while state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) holds the remaining 30 percent. Cairn has so far made 26 oil and gas discoveries in the Rajasthan block and is currently producing around 1,75,000 barrels of oil per day. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 2, 2015. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is planning to bring smaller fracking companies in Texas and North Dakota to Indian fields to compete with the dominant oilfield services giants, such as Schlumberger and Haliburton, and bring down prices. ONGC does part of existing fracking job of about 100 wells annually in-house and outsources the balance to top global firms such as Schlumberger, Haliburton and Baker Hughes. The need to raise output at its onshore fields facing declines for years requires ONGC to use more of fracking—a key part of the oil and gas drilling technique where hydrocarbon formations in a rock are fractured by injecting fluid into cracks to extract oil and gas. ONGC will have to outsource about 100 additional wells per year to fracking companies. A collapsing oil price that has forced explorers and producers to slash tens of billions of dollars from their capital budgets and defer many projects has also made oilfield services cheap and easily available. In a month, ONGC will hold road shows in the US, with an aim to educate smaller fracking firms about the business opportunity in India. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 1, 2015. Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's largest oil refiner, plans to process 55 million tons of crude oil into fuel in the 2015-16 fiscal. IOC refineries had turned 53.61 million tons of crude oil into petroleum products like diesel and petrol during 2014-15. The capacity utilisation was 98.9 percent in spite of a few shutdowns for improvements, the company said. IOC will add 15 million tons a year state-of-the-art refinery at Paradip in Odisha this year. The firm already has refineries at Guwahati in Assam, Barauni in Bihar, Koyali in Gujarat, Haldia in West Bengal, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Panipat in Haryana, Digboi and Bongaigon. The company will this year have opportunities to increase gross refining margin (GRM) and overall profitability. With focused efforts towards energy conservation refineries have achieved best ever overall specific energy consumption at 54.5 units per barrel against previous best of 56 achieved during 2013-14 with implementation of various energy saving schemes and close monitoring of energy parameters. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 1, 2015. Essar Oil will defer planned maintenance at its Vadinar refinery in western Gujarat state by about two months to July-August. The delay was intended to avoid an overlap with scheduled repairs at other refineries in India and to profit from current robust refining margins. Essar had planned to shut the 405,000-barrel-per-day Vadinar refinery for about four weeks of maintenance in May-June, the company said. (in.reuters.com)

April 4, 2015. The landmark interim nuclear deal between Iran and permanent members of the UN Security Council apart from Germany and EU, which India described as a significant step, has the potential to once again increase Delhi's oil imports from Tehran and make the payment process much easier. India is Iran's second-biggest buyer of oil annually after China. But last month, India did not import oil from Iran - first time in a decade — with Delhi deciding to keep its hydrocarbon shipments from Tehran within sanctioned limits. But all this could change rapidly once India studies the implications of the interim deal reached in Lausanne. India's oil imports from Iran are expected to rise if sanctions on Iran are lifted and Tehran decides to export oil to Delhi on current terms. Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd are expected to import oil from Iran this month. Tehran had hinted that it would continue to offer crude oil on 90-day credit terms and at a discount if sanctions were lifted, diplomatic sources claimed. Shortly after the deal, US President Barack Obama stated that the international community has agreed to provide relief to Iran from sanctions. Ahead of President Obama's visit to India last January, there were reports that the Essar Oil, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and Indian Oil Corp were suggested to cut their imports from Iran in February and March to keep the shipments with sanctioned limits. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 2, 2015. The repair works undertaken on the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), which was blown in Nagaram village in East Godavari district on June 27 last year, claiming 19 lives, is on a brisk pace and in all likelihood, the gas major will resume supply to its all stakeholders by June, the authorities have said. Of the 870-km pipeline in the entire KG Basin, line spanning over 600 km has been put to service, resuming the gas supply to small and medium stakeholders, except the Lanco power generation unit in Kondapalli. According to M.V. Iyer, General Manager, GAIL, Rajahmundry Region, except for Tatipaka and Yendada areas, the pipeline on the entire stretch has either been repaired or restored. The GAIL, which hitherto supplied 5.2 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmpd) to its customers, was able to give 4.3 to 4.4 mscmpd. Asked about the replacement of pipeline with leakages which was found by expert committees, Iyer said that another 100-km pipeline including the ones at Nagaram, Tatipaka, Yendada needed total replacement, adding that Mumbai-based Kalpataru power transmission had bagged the works of laying new pipelines. Welding works in 30 km has been completed and rest of the 70 km is in progress. (www.thehindu.com)

April 6, 2015. Oil Ministry has allowed national oil companies Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) to sell any new natural gas supplies from their small and isolated fields through an open tender. While the BJP-led government had approved an international gas hub-based formula for all of the domestically produced natural gas in November last year, small and isolated fields were exempt. The Oil Ministry on April 1 issued amendment to the guidelines for pricing of gas from small and isolated fields by allowing producers to sell gas at market rates by inviting competitive bids from prospective consumers. Companies will fix minimum price for their gas, which would be the prevailing government-determined rate, and ask interested buyers to offer more through bidding. Government had on March 31 announced USD 4.66 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) as the gas price for six-month period ending September 30 based on the approved formula. The ministry guidelines state that it was imperative that NOCs (national oil companies) are able to quickly monetise the output of their discoveries particularly marginal ones where where production is small and fields are isolated. The guidelines defined such fields as ones "whose peak production is less than 0.1 million standard cubic meters per day and they are situated more than 10 km away from the gas grid." Also, "fields whose peak production is less than 0.1 mmscmd and have a gas pressure which is less than the grid pressure" have also been defined as small/isolated fields. ONGC and OIL have several such discoveries, which cumulatively produce around 3-4 million standard cubic meters a day (mmscmd), enough to generate about 900 MW electricity. While the guidelines issued on April 1 are for additional or new production from small/isolated fields, ONGC had in November last year used e-tendering to finalise a price of USD 10.10-11.20 per mmBtu for sale of gas from new marginal fields in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. ONGC has finalised a price of USD 10.10 per mmBtu for gas from Gamij-GGS-2 field and a rate of USD 11.10 per mmBtu for Gamij-GGS-3 field, both in Gujarat. For the Warosan-4 field in Mehsana basin of Gujarat, it has finalised a rate of USD 10.50 per mmBtu. In case of Triputallu, Kaza, Mandapeta-23, Gokarnapuram and Suyyaraopeta marginal fields in Andhra Pradesh, the firm has finalised a price of USD 11.20 per mmBtu. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 6, 2015. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is reaping the benefits of oil price crash that has made oil field services much cheaper even as it has slashed profits and hit capital spending plans at many petroleum firms. ONGC recently awarded contracts for nine platform support vessels at $15,000 per vessel per day, about 40% less than the rate last year. ONGC, which deploys about 70 vessels round the year, plans to award contracts for 10 more vessels in a month. Oil prices have plunged 50% due to an unforeseen glut owing to a combination of factors including a supply boom from shale and oil sands in North America, lower than expected supply disruptions in the Middle East, oil cartel OPEC's decision not to cut supplies and a weak demand from Asia and Europe. Lower prices have hit profits of oil companies and made many projects unviable, forcing firms to slash billions of dollars in capital spending. This is translating into fewer contracts and cheaper rates for oilfield services companies, which do the grubby job of drilling and provide explorers with expensive equipment and expertise. ONGC may soon float tenders for rigs for fresh projects. So far, it has been mostly locked in longterm contracts for rigs and is unlikely to replace the existing contracts with fresh ones quickly. American oil companies slashed spending by 20-60% between June 2014 and January this year while oilfield services firms shed more than 30,000 jobs. Rig count, a measure of drilling activity, has halved in the US since October 2014, with the decline likely to continue for the next few months. This has impacted rates, which have slumped for ultra-deep-water rigs from a peak of about $650,000 a day two years ago to $350,000-400,000 a day now. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 5, 2015. The downward trend of petroleum prices in the international market has got the central government mulling over quickly filling the crude oil reserve caverns which are under construction. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the government has cautiously decided to complete the work of three caverns of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) and fill it with crude oil soon. To ensure energy security, the government has decided to set up five million metric tonnes (MMT) strategic crude oil storages at three locations - Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur in Udupi. These strategic storages would be in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products with the oil companies and would serve as a cushion in response to external supply disruptions, he said. The total revised cost for the project is ` 3,958 crores. The minister said that the work of storage cavern in Mangaluru is expected to complete in October this year. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

April 5, 2015. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has requested the employees of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and a Karnataka Minister to give up subsidy on LPG cylinder. Inaugurating the polypropylene unit of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) in Mangaluru, Pradhan said the LPG customer in the country uses 6-7 subsidised LPG cylinders a year. This comes to around ₹ 1,500 a year. This will help provide LPG connection to a poor person, who otherwise is dependent on other energy sources. Employees of many corporates, including Tata Group and Kotak Mahindra Bank, and celebrities like Lata Mangeshkar and Ranabir Kapoor have given up their subsidies on LPG cylinder. He sought the same cooperation from the employees of MRPL also. Pradhan requested the Karnataka Youth Services Minister, Abhaya chandra Jain, who was present on the occasion, to give up subsidy on LPG cylinder. When there was no reply from Jain, he said even the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Ashok Chavan, and the senior Congress leader, Mallikarjuna Kharge, have agreed to give up the subsidies on LPG cylinder. The Member of Parliament from Mangaluru, Nalin Kumar Kateel; former Karnataka Ministers, Krishna Palemar and Nagaraja Shetty; former Mayor of Mangaluru, Ganesh Hosabettu; gave up subsidy on LPG cylinders on the occasion. The Minister said that the Government wants to take the advantage of fall in the prices of crude oil in the global market, and it is looking at filling the underground oil caverns set up by Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd (ISPRL) in Mangaluru soon. (www.thehindubusinessline.com)

April 2, 2015. Prime Minister NarendraModi asked banks and industrial houses, along with their employees, to give up LPG subsidies to benefit poor families. Of late, Modi has been asking well-off people to surrender their LPG subsidy and said that without any formal directive on any platform, about two lakh consumers have already surrendered their subsidy. There are about 15.3 crore LPG consumers in the country. The Prime Minister said that the Centre’s intention is not to add to its coffers by saving on the subsidy bill, but to provide LPG cylinders, which provide clean energy, to poor households who use firewood for cooking. Modi said that Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has brought transparency in cooking gas subsidy besides curbing leakages, with the help of banks, technology and political will. Under the DBT, the subsidy amount is directly credited into the bank accounts of consumers even as they pay the full amount for an LPG cylinder at the time of purchase. At present, consumers are entitled to 12 refills of 14.2-kg cylinders or 34 refills of 5-kg bottles in a year, at subsidised rates. So far, the government has saved ₹ 8,000 crore due to subsidy transfer through DBT. The Tatas have urged employees to voluntarily give up the use of subsidised LPG. In the 2015-16 Budget estimates, the petroleum subsidy has been halved to ₹ 30,000 crore. Of this, ₹ 22,000 crore has been earmarked for the LPG subsidy. The rest is for kerosene. (www.thehindubusinessline.com)

April 1, 2015. A day after natural gas prices were cut by 8 percent, CNG and piped cooking gas rates in the national capital region were reduced by 60 paisa per kg. CNG price in Delhi will be reduced by ` 0.60 per kg to ` 37.55, while in adjoining Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad it will cost 70 paisa less at ` 42.80, Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) said. Also, the consumer price of piped natural gas to the households in Delhi has been reduced by ` 0.60 per standard cubic meter (scm) from` 25.50 per scm to ` 24.90 per scm up to consumption of 36 scm in two months. Beyond the consumption of 36 scm in two months, the applicable rate remains unchanged. The rate cut follows government cutting price of natural gas -- the input for CNG and piped cooking gas -- by 8 percent to $4.66 per million British thermal unit. Due to differential tax structure in the state of Uttar Pradesh, the applicable price of domestic PNG to households in Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad from would be ` 26.55 per scm up to consumption of 36 scm in two months, which has been reduced by ` 0.75 per scm from ` 27.30 per scm. IGL said that reduction in prices of CNG and PNG would give a boost to the entire CGD sector in line with the vision of the government. With the revised price, CNG will offer nearly 55 percent savings towards the running cost when compared to petrol driven vehicles at the current level of prices. When compared to diesel driven vehicles, the economics in favour of CNG at revised price would be over 22 percent. IGL is currently catering to over 8,00,000 CNG vehicles in the capital, which include nearly 5,20,000 private cars. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 1, 2015. In accordance with New Domestic Natural Gas Pricing Guidelines, 2014 issued by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) wherein price of Domestic Natural Gas stands revised from $ 5.05 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) to $ 4.66 per mmBtu, city gas distribution (CGD) companies in Gujarat announced cut in prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) in the state. While state-run GSPC Gas Company cut PNG and CNG prices by ` 1.17 per standard cubic meter (scm) and ` 1.30 per kg, respectively, private CGD player Adani Gas reduced the same by 0.74 per scm and ` 1.34 per kg, respectively. Adani Gas announced the price reduction for Ahmedabad and Vadodara markets.

Gujarat energy minister Saurabh Patel said that the central government has been supplying natural gas to meet demands for domestic gas and CNG. According to the state government, there are about 250,000 CNG and 1.05 million PNG consumers of GSPC Gas in Gujarat who will be directly benefited from the reduction in prices. Adani Gas said that the move will benefit its PNG and CNG consumers in cities like Ahmedabad and Vadodara. CNG prices by Adani Gas saw a downward revision of ` 1.34 kg from from 48.12 per kg to ` 46.78 per kg, while the price of PNG (domestic) was cut by 0.74 per scm from ` 24.80 per scm to ` 24.06 per scm excluding VAT. Adani Gas supplies PNG to about 190,000 households and CNG to approximately 150,000 vehicle users in Ahmedabad and Vadodara markets. (www.business-standard.com)

 [NATIONAL: POWER]

April 7, 2015. Though discussions at various levels are happening on allowing private investment in the field of atomic energy in the past few years, no firm had so far approached the government with such a proposal, R. Battacharya, vice-chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), has said. Battacharya said that allowing private investments in the field of nuclear power generation was being debated for the past several years, but no private firm had approached the government with a formal proposal in this connection. Though private majors were allowed to enter this crucial area, the AERB would impose the same rules and regulations applicable to the government agency (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited). Since the AERB would always accord highest priority for safety, it would never dilute its norms for any agency involved in nuclear power generation. Battacharya made it clear that no private firm had been allowed in the business of separating thorium from beach minerals. Referring to accidents in nuclear installations, he said that the country, having nuclear reactors and research centres with highest safety standards, had not witnessed any accident with alarming magnitude. While the nuclear accidents that had taken place in Fukushima or Chernobyl came under the category of Level 7 accidents, the mishaps that took place in India had been classified only as Level 3 or even below. (www.thehindu.com)

April 7, 2015. To meet the increased power demand from domestic and industrial sectors and ensure the success of Power For All (PFA)- ‘24x7 power supply scheme’ in 2015-16, the Andhra Pradesh (AP) government has drawn up a big plan to double the installed capacity of  power generation from the present 4500 MW in one year. Under the plan, the government has targeted to transform AP into an ‘incandescent light bulb’ free state by next March. (www.thehansindia.com)

April 6, 2015. Emerson Process Management said it has completed the automation for the first 800 MW unit of 1,600 MW supercritical Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah thermal power project of Andhra Pradesh Power Development Company (APPDCL). Located in Krishnapatnam, the coal-based project entails an investment of USD 2 billion by the state power generation utility APGENCO for providing new, low-emissions generation capacity to support the region's rapid economic growth, the company said. The first unit at Sri Damodaram Sanjeevaiah project is ready to begin commercial operations while the work on automating the second unit is expected to be completed in the next few weeks. (www.business-standard.com)

April 3, 2015. Country's largest power producer NTPC will more than double its current installed capacity to 90,000 MW in the next ten years, its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Arup Roy Choudhury has said. At present, the company generates 44,398 MW of power from all sources of energy. Out of this, 12,115 MW or 27 percent of the total was added in the last four and a half years. The company, which generates maximum power from coal, plans to include solar energy in its total installed capacity in the coming years. NTPC had signed an initial agreement with Andhra Pradesh government for developing 1,000 MW solar power projects in the state. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 2, 2015. The Punjab government said Mukerian hydel power project will start generating electricity from December this year. 95 percent civil work of the power house had been completed and construction was in full swing to provide a permanent outfall structure for the Mukerian hydel channel stage-I into river Beas. The electro-mechanical works have been executed by Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited on EPC basis. The newly-constructed hydel project has a 3.5 km newly built channel having maximum carrying capacity of 11,500 cusecs of water. He said total capacity of 18 MW would be generated from two units of 9 MW each. (www.thehindu.com)

April 1, 2015. State-owned power generation utility SJVNL has set a target of producing 8,520 million units of electricity in the current fiscal The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Power regarding the targets for the fiscal 2015-16. The preliminary pact also targets for implementation of 1,320 MW Buxar thermal power project in Bihar and 80 MW Doimukh hydro power project in Arunachal Pradesh. SJVNL said that against the target of generating 7,920 MUs for FY'2014-15, the power stations of SJVNL has generated around 8,130 million units. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 1, 2015. Country's largest power generating firm NTPC has set a target of adding 2,145 MW of capacity during the current financial year (2015-16). The company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard with the central government. As per the MoU, NTPC shall generate 246 billion units during the financial year (2015-16). The Ministry of Power shall provide necessary assistance to NTPC in the areas related to fuel security, ash utilisation, land acquisition etc. Meanwhile, NTPC announced commissioning of 195 MW unit of Muzaffarpur thermal power station. With this, the total installed capacity of Muzaffarpur thermal power station has become 415 MW and the total installed capacity of NTPC has become 44,398 MW. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 1, 2015. Executive director of the National Thermal Power Corporation’s power station in Ramagundam R. K. Srivastava said that two 800 MW plants would be established in the town this year, once the land for ash pond was handed over to the corporation.

The corporation will set up the plants as part of the assurance given by Union government to provide 4,000 MW power to Telangana state under the AP Reorganisation Act. Srivastava said that the new plants (each 800 MW) would come up in the land next to the existing station. The board of directors of the corporation approved feasibility report and gave their nod to establish the plants. (www.deccanchronicle.com)

April 7, 2015. Integration with the rest of the nation for power transmission has not helped the southern states much. Since temperatures started soaring across the country, there has been a massive power transmission constraint in the grid. During the first week of April, southern states could get only 10 million units against the demand for 50 million units. Despite decent power supply and utilities ready to buy at a higher price, the grid was not firm enough to handle the increased demand. While rains cooled demand for the northern region during the later part of March, buy bids in the South continued to be 22 percent higher than supply, leading to prices rising 41 percent in the month. Synchronisation of the national grid as ‘one nation, one grid, one frequency’ by central transmission utility Power Grid Corporation has not started getting much success so far. According to the monthly report of Indian Energy Exchange, the country’s largest power trading platform, inter-regional transmission network congestion was persistent through the year, resulting in a loss of 3.1 billion units in trading volume during FY15. The situation is expected to improve with three major transmission lines supplying the South getting operational during the second half of the year. The three lines are Gwalior-Jaipur by August 2015, Narendra-Kolhapur by September 2015 and Champa-Kurukshetra terminal capacity of 3,000 MW by January 2016. The available transfer capacity is expected to rise from the current 4.2 GW to 6.2 GW. (www.business-standard.com)

April 6, 2015. The five power distribution companies in Delhi have chalked out a strategy to reduce tariffs for consumers by at least 60-70 paisa per unit, reducing bills by 12% from October and sourcing up to 600 MW of clean power by getting rid of costly and inefficient plants. These measures will also enable the discoms to fill in the gap created by giving up costly electricity through increasing purchase from power exchanges. In a submission to the Delhi government for taking up the matter with the Union ministry of power, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL), Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Military Engineering Service (MES) recommended shutting down of old power plants and routing other expensive sources to needy states. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

April 6, 2015. State-run NTPC is looking at bringing its coal import bill to 'zero' in the next five years and will rely on the fossil fuel made available by Coal India and the company's own mines. The power major is one of the country's largest consumers of coal. NTPC ventured into coal mining as part of its backward integration process for fuel security. The company has been allotted 10 coal blocks including Chatti-Bariatu, Chatti-Bariatu (South) and Kerandari in Jharkhand, Dulanga in Odisha and Talaipalli in Chhattisgarh. NTPC's present installed capacity is 44,398 MW comprising 39 generating stations. (ibnlive.in.com)

April 5, 2015. After a dip in power generation owing to shortage of coal, thermal power plants across the country may get back to normal generation soon as the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has increased coal import from 54 million tonnes to 73 million tonnes, an increase of 35% for the current fiscal. The coal being imported will be used to supplement domestic coal. NTPC has been permitted to import 22 million tonnes, the highest among all power companies, followed by Maharashtra State Power Generation Company (5.2 million tonnes) and Tangedco (5 million tonnes). NTPC has 17 plants, which use coal as fuel and its combined capacity is 33,675 MW. The other companies, which have been permitted to import coal include several private thermal plants like Reliance, Vedanta and Bajaj Energy as well as state-owned power generating and distribution companies. There are also other plants that have been permitted to import coal in small quantities. NTPC is a partner in some of them.

In 2015-16, coal demand for generating power is expected to be 787.03 million tonnes. Permission to import coal is given to plants that blend domestic and imported coal to fuel the furnace. There are also plants which operate only on imported coal, which have high calorific value and yield higher output than domestic coal. Indian power companies mostly import coal from Indonesia, South Africa and Australia. While Tamil Nadu imports coal to fire its plants across the state from Indonesia, Maharashtra imports coal from South Africa. Most of the 37 companies for which CEA has given import clearance will get more allocation compared to last year. For example, Tamil Nadu was allotted 4.5 million tonnes for 2014-15 and it has been increased by 0.5 million tonnes in 2015-16. Tangedco imports coal through Ennore and Tuticorin ports. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

April 5, 2015. The government has extended till June-end short-term supply of coal to power plants, which had lost their mines after the Supreme Court cancelled licences of 204 blocks last year. The government had earlier asked state miner Coal India to supply fuel to such power plants on a tapering basis till March 31, subject to review after that date. The Coal Ministry said that supply of fuel to power plants, the blocks of which were cancelled by the Supreme Court last year, will continue till June-end.

The decision follows the recommendation of the Standing Linkage Committee (Long-Term) for Power. The short-term fuel or tapering linkage is provided to those consumers which have been allocated captive coal blocks but they could not develop mine on time. The dispensation will apply to those power plants which are part of 78,000 MW list approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and are running, and have long-term power purchase agreements. The apex court cancelled licences of 204 coal blocks. Recently the government conducted auction of mines in two phases and put on sale 29 mines. (www.business-standard.com)

April 4, 2015. Power transmission infrastructure in the country's 18 major cities could be potentially hacked leading to national security threats and major disruption of power if the concerns of a prominent trade body are to be believed. Indian Electronics and Electricals Manufacturers' Association (IEEMA), the representative body of power equipment makers, has asked for a complete ban on Chinese equipment in the Indian power sector.

These cities are spread across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and they are currently implementing smart grid projects. They could be exposing themselves to the threat of monitoring systems deployed by foreign firms, it is being feared. IEEMA alleged that over the past few years China has mounted repeated attacks on Indian computer networks and, therefore, information flowing in the Indian grid is more vulnerable to hacking than ever. Recently, the Philippines government prevented Chinese technicians from taking part in the country's electricity transmission projects because national security concerns. To make the power distribution network efficient, state grids have installed Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA), which is an industrial control system to monitor and control industrial processes, mostly through remote technology. As many as 18 cities in India have awarded the contract to deploy SCADA to Chinese firms. (www.business-standard.com)

April 7, 2015. The committee constituted by the Union government to look into power sharing issues between Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana including the power from Hinduja and Krishnapatnam plants will give its report on April 30. The State would follow provisions of AP State Reorganisation Act on sharing of power and the Centre distributed power in the proportion of 54:46 between A.P. and Telangana based on power consumption. The State had represented to the Central committee that its power consumption accounted for 49.5 percent but actually the Energy Department supplied more - 50.5 percent in 2014-15 in tune with the demand. (www.thehindu.com)

April 7, 2015. Five fuel-guzzling power plants in the Capital are set to face closure if the Delhi government's power department has its ways. The power department has proposed shutting down the Badarpur Thermal Power Station, Rajghat Power House Station, Pragati Power Station, IPGCL's gas turbine and the Rithala power plant due to their high power production cost. The department has planned to transfer the same fuel to gas-based Bawana power plant to make it fully functional. The 1,500 MW capacity plant is currently producing less than 500 MW of electricity. The power plants will be shut down after the summer months when the peak electricity demand is expected to cross the 6,000 MW mark this year.

The Delhi Power Procurement Group, which includes multiple power utilities in Delhi, and the State Load Dispatch Centre have recommended to the Delhi government the permanent closure of Rajghat Power House after the peak summer months this year. The remaining four power stations would be initially shut down on a temporary basis but after making alternate arrangements, these plants would be closed down permanently. The special forum constituted by the Delhi government has also recommended to the government against spending money on repair and maintenance of the Badarpur Thermal Power Station, which it said, is the costliest power generation unit in Delhi. The government had planned renovation of the plant at a cost of ` 741 crore. The forum noted that most of the production units at these power plants had outlived their lives and needed to be shut down as, besides the cost of maintaining them, they pose environmental threats. The forum was set up on the directions of Delhi Power Minister Satyendra Jain, who had sought recommendations on the closure of "expensive" power generation units in Delhi. The minister had also asked the forum to assess the Capital's demand and supply for the drafting of a detailed power reallocation plan. (indiatoday.intoday.in)

April 7, 2015. Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Paris, France said the two sides are "working hard" to make progress on setting up Jaitapur nuclear power plant, a project which has been stuck because of differences over cost of power to be produced. The issue is expected to be high on the agenda of Modi's talks with French President Francois Hollande along with other subjects like French investments in India, including defence sector, and the country's participation in upgrading India's railways and creating smart cities.

Under an agreement signed in 2009, Areva is to set up six nuclear reactors at Jaitapur with total capacity of about 10,000 MW. The project has, however, been stuck over differences regarding the cost of power that will be produced. The French side has been insisting that the cost should be in the range of ` 9-9.50 per unit but India wants it to be lowered to ` 6-6.50 per unit. (www.newindianexpress.com)

April 6, 2015. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has directed Reliance Infra-backed BSES power distribution companies to immediately clear dues of about ` 6,000 crore to Delhi Transco Ltd and two state-run generation companies. The Delhi government said BSES Rajdhani Power and BSES Yamuna Power have been ignoring notices by the power department to pay the dues and it might now consider “punitive action” against the two discoms.

Both discoms have to pay about ` 4,500 crore to Delhi government-run power companies, Indraprastha Power Generation and Pragati Power Corporation, for supplying power in the past five years. The two power generation companies supply around 800 MW of power to BSES daily. The two discoms had also failed to clear dues of ` 1,500 crore to Delhi Transco Ltd for using its network. Delhi Transco maintains all major power transmission networks in the city and discoms have to pay it for using the network.

The financial health of the three state companies had deteriorated because of non-payment. Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd had been making regular payments to all three government-run companies. BSES has been maintaining it was going through a difficult financial condition and had not been allowed to recover around ` 10,000 crore in losses due to increase in power purchase cost and low rates. (www.business-standard.com)

April 6, 2015. The government withdrew duty benefits extended to operation and maintenance of power plants set up by developers within special economic zones (SEZs). The Commerce Ministry in a notification on guidelines for power generation in SEZs said the directive issued in March 2012 was being withdrawn and the position of February 2009 was being restored. In February 2009, the ministry had allowed SEZ developers to avail duty benefits only at the initial stage of setting up of a power plant in non-processing areas and not for operational and maintenance of the plants. But in 2012, it had extended duty benefits for operation and maintenance of power plants in SEZs also. The notification came into effect from April 1. The notification will impact developers of SEZs and not the units which are engaged in generation and trading of power in these zones. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 5, 2015. For the first time in the past 3-4 years, industries in Telangana will be facing no power holidays this summer, thanks to the dramatic improvement in the power supply situation helped by a host of factors. In March last year, industries were subjected to a one-day power holiday, which was subsequently increased to two-day a week in the following month. The situation in the earlier years too was no different for them. For a power deficit state, this turnaround in such a short period even though an additional 1,800 MW of installed capacity is expected to be added to the grid in Telangana only in next 7-11 months. According to Telangana Genco and Transco, around 1,050 MW is being purchased on a daily basis to meet the requirements throughout the summer season. The transmission and distribution losses were brought down from 17.54 percent to 16.32 percent during the same period.

Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao recently issued instructions for release of ` 350 crore to meet any contingency through additional power purchases during this summer. The Telangana government hopes to get a major relief in terms of power availability when the 600 MW Kakatiya power plant of Telangana Genco and the 1200 MW project of Singareni Collieries Company Limited commence operations. The Telangana Electricity Regulatory Commission has envisaged a total quantum of 52,000 million units for supply during the current year, which represents an 8 percent growth in demand over the last year. (www.business-standard.com)

April 5, 2015. Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said the Centre will finalise the policy paper to bring in transparency in offering fuel ‘linkages’ for assured supply from Coal India Ltd (CIL) by June 30. In the past, such linkages were granted by the standing linkage committee (SLC), headed by the Additional Coal Secretary. Assurances were granted based on the recommendations of the ministries of steel, cement, power and the State governments. The lack of transparency in the decision making became apparent when the Manmohan Singh government issued linkages to 108,000 MW worth electricity generation capacity, ignoring repeated reminders from the CIL board about the unavailability of coal.

The steel and cement manufacturers at meeting said the system of granting linkages should be transparent. But, considering the shortage of coal, they feared that there will be aggressive bidding for such linkages, ignoring the long-term viability of the industry. Given the aggressive bidding by steel and cement companies for coal blocks, Coal Consumers’ Association of India (CCAI) members anticipated a mad rush for linkages if the government decided to auction them. The government should either auction linkages after the supply crunch eases or they should create a bigger open market for coal. Increased offerings on spot sales by CIL were recommended. (www.thehindubusinessline.com)

April 3, 2015. Delhi's major power discom Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) has suggested a number of steps that it claims will reduce power tariff substantially in the national capital. The government had asked the discoms to suggest ways and means to give relief to consumers by reducing power procurement costs among other measures during a meeting on February 25. In a letter to Power Minister Satyendra Jain written last month, the company listed four steps to bring down tariff, chiefly among them are reallocation or surrender of power from old power plants, allocating a coal block to Aravali power plant, reallocation of gas among Delhi's generating companies and writing off regulatory assets by issuing tax free bonds.

According to TPDDL estimates, collectively, these moves would bring down tariff by almost ` 2.70. TPDDL in its letter said plants like NTPC Badarpur, Dadri, NTPC gas-based plant at Dadri and Auriya, and power generation companies such as Rajghat coal based plant and Pragati Power are "very old" and have high variable cost. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 2, 2015. The coal ministry is considering easing qualification norms for companies in the next round of coal auction in which about 20 coal mines with about three billion tonnes of reserves will be offered. The ministry is likely to consider easing investment requirement norm for the mines that will be offered to private developers this month. During the first tranche of auction, the ministry offered producing coal blocks to steel, cement and power companies for plants where 80% of the investment was made. End-use projects where 60% investment has been put in were eligible to participate in the second tranche of auction of soon-to-be operational coal blocks.

The government will offer about 20 mines in states including Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Half of the mines are expected to be reserved for the power sector. The blocks include Icchapur with 335 million tonne (mt) of reserves, North Karapura with 212 mt, Bijahan with 130 mt, Tubed with 189 mt and Gare Palma IV/6 with 158 mt. Coal secretary Anil Swarup said the Centre has transferred ` 466 crore to host states of coal blocks received as upfront payment from bidders through auctions. States are likely to earn ` 3.35 lakh crore in next 30 years from auction of coal blocks to private companies and allotment to state-run companies.

The government auctioned 33 blocks in two tranches to private companies garnering over ` 2 lakh crore. It allotted 38 mines to central and state public sector companies including NTPC, Damodar Valley Corp and Steel Authority of India. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 2, 2015. Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said there was something fishy about the Biju Janata Dal supporting the Narendra Modi Government in the passage of The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 (MMDR) and Coal Mines Bill in RajyaSabha. He said the Naveen Patnaik Government needs to explain high rate of power tariff in Odisha. The veteran Left leader said the BJD might make a similar U-turn in case of Land Acquisition Bill. (www.thehindu.com)

April 1, 2015. Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission (GERC) hiked power tariff by 2.47 percent for both state owned power distribution companies as well as private players like Torrent Power Ltd (TPL). Effective from April 1, 2015, the new tariff will put an additional burden of ` 781 crore annually on the consumers of the four discoms, controlled by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) while TPL consumers will bear an additional burden of ` 160 crore annually. The four power distribution companies are Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Limited (DGVCL), Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Limited (MGVCL), Paschim Gujarat Vij Company Limited (PGVCL) and Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Limited (UGVCL).

The discoms had demanded 17 paisa per unit hike to manage loss but GERC has approved rise of 13 paisa per unit, for all the categories of consumers, except BPL, agriculture and residential consumers consuming electricity up to 200 units per month. Further, the state electricity regulator has directed these companies to make up the balance gap of ` 215.58 Crore by improving operational efficiency. While there is no increase in fixed charge of single phase residential consumers, a moderate increase will be seen in fixed charge by ` 5 per month per installation for three phase residential consumers. According to GERC, this hike will increase burden by 0.17 percent on residential consumers while on non residential consumer, it will be around 2.5 percent.

On the other hand, for Torrent Power Limited (TPL), GERC has approved 15 paisa a unit increase in tariff rates, witnessing a rise of 2.36 percent. Due to this rise, residential consumer will now have to pay 0.53 percent more on bill every year, while, non residential consumer will face rise by 2.76 percent in Ahmedabad and Surat, the GERC informed. It is estimated that, with this increase in tariff, there will be additional revenue to the tune of ` 159.75 Crore for the TPL. The commission has directed the TPL to make up the balance gap of ` 97.23 crore by improving operational efficiency.

Apparently, TPL had asked for an average increase in tariff to the tune of 53 paise per unit to address the gap of ` 566.98 crore claimed by them for both Ahmedabad and Surat area. Meanwhile, in the Multi-Year Tariff (MYT) order, GERC has given targets of distribution losses of 5.15 percent for Surat distribution area and 8.50 percent for Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar distribution area. However, the actual distribution losses achieved by TPL were 4.33 percent in Surat area and 7.27 percent in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar area for the FY 2013-14 which is commendable. (www.business-standard.com)

April 1, 2015. State-run hydro power utility NHPC aims to earn over ` 5,400 crore through the sale of power. It targets generation of 22,000 million units in the current fiscal, 2015-16. NHPC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Power for 2015-16. Under the preliminary pact, the company has a gross (power) sales target of ` 5,439 crore, NHPC said. The company has also set a generation target of 22,000 million units, as against 21,800 million units target last year. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 1, 2015. Accusing the NDA government of a non-supportive attitude, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav claimed that the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh (UP) was delivering its best by providing power, roads and social welfare measures to people despite constraints created by the Centre. He was addressing a public meeting soon after dedicating 500 MW unit of Anpara D power project in Sonbhadra district. This is after 20 years that a 500 MW power plant is coming up in the state sector in UP. Along with Aanpara D, the chief minister also inaugurated a small Harduaganj power unit.

He congratulated the engineers from Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and the power department of the state for achieving an unprecedented feat by raising the plant over an ash dyke. After the plant got energized, Akhilesh said it was a proud moment for him as Anpara plants were conceptualized by his father. SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had inaugurated the first unit of the plant in 1994 when he was the chief minister. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

 [INTERNATIONAL: OIL & GAS]

April 7, 2015. Gazprom Neft reported that it has signed several agreements with Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), including a memorandum on joint oil and gas exploration, production and development projects on the Pechora Sea shelf in Russia. The upstream agreement, covering Pechora Sea shelf projects with a focus on the Dolginskoye field and the Severo-Zapadnyi (North West) licensed block, was signed in Hanoi, Vietnam by Gazprom and PetroVietnam. Gazprom and PetroVietnam will then execute the Pechora Sea shelf oil and gas projects through joint ventures and stakes in these partnerships will be decided through negotiations. (www.rigzone.com)

April 7, 2015. Sino Gas & Energy Holdings Limited announced that field operations are well underway and the second compressor at the Sanjiaobei central gathering station in the Sanjiaobei Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in the Ordos Basin in China's Shaanxi Province has been brought online, increasing capacity from approximately 4 to 8 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d). Current production has increased to approximately 6 MMscf/d with 13 wells online from the pool of 16 wells currently connected. New wells which have been brought online to fill the additional capacity are currently choked back and will gradually be opened up as flow rates stabilize. The average uptime production for the first quarter was 4.2 MMscf/d, with 94 percent uptime recorded. (www.rigzone.com)

April 6, 2015. Libyan state firm Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) is producing 317,000 barrels per day (bpd), the highest level in the last two years, the company said. Libya produces around 600,000 barrels of crude per day, less than half the 1.6 million bpd it produced before the fall of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Several oil ports and major fields have been closed by fighting but the two biggest ports, Ras Lanuf and Es Sider with a combined capacity of 600,000 bpd, may open soon. Gas production was over 2 billion cubic feet per day. Crude revenues are at the heart of a battle for control of the North African OPEC producer that has pitted the two rival governments against each other in a growing conflict. Libya's internationally recognised Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni said his government would run its own oil sales and deposit revenues abroad in a bid to divert proceeds away from a rival self-declared administration in Tripoli. But the Tripoli-based National Oil Company (NOC) still handles all oil sales and revenues, and AGOCO - although located in eastern Libya - is an NOC subsidiary. NOC has tried to stay out of the conflict between the rival governments. Ports and oilfields are also the favourite target of both militants loyal to the Islamic State group and local protesters with their own specific demands. A source from the Brega oil point near Benghazi said that the port and Sirte Oil Company, located in the port area, have been closed by protesters. Brega port is used mainly for crude shipments to the refinery in Zawiya, near Tripoli in the western part of the country. (www.rigzone.com)

April 3, 2015. Russian oil companies have asked the government for permission to delay a vast oil refinery modernisation programme. Russian oil and gas institute VNIPIneft oversees the refinery modernisation programme. The institute said foreign companies are delaying equipment supplies for the refineries in fear of breaching sanctions. In 2011, Russian oil firms and the government agreed on plans to modernise Russia's refineries, which were predominantly built in the 1940s and 1970s. Russia's gasoline supplies almost ran dry in 2011 due to a lack of modern refining capacity, riling a portion of the electorate not long before Putin's election to a third term as president. In 2011, oil companies had pledged to install 130 new units by 2020 that will enable Russia to increase yields of lighter products. A further snag for the new modernisation programme was that Russia introduced a new tax regime last year, encouraging production of high-quality fuel. The tax regime favours some oil producers over others. Gazprom Neft and Bashneft have been most affected by the tax changes due to their high exposure to the downstream sector. Russia's top oil producer Rosneft is the most active in plans to modernise its plants, such as the Kuibyshev and Syzran refineries. Since 2000, refinery output in Russia has grown by over 45 percent, reaching 294 million tonnes in 2014. Until now, the growth in refinery production and improvements in oil product quality has not been slowed by sanctions. According to the Energy Ministry, 19 new units are expected to be commissioned at Russian refineries in 2015 compared with eight in 2014. (uk.reuters.com)

April 2, 2015. U.S. refiners are relying more on North American crude than at any time since 1986 as a glut of supply makes local oil cheaper than imports from overseas. Domestic production and imports from Canada and Mexico made up 85 percent of crude processed at U.S. plants in January, the most since March 1986, according to U.S. Energy Department data. Refiners are buying locally as surging output in the U.S. and Canada helped boost U.S. stockpiles to 471.4 million barrels, the highest since 1930. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, averaged $6.26 a barrel less than international marker Brent in the first quarter, widening from $3.94 in the fourth quarter of 2014. Surging U.S. oil production from shale transformed the U.S. into the world’s third-largest crude producer in 2013, BP Plc data show. Rising supplies helped cut crude prices by more than half last year with WTI falling to $42 a barrel last month from a high last year of $108. As U.S. production rose, imports declined by 36 percent in eight years, the data show. U.S. imports from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude producer, fell to a five-year low of 788,000 barrels a day in January. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 1, 2015. China’s biggest oil refiner is signalling the nation is headed to its peak in diesel and gasoline consumption far sooner than most Western energy companies and analysts are forecasting. If correct, the projections by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, a state-controlled enterprise with public shareholders in Hong Kong, pose a big challenge to the world’s largest oil companies. Sinopec has offered a view of the country that should serve as a reality check to any oil bull. For diesel, the fuel that most closely tracks economic growth, the peak in China’s demand is just two years away, in 2017, according to Sinopec. That forecast, from a company whose 30,000 gas stations and 23,000 convenience stores arguably give it a better view on the market than anyone else, runs counter to the narrative heard regularly from oil drillers from the U.S. and Europe that Chinese demand for their product will increase for decades to come. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 7, 2015. Debt investors are finding a little comfort in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s decision to quietly dismantle a pet program of his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez. As sinking crude prices stoke concern that Venezuela will run out of money, Maduro has cut sales of cheap oil to allies to about half what they were in 2012, according to Barclays Plc. Since 2005, Venezuela has allowed countries from Nicaragua to Jamaica to fund shipments at below-market rates, using 25-year loans with annual interest rates of 1 percent and trades of everything from rice to jeans. In January, the Dominican Republic struck a deal to repay Venezuela $1.9 billion for the nearly $4.1 billion of crude shipments it owed the country under the oil program. Jamaican Finance Minister Peter Phillips said that the country is also in talks to pay back the debt it incurred through Petrocaribe. Venezuela relies on crude for more than 95 percent of its exports. The price for its oil has plunged 53 percent since June to $46.19 a barrel. While the Andean nation has $20.8 billion of foreign reserves, its obligations next year will prove onerous. It has $4.84 billion of bond payments in the next 12 months and may also need to repay about $7.4 billion of debt to China, according to Barclays. State-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, has $6.2 billion coming due before March alone. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 6, 2015. Russian natural gas will start flowing to China in 2019 as planned but construction of the pipeline carrying it will not be fully completed until 2022, Gazprom said. The state-run gas producer said the huge Power of Siberia pipeline to carry gas from new East Siberian fields to China would not be completed until 2022, three years later than originally projected, but did not give details about gas deliveries. Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the start of the Power of Siberia construction in September in the Far Eastern Republic of Yakutia. He pays close attention to the energy projects as oil and gas sales account for a half of state budget's revenues. Power of Siberia will start at 5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas in 2019, ramping up to 38 bcm eventually, he said. The pipeline construction costs are 800.000 billion roubles ($14.4 billion). Russia is also pushing for plans to sell China additional 30 bcm of gas per year through the so-called western route, or Altai project. Moscow wants to secure the deal with Beijing later this year. (af.reuters.com)

April 6, 2015. Colombia's Cano Limon oil pipeline has been shut down following a bomb attack, state-run oil company Ecopetrol said. Attacks on the Andean country's oil pipeline network by the country's leftist FARC and ELN guerrilla movements are frequent, with more than 130 in 2014, but Ecopetrol said this was the first targeting the key Cano Limon duct since last November. Ecopetrol stocks crude at both ends of the 780 km pipeline, which typically carries around 80,000 barrels per day. This could help cover export needs pending repairs, a process that usually takes three to five days. Ecopetrol operates the Cano Limon pipeline through its subsidiary Cenit. It has capacity to pump up to 220,000 barrels of crude per day to Covenas port and also carries oil for other companies including U.S. producer Occidental Petroleum. (www.downstreamtoday.com)

April 1, 2015. America is the world's biggest oil customer, and OPEC is losing its business—fast. U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products from OPEC have fallen to a 28-year low, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. The U.S. is pumping more of its own oil, and relying less on OPEC imports than any time since April 1987.

U.S. Imports of OPEC Oil and Petroleum Products

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration / Bloomberg Annotations

In the past six years, U.S. production has increased dramatically, catching global markets off-guard and contributing to the crash in oil prices. Last year, the U.S. surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the world's biggest oil producer. America's new oil, plus rising imports from Canada, has helped cut OPEC imports by more than half. Here's another way to look at the data. The chart below shows a close-up of the past 10 years. Each line represents a calendar year of U.S. imports from OPEC.

10 Years of OPEC Imports Stacked

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration / Bloomberg Annotations

2014 stands alone in blue—with by far the lowest volume of imports in the decade shown. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 1, 2015. Ships carrying oil from Mexico docked in South Korea this year for the first time in more than two decades as the global fight for market share intensifies. Latin American producers are providing increasing amounts of heavy crude to bargain-hungry Asian refiners in a challenge to Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter and the region’s dominant supplier. The U.S., enjoying a surge of light oil from shale formations, has raised imports of heavy grades from Canada, displacing crude from nations such as Mexico and Venezuela. That’s boosting South American deliveries to Asia even after Saudi Arabia cut prices for March oil sales to the region, its largest market, to the lowest in at least 14 years. The shale boom also has transformed the flow of oil to Asia. South Korea received its first shipment of Alaskan crude in at least eight years as output from Texas and North Dakota displaces oil that fed U.S. refineries for years. The country was one of the first to receive a cargo of the ultralight U.S. crude known as condensate after export rules were eased. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 7, 2015. Iran’s full return to world oil markets will be hindered by strong competition for foreign investment dollars from rival producers including Iraq, Mexico and Brazil, among others. In a world of surplus supply, prices hovering around $50 a barrel and deep cuts to capital expenditures by oil companies, Iran will be challenged to find investors should it finalize a nuclear agreement that leads to a lifting of sanctions. Other jurisdictions have already seen super-major oil companies walk away from reserves because returns were deemed inadequate. Exxon Mobil Corp. has rejected renewing a concession in Abu Dhabi because that country didn’t offer enough returns, and BP Plc has told Mexico it needs better terms to attract foreign investments as it reopens fields. Even if all the obstacles are resolved, “negotiations could take a year” once sanctions are lifted, Nader Sultan, who ran state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp. for over a decade, said. Tehran took the first step to reopening its fields last week when it reached a framework agreement with the U.S. and other leading powers to resolve a decade-old nuclear spat. The deal, if finalized by June 30, could prompt the U.S. and Europe to lift sanctions that have stopped foreign oil companies from investing in Iran. Once that occurs, Iran will be eager to show the world it is open for business, according to Sultan. The potential addition of millions of barrels of Iranian crude to the market promises to further delay a recovery in oil prices, hurting profitability of some of the world’s biggest producers, including Exxon and Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 7, 2015. Oil prices could tumble $15 a barrel next year if sanctions are lifted following a final nuclear deal with Iran, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Iran and world powers reached a preliminary agreement on April 2 that set the parameters for further negotiations needed to complete an agreement by a June 30 deadline. The re-entry of more Iranian barrels could cut the agency’s price projection by $5 to $15 a barrel, the EIA said. Iran’s full return to the oil market risks delaying a recovery in prices, which have slumped by almost half since last year amid a supply glut. Iran could boost output by at least 700,000 barrels a day by the end of 2016, the EIA said. The nation produced 2.85 million barrels a day in March, according to data. The additional output from Iran could lead to an annual average growth of about 500,000 barrels a day in global inventories in 2016, stressing storage capacity and pressuring prices, the EIA said. The agency projected that global stockpiles will grow by 100,000 barrels a day in 2016, without considering additional supplies from Iran. The pace and volume at which more Iranian oil can re-enter the market are uncertain, the EIA said. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 7, 2015. More than $1 trillion in U.S. real estate debt from the last decade’s property boom is starting to come due as oil prices stagnate, squeezing property owners in cities and towns centered around the energy business. The 50 percent plunge in crude values since June is already dragging down property prices in Texas, according to Green Street Advisors LLC. Real estate investors are adjusting their underwriting across the state as they gird for contraction at energy companies, demanding higher yields on their investments, the property-research firm said. Even as U.S. commercial real estate values surge past records set in 2007, with cash from around the globe pouring into the best buildings in the biggest cities, lenders are becoming more cautious in regions that rely heavily on the oil industry for growth. That could create higher hurdles for borrowers that need to refinance mortgages in places such as Texas and North Dakota, according to New York-based financial-services consulting firm NewOak Capital LLC. Lenders are reassessing risks in energy towns as roughly $1.1 trillion of property loans come due across the U.S. over the next three years, according to Richard Hill, a real estate debt analyst at Morgan Stanley. About $345 billion is left over from a lending binge on Wall Street that culminated in 2007 with a record $232 billion in sales of securities linked to properties including skyscrapers, shopping malls, hotels and apartment buildings. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 3, 2015. North Dakota's oil producers are complying with new safety standards that went into effect to remove as many volatile gases from crude as possible. The new rules require the more than 1.2 million barrels of oil extracted each day from the state's Bakken shale formation be run through machines that remove ethane, propane and other volatile gases linked to recent crude-by-rail disasters in Quebec, Illinois and West Virginia. Producers are now required to operate field equipment at oil wells at specific temperatures and pressures to remove those gases. Well sites are shut down if they are not compliant, according to the standards approved in December. Late March field checks of equipment operated by all of the state's producers, ranging from the largest with Whiting Petroleum Corp to one of the smallest with Triangle Petroleum Corp, are compliant, the state's Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) said. Despite the higher cost, the new rules proved easier to comply with than strict new anti-flaring measures precisely because well site equipment is already common across the state's more-than 12,000 oil wells. Flaring reduction, by contrast, requires an expansion of the state's natural gas pipeline system and construction of more processing plants, a timely and costly exercise. The DMR has, so far this year, limited output due to flaring issues at wells owned by Whiting, Abraxas Petroleum Corp, Enerplus Corp and others. (www.rigzone.com)

April 2, 2015. Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices for May delivery edged slightly lower as gas consumption stayed slack during the typically low-demand period. The price of spot LNG for May delivery eased to $7.45 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) from $7.50 per mmBtu. Incremental demand from Taiwan, India, China and Japan struggled to put a dent in ample supply availability coming from Indonesian and Australian production plants, among others. PetroChina plans to import only slightly more natural gas and LNG this year due to slower demand growth and higher domestic output, a bearish signal for global LNG markets after China's 13-percent gas demand growth last year. Egypt moved closer to easing its chronic power shortages as the arrival of a floating import terminal marked the start of LNG imports. The terminal, called the Hoegh Gallant and supplied by Norwegian shipping company Hoegh, arrived fully laden with Egypt's first cargo from Qatar. Despite turmoil in Yemen, the country's LNG export terminal appeared to be operating normally and shipments continued to be loaded onto tankers. Abu Dhabi National Tanker Co. is considering chartering Mitsui OSK Lines' LNG Pioneer vessel for at least a one year period. Australia's North West Shelf LNG export plant chartered a vessel for a period of three-years as part of a recent tender. Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company is looking to charter a ship for almost a full-year and the Australia-Pacific LNG export plant is scouting around for two ships for up to a year. (uk.reuters.com)

April 2, 2015. Russian oil output edged up 0.6 percent in March to a post-Soviet high of 10.71 million barrels per day on increased production at Gazprom and Rosneft, Energy Ministry data showed. The output topped December's high of 10.67 million barrels per day (bpd), the data showed. The data includes output for crude oil and gas condensate which reached 45.275 million tonnes in March, versus 40.696 million the month before. Crude oil exports through oil pipeline monopoly Transneft rose by 2 percent to 3.91 million bpd, the ministry said. Oil and natural gas production accounts for half of Russian budget revenue, which has been hit by a 50 percent plunge in oil prices since June and Western sanctions over Moscow's involvement in the Ukraine crisis. (www.rigzone.com)

April 1, 2015. Canada's national pipeline regulator is making plans to cut its annual spending by 24 percent and workforce by 15 percent over the next two years as a pool of temporary funding runs dry, according to a report. An annual report presented to Parliament said the regulator, the Calgary-based National Energy Board (NEB), would run out of temporary funding to improve safety and security on pipelines in 2017-2018. The government announced the temporary safety oversight funding in its 2012 budget, adding up to C$30.3 million ($24.02 million) over five years. The board said it implemented a temporary staffing strategy for the duration of the funding and would seek an extension if required. Without new funding, its workforce would drop from about 471 to 398 full-time equivalent workers. The board is an independent body with quasi-judicial powers set up in 1959 to ensure safety, security, environmental protection of Canada's pipeline system. While the regulator recovers about 90 percent of its costs from the companies it regulates, it needs government approval to increase its budget, which was C$81.7 million in 2013-2014. The board said in the report that the regulator was facing "resource constraints" due to an increasing number of complex pipeline projects that it has to review with tight 15-month deadlines. (in.reuters.com)

 [INTERNATIONAL: POWER]

April 7, 2015. The developers of the 445 MW Gemeinschaftskraftwerk Bremen gas-fired power plant in North Germany hope to start testing after Easter and to bring the capacity to market by the end of June. In autumn, they had planned to start commercial operations by the end of the first quarter of this year. Despite the latest delay, a spokesman for the project said it is generally progressing as planned. Several large gas-fired power plant projects are on hold in Germany due to low wholesale power prices, which are being pressured by increasing, subsidised renewable energy generation and stagnating power demand. Hopes that the government could introduce a capacity market to support conventional power generation for the sake of supply security have largely faded after the ministry of economics recently proposed a modified energy-only market as Germany’s new electricity market design. (www.icis.com)

April 6, 2015. Energy distributor Fortis, in partnership with Columbia Power and Columbia Basin Trust has commissioned a 335 MW hydroelectric generating facility in British Columbia, Canada. Columbia Power and Columbia Basin Trust are both 100% owned by Government of British Columbia.

The $900 mn facility is located near the Waneta Dam and powerhouse facilities on the Pend d'Oreille River, south of Trail, British Columbia. Fortis owns a 51% stake in the Waneta Expansion project, which involved construction of a 10 km, 230KV transmission line and provides enough energy to power about 60,000 homes per year. Power generated from the project will be sold to BC Hydro and FortisBC under 40-year long-term power purchase agreements. (www.energy-business-review.com)

April 6, 2015. The power plants of Azerenerji JSC generated 6.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in Jan.-March 2015, compared to 6.2 billion kilowatt hours in the same period of 2014. Azerenerji JSC is the main producer of electricity in Azerbaijan. The power plants of the company generated 2.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in March 2015, compared to 2 billion kilowatt hours in the same period of 2014, the company reported. Azerenerji JSC produced around 22.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2014, compared to over 21.5 billion kilowatt hours in 2013. The generation capacity of Azerbaijan's power supply system has increased by 30 percent over the last five years. Currently, its capacity is 7,105 MW. This allows to generate around 24 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and export 2.1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually. (www.azernews.az)

April 2, 2015. Turkey's parliament approved a law paving the way for the country's second nuclear power plant to be built by Japanese and French companies on the northern Black Sea coast. In May 2013, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHE), Itochu Corp. and France's GDF Suez agreed to build the plant at an estimated cost of $22 billion. Approval of the law, providing the legal basis for the construction, is a vital step in the process.

The 4,800 MW plant in the Black Sea town of Sinop will use Atmea1 reactors developed by MHE and French Areva. The first Turkish power plant, a Russian designed project, is due to be built at the Akkuyu site in Turkey with construction expected to start in April 2015. The Akkuyu plant will have four power units of 1200 MW each, producing a total of about 35 billion kilowatt-hours per year. The project's cost is estimated at $20 billion. (af.reuters.com)

April 6, 2015. Pakistan and Sri Lanka signed six agreements including one on nuclear cooperation, two months after Sri Lanka inked an atomic deal with India, as the two countries agreed to deepen ties in various fields. The agreements were signed after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had a meeting with visiting Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena here. The two sides also decided to increase the current trade of USD 438 million to USD 1 billion within the next few years. Sri Lanka's nuclear pact with India in February during Sirisena's first foreign visit after assuming office entailed cooperation in the transfer and exchange of knowledge and expertise, sharing of resources, and capacity building and training of personnel in peaceful uses of nuclear energy. (www.hindustantimes.com)

April 2, 2015. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has decided to build a new 115-kilovolt transmission line near Soda Springs. Construction of the $65 million project will begin in spring 2016. According to BPA, the 24-mile line will extend east from the Hooper Springs substation to a new BPA connection facility. From there it will connect the new line to Lower Valley Energy's existing transmission system in northeastern Caribou County. Another 138-kilovolt transmission line will extend south to PacifiCorp's existing Threemile Knoll substation and connect to the regional transmission grid. The project is intended to improve voltage stability on the transmission grid and meet future load growth. (www.localnews8.com)

April 6, 2015. The US along with UK, France, Russia, China and Germany, jointly known as (P5+1), plus the European Union (EU) have agreed on parameters of a comprehensive deal with Iran on its nuclear programme, aimed to block or restrict Iran’s four pathways to nuclear weapons. The final agreement, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA), will ensure Iran's nuclear programme is and will remain exclusively peaceful and the details are scheduled to be negotiated by the end of June 2015. Under the deal, Iran will reduce its enriched uranium stockpile by 98% in next 15 years as well as reduce its centrifuges by two thirds. The country will also redesign its Arak research reactor to minimise plutonium production while meeting the highest technical standards set by P5+1. Spent reactor fuel will be transferred out of the country for the lifetime of the reactor and Iran will not reprocess any used nuclear fuel or conduct any reprocessing R&D, steps necessary to extracting plutonium for use in a weapon, for least next 15 years. (nuclear.energy-business-review.com)

April 6, 2015. Jordan signed a $10 billion deal with Russia, March 24 to build the kingdom's first nuclear power plant, with two 1,000 MW reactors in the country's north. The deal, signed in the Jordanian capital, Amman, with Russia's state-owned Rosatom company caps efforts of the energy-poor kingdom to increase energy sufficiency and reduce imports. Jordan lacks any local energy sources and imports 96 percent of its electricity. The violence in neighboring Iraq and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula has threatened and in many cases, completely cut off supplies. Jordan plans to finish construction of the plant in Amra in the country's north by 2022. Under the deal, Jordan must buy fuel from Rosatom for the reactors for 10 years, after which it may seek other suppliers. The Jordanian government will have a slight majority ownership, with Rosatom owning 49 pecent of the plant. Rosatom signed an agreement, the details of which are secret, to build two reactors in Hungary. (www.pennenergy.com)

April 3, 2015. There is a growing possibility that Japan will rely on nuclear energy for more than 20 percent of its total power output in 2030, a level not much lower than about 30 percent before the Fukushima nuclear disaster started in March 2011. Following the three reactor-core meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, the government initially looked to reduce the nation’s dependence on nuclear energy as much as possible. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry meanwhile plans to secure the share of the “base load” stable power sources of nuclear energy, coal and water at an international standard of about 60 percent. In fiscal 2013, coal-fired and hydroelectric plants accounted for 30 percent and 9 percent, respectively, of the total power output. All nuclear power plants have remained offline due to heightened safety concerns in light of the Fukushima disaster. If the base load share is to be raised to the envisioned level, the dependence on nuclear energy should top 20 percent, because of difficulties in substantially boosting the shares of coal-fired and hydroelectric power generation. (www.japantimes.co.jp)

 [RENEWABLE ENERGY / CLIMATE CHANGE TRENDS]

April 7, 2015. Sterling and Wilson Pvt Ltd, part of the ShapoorjiPallonji Group is close to commissioning more than 140 MW of solar power generation plants in India for the financial year 2014 – 2015. The company already has over 350 MW of solar projects spread across 13 states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. According to Sterling and Wilson, the cumulative power output from the 140 MW of solar power projects commissioned by them in a commendable time frame of 365 days would be able to light up 2,00,000 Indian homes or approximately 4 times the number of households in New Delhi. From an environmental perspective, Sterling and Wilson has helped in reducing the country’s carbon footprint by decreasing its dependency on coal for captive power generation by 70 tonnes per year, which is the approximate amount of coal required to generate around 140 MW of electricity. (www.business-standard.com)

April 7, 2015. Chennai-based Rajalakshmi Group, which runs engineering and technology colleges, has acquired a majority stake in Ashok Leyland Wind Energy. The Group has also lined up new projects worth ` 1,100 crore and is in talks with private equity firms to fund the expansion. Abhay S Meganathan, managing director, Rajalakshmi Automobiles, said the Group had bought out 75 percent in Ashok Leyland Wind Energy from Ashok Leyland and Hinduja Foundries.

Ashok Leyland had said it had diluted stake in Avia Ashok Leyland Motors and Ashok Leyland Wind Energy, but did not disclose the value and name of the company which acquired the stakes. While declining to comment on the value of the 75 percent stake in Ashok Leyland's renewable energy arm, Meganathan said the enterprise value of Ashok Leyland Wind Energy is around ` 170 crore.

The remaining stake will be held by the existing promoters for now, he said. Once the acquisition is complete, the company’s name will be changed. Rajalakshmi Group plans to add 137 MW of wind power and 53 MW of solar generation capacity. Renewable energy being a capital-intensive sector, the Group would rope in investors, including private equity and institutional investors, Meganathan said. The Group, which already has 750 acres of land in Tamil Nadu, will also look at Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. With the Tamil Nadu government planning to strengthen the electricity infrastructure in the state, it is the right time to invest in renewable energy, Meganathan said. He said the Group would sign a power purchase agreement soon. (www.business-standard.com)

April 7, 2015. Centre is working on innovative measures, which will help in cutting down the cost of solar power by 25-35 percent to ` 4.50 per unit by December 2015. At present, solar power tariff is about ` 6-7 per unit. Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said that there may be escalation in solar power tariff in the future but it would not be significant.

The government has also engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as consultant for formulation of a plan to scale up solar energy in the country. The work undertaken by PwC include assessing the power scenario and analysing the efficacy of ongoing initiatives by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy as well as brining out a realistic demand projection and capacity addition plan. The central government plans to increase the solar power capacity to 1,00,000 MW by 2022 from the current 3,000 MW. On the fossil fuel-front the minister said that the government is working at increasing the production of coking coal used in the steel industry. The minister said that the one billion tonnes coal production target of Coal India by 2020 is achievable. (dc.asianage.com)

April 7, 2015. India's mineral and mining sector face an acid test in sustaining growth potential of the economy with the country's mineral wealth posing both a challenge and an opportunity to geo-scientists, President Pranab Mukherjee said. He said that the adverse impact of ecological degradation and climate change has emerged as a major concern the world over. He said that the country's geo-scientific organizations and other institutes have, over the last few decades, invested heavily in analytical and instrumental infrastructure and the scientists should make good use of these instruments to "accomplish significant outcomes to shape geo-science of the future". (www.moneylife.in)

April 6, 2015. Punjab farmers are not inclined towards installing solar water pumps for irrigation, despite a subsidy of 30 percent offered by the new and renewable energy ministry (MNRE). According to the government data, only 1,955 solar power water pumps were installed by farmers in the state during 2000-2015. In Punjab, about 70 percent of the total net irrigated area is being irrigated by tube wells. On an average, a two-HP solar powered pumps costs about ` 2.8 lakh while an electric power-operated pump costs ` 35,000. Despite, the 30 percent subsidy offered by the Centre, the cost of acquiring a new solar water pump is very high, compared with electric power-operated pumps. The state government decided to provide ` 1 lakh subsidy on installation of 500 solar irrigation pump sets in the state during 2013-14 and a special fund of ` 5 crore was earmarked for it. However, against the target of 500 solar irrigation pumps, only 105 were installed. Agriculturists suggested the state government should also offer subsidy as it did in the past to promote solar pumps. (www.business-standard.com)

April 6, 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a national air quality index to monitor pollution level in 10 cities, the first of its kind in the country. Claiming that the world's perception of India’s “insensitivity” in addressing climate change and global warming was not correct, Modi said the country’s contribution to global pollution levels was one of the smallest. He also urged Indians to change their lifestyle to help protect the environment.

Modi said that India was ready to take lead in environment protection but the prime minister also sought to clear the 'wrong impression' of India that it was not serious on environmental issues, saying that the country had a culture in which the environment is equal to the divine. The prime minister said that India was one of the most sensitive countries about nature. He said that urban bodies could recycle waste water and send it to farmers, who in turn would make use of it and provide other services like growing organic vegetables, which would make life easier for all. (www.business-standard.com)

April 6, 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi signalled he would not bow to foreign pressure to commit to cuts in carbon emissions, instead pledging to use more clean energy and traditional methods to lead the fight against climate change. India, the world's No.3 emitter of greenhouse gases, has come under pressure to tackle its rapidly rising emissions since the United States and China committed last November to start cutting their own emissions after a "peak year". United Nations climate talks will be held in Paris later this year to look at ways to limit a damaging rise in global temperatures. Getting India to agree to a strategy to lower its own emissions is vital if the talks are to be judged a success.

Modi suggested using traditional methods such as switching off street lights on full-moon nights to save on energy and cut emissions. Modi accused the world of double standards by lecturing India about the environment but refusing to sell it the fuel needed for nuclear power. Some countries maintain a ban on selling uranium to India because New Delhi has refused to ratify the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Modi will begin an overseas trip to Europe and Canada and is expected to push for more help in expanding India's civil nuclear industry and easing the uranium ban. (www.rediff.com)

April 5, 2015. Renewable energy forms around one-eighth of the cumulative installed capacity of power generation in India, while in Karnataka it is about one-third. The cumulative installed capacity of power in the country as of February last was close to 257,780 MW. Of this, the renewable energy capacity comprises of 34,351 MW, Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) said.

In Karnataka, he said, the installed capacity for power was 14,802 MW, comprising of renewal energy of 4,749 MW which included wind energy 2,623 MW, small hydro power 785 MW, bio-mass 113 MW, co-generation 114 MW and solar grid 84 MW. Many states in India, including Karnataka, have already recognised and identified solar energy’s potential and others have lined up to meet their growing energy needs with clean and everlasting solar energy. In the near future, solar energy will have a huge role to play in meeting the country’s energy demand, he said inaugurating a 10 kW solar power plant here at the National Institute of Engineering (NIE). Karnataka is blessed with a reasonably good solar radiation which is sufficient to make solar power projects commercially viable in addition to offering a wide scope for off-grid solar applications. NIE’s Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technologies (CREST) said, annually NIE would generate about 60,000 units of power from solar energy. With 30 kW power plant already installed at the NIE boys’ hostel, the total installed capacity increased to 40 kW and it would meet 10 percent of its energy requirements as per the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s model solar city guidelines. (www.business-standard.com)

April 5, 2015. A group of Delhi University (DU) students has discovered an innovative way of harnessing wind energy churned out by Metro trains to generate electricity. The project, undertaken by Kalindi College, has also got the backing of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which allowed the students to install a turbine on trial basis at one of the underground metro stations. The team, involving ten students of Physics and Computer Science departments, proposed setting up a turbine at an underground metro station to check if it can be successful in harnessing the wind. DMRC found the project interesting and gave the nod to install a turbine at Chandni Chowk metro station.

The project, which has was started by a different group of students in 2013, has received a grant of ` 15 lakh from the university. While the first phase involved the research work, the DMRC engineers were later roped in to test the feasibility, who have asked the team to develop the concept further. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 5, 2015. The Haryana government has identified around 2,000 acres of panchayat land in the state that has potential of housing solar power plants of 200 MW capacity. A feasibility study is being carried out for the installation of solar power plants on canal tops and banks. The renewable energy department said that in order to generate solar power, 50 MW solar power projects would be installed in 2015-16. Apart from this, the department would also install another 5 MW solar power plants, which were sanctioned by Union ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) in 2014-15.

The Haryana Renewable Energy Development Authority would promote setting up of institutional biogas plants in the gaushalas and dairies where sufficient cow dung was available. The state is providing 40% subsidy on total the cost of plant by the Khadi Village Industries Corporation to the charitable institutions.

During 2015-16, financial assistance would also be provided to the poultry forms and commercial or individual dairies, the spokesperson said, adding that total subsidy of ` 50 lakh would be provided in 2015-16 for setup of approximately 400 KW biogas-based power generation units. Biogas produced from cattle dung and poultry droppings could also bottled. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com)

April 2, 2015. Southern Railway has begun to tap solar power for its energy requirements to reduce dependence on conventional sources of energy. As part of its green power initiative, a solar power driven water pump has been installed and commissioned at Perugamani railway station in the Tiruchi-Karur broad gauge section to draw water using the renewable energy.

The solar panel is used to power the high horse power motor to draw water from the borewell to the three tanks to meet the station’s requirement and that of the railway quarters situated close to the station. Eco-friendliness, less maintenance and zero running costs are the prime features of the solar power water pump. Ever since the solar equipment was commissioned four months ago, the system had been running very successfully harnessing green energy with good sunlight. The initiative, under the Salem Railway Division, is the first of its kind in the Southern Railway zone.

There is a plan to provide solar –powered platform lights at stations such as Mutharasanallur, Elamanur, Perugamani, Pettavaithalai, Kulithalai, Lalapet, Mahadanapuram, Mayanur, Veerarakiyam, Murthipalayam and Pugalur railway stations in the near future. The matter is under progress with the divisional authorities. (www.thehindu.com)

April 1, 2015. Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) said it has received US Patent on hydrogen generation process, opening up new vista for generating the clean energy source from water on commercial scale. United States (US) Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Patent to ONGC Energy Centre (OEC) Trust and Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai for the innovative research work on 'Hydrogen Production Method by Multi-step Copper-Chlorine Thermochemical Cycle', the company said. Hydrogen is considered as one of the most efficient and clean emerging sources of energy for transport and power generation applications. Research efforts by ICT and OEC are continuing to develop and demonstrate indigenous integrated facility for closed loop operation of the process for hydrogen generation at a laboratory scale. Key reactors used in this process have been indigenously developed. The ONGC Energy Centre Trust, set up by ONGC, has been pursuing a programme to develop innovative methods to generate hydrogen by splitting water thermo chemically, using heat generated from solar or nuclear energy. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 1, 2015. Reluctance on part of states to buy expensive clean energy has put a question mark on the feasibility of the country's biggest power generator NTPC's plans to install the targeted 15,000 MW of solar power in the next five years. The Cabinet had last month given its nod to NTPC to set up solar capacity of this magnitude in three tranches. The first tranche of 3,000 MW is to be set up under a mechanism of 'bundling' two units of solar with one unit of unallocated thermal power so as to bring costs down. In executing this project, NTPC is faced with a two-pronged problem. One, that there is no availability of unallocated thermal power, and two, that even after bundling the high cost of solar energy remains unattractive for buyers, mainly state governments. State-owned National Thermal Power Corporation's problem is not isolated but part of the larger inability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pet project of installing 100,000 MW of solar power by 2022 to take off in 2015-16 despite the budget announcement. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)

April 1, 2015. The water storage available in 85 important reservoirs of the country as on March 31 was 53.97 billion cubic metres (BCM), or 35 percent of the total storage capacity of these reservoirs. This storage is 84 percent of the storage of corresponding period in last year and 108 percent of the average storage in last decade. The present storage position during current year is less than the storage position of last year. But it is better than the storage of average of last ten years. The Central Water Commission (CWC) monitors live storage status of 85 important reservoirs of the country on weekly basis. These reservoirs include 37 reservoirs having hydro power benefit with installed capacity of more than 60 MW. The total storage capacity of these reservoirs is 155.046 billion cubic metres which is about 61 percent of the storage capacity of 253.388 billion cubic metres which is estimated to have been created in the country. (www.newkerala.com)

April 1, 2015. Solar power solutions provider Rays Power Experts said it has won a contract from Delhi Metro for setting up a 7 MW solar rooftop photovoltaic project on selected stations and sites. Rays Power has bagged the tender for the construction and commissioning of a 7 MW solar roof-top voltaic power plant for selected stations and sites of Delhi Metro Rail Co-corporation (DMRC), the company said. Rays Power said it is a tariff-based project at a consistent tariff of ` 6.248 per unit for a duration of 25 years. (www.business-standard.com)

April 1, 2015. Armed with amendments to labour laws and a new solar energy policy, Rajasthan has attracted more investment interest than it targetted for solar power capacity. Minister of State for Energy Pushpendra Singh Singh said that Chief Minister Raje fixed a solar power production target of 25,000 MW in the state over the next few years. But the interest shown has overshot that figure.

According to state government, till the second week of March, Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) were signed with various companies, including Sun Edison and Azure Power, for production of 14,000 MW of solar power. Similarly MoUs or joint venture agreements for developing 26,000 MW in solar parks have been signed with Adani Enterprises, Reliance Power, IL&FS and Essel Infra Projects, among others. Raje announced changes in the solar power policy in October 2014 aimed at easing the norms for setting up such plants on private lands.

Land-holders were allowed to set up solar power project on their holding or sub-let the holding for such projects without the requirement of land conversion in accordance with the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955, and the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956. Further, solar power producers were allowed to purchase private lands for setting up such plants even in excess of the ceiling limit provided under the law. The government land could be alloted to such producers at lower than market rate. Solar power plants have also been brought under the Green Category by the state Pollution Control Board. (www.business-standard.com)

April 1, 2015. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has said that besides Swachh Bharat, the Centre aims to make India a pollution-free country by encouraging the use of alternative fuel on a large scale. He was speaking after inaugurating a bus manufacturing facility of Sweden-based Scania Commercial Vehicles India Pvt. Ltd. at Narasapaur Industrial Area near Kolar. The Centre will not hesitate to trash ‘the redundant’ Motor Vehicles Act in order to facilitate the use of ethanol. Gadkari said the transport system in most States in India, including Uttar Pradesh, was not good. However, it is very good in Karnataka. (www.thehindu.com)

April 7, 2015. Green energy is going to war. Starting in June, defense companies including Thales SA and Multicon Solar AG will join NATO to test the military’s ability to use renewable power in combat and humanitarian operations. About 1,000 North Atlantic Treaty Organization soldiers will spend 12 days deploying wind turbines, solar panels and self-contained power grids in Hungary, according to Susanne Michaelis, the group’s action officer for smart energy. The soldiers will test small solar power plants that open within 10 minutes like flowers to the sun, highly insulated tents and solar-powered battery chargers -- technologies that displace conventional fuels which must be delivered along vulnerable supply lines. The testing follows the wounding or killing of 3,000 U.S. soldiers in attacks on fuel and water convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to NATO. NATO soldiers will conduct war-game scenarios that simulate power cuts, flooded roads and diesel and water contamination using three airdrops of “smart energy” equipment at the camp in June. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 7, 2015. Utilities in the U.S. Northeast stand to lose as much as half of residential sales by 2030 as customers install solar and battery-storage systems and generate their own power, according to a report by the Rocky Mountain Institute. Residential and commercial customers who opt for alternatives to traditional, utility-supplied electricity could erode power sales in the region by as much as $34.8 billion, the Snowmass, Colorado-based energy consultant said in the report. Fewer kilowatt-hours sold to customers also will affect utilities’ abilities to raise the estimated $2 trillion that needs to be spent to maintain power grids between 2010 and 2030.

A drop in the cost of solar panels and new leasing programs that offer installation with no upfront customer payments has led to a boom in U.S. rooftop systems, which have climbed more than 50 percent annually during the past three years. Utilities in some states have sought added fees from customers who generate their own power, saying the funds will support a grid to which users sell excess supply and upon which they rely when their own systems aren’t available. The report warns there is a “real risk” that power plant owners selling into competitive markets may have to write down the value of their assets as solar and battery systems sap sales. The study was done in partnership with Homer Energy LLC, a Boulder, Colorado-based provider of software and services for microgrids. Companies including SolarCity Corp., NRG Energy Inc. and SunEdison Inc. sell home solar panel systems, which reduce demand from traditional utilities.

Utility owners have been countering with proposals to reduce the amount customers are paid for the excess electricity generated by their solar panels and instituting monthly grid-connection charges. In Arizona, SolarCity filed a lawsuit challenging a plan to charge solar customers a minimum monthly connection fee of $32.44. Customers in New York, California and Hawaii will find solar and storage systems less expensive than relying exclusively on grid-supplied power within the next 10 to 15 years, the study found. Regulators in those states are already considering ways to allow power companies to earn money while accommodating more solar and power storage on their grids. California utility owners PG&E Corp. and Edison International have said they see growth opportunities through network investments to allow for two-way flows of electricity as more customers install solar and storage units. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 6, 2015. Japan has the potential by 2030 to triple the amount of electricity it gets from renewable sources such as solar and wind, a Ministry of the Environment study showed. Clean energy -- solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, biomass and ocean energy -- could account for 241.4 terawatt hours to 356.6 terawatt hours by 2030 depending on energy policies, according to estimates included in the study of renewable energy’s potential posted on the ministry website. The report didn’t provide total power output levels for 2030. Japan gets about 116.1 terawatt hours from renewables, according to the report, which was compiled by the Mitsubishi Research Institute for the ministry. Solar output may increase to 77.7 terawatt hours to 128 terawatt hours in 15 years from 15 terawatt hours, the report showed. Wind, including offshore, may rise to 41 terawatt hours to 64.6 terawatt hours from 4.8 terawatt hours. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 6, 2015. UAE's Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) is considering development of 100 MW of solar power plants in Northern Emirates with an investment of AED500mn ($136 mn). The solar power projects are expected to generate power that can fulfil the requirements of 20,000 homes while reducing production cost and lowering carbon emissions. FEWA said that the plants will be developed in partnership with the private sector. The power plants are being developed as part of the country's Vision 2021 strategy, which aims to generate 24% of its total power supply from renewable sources or nuclear energy. Construction of the first solar power plant is scheduled to commence this year. (www.energy-business-review.com)

April 6, 2015. Kapchagay solar power plant in Kazakhstan is increasing its electricity generation, the country’s Samruk-Energo company told Trend. The plant with the capacity of 2 MW (with possibility of reaching 100 MW) was commissioned in December 2013, according to Samruk-Energo. The volume of commercial electricity generation at the plant stood at 442,000 kilowatt hours in 2014. During the Q1 of 2015, 630 kilowatt hours of electricity, generated at Kapchagay plant was sold to consumers.

Kapchagay solar plant started selling electricity to the settlement and financial center for supporting renewable energy sources from October 9, 2014. Under the law of Kazakhstan, the center carries out the centralized sale and purchase of electricity produced by the facilities by using renewable energy sources. Samruk-Energo company said that the state provides guarantees for the producers of “clean” electricity in Kazakhstan for connection to the network, long-term agreements on purchasing of the whole produced electricity, as well as a guarantee for the purchase of the produced electricity at the fixed price. Kapchagay solar power plant was the first industrial project of the “green” power engineering implemented by Samruk-Energo. Alongside with rich hydrocarbon reserve, 60 percent of Kazakhstan’s territory has the potential to use solar, wind and water energy. (www.azernews.az)

April 3, 2015. Canada will avoid a national price on carbon to protect a “fragile” economy from higher costs for gasoline and groceries, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford said. The governing Conservative Party is opposing Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau’s plan for a nationally mandated price on carbon because it would place “punitive costs” on the Canadian economy, Rickford said in a speech in Calgary. Canada should coordinate carbon policy with major trading partners like the U.S., the minister said. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 2, 2015. Enel Green Power (EGP) has signed two-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Marubeni to cooperate in evaluating potential development opportunities in renewable energy projects in the Asia-Pacific Region. Under the terms of the MoU, both the firms will cooperate in geothermal, wind, solar and hydro projects mainly located in the Philippines, Thailand, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia as well as other areas that may be identified at a later stage. The team will consider only the projects which are in the development phase. The MoU will include development agreements in order to set the projects' structure. (www.energy-business-review.com)

April 2, 2015. Duke Energy Corp. plans to install as much as 500 MW of solar power in Florida by 2024, a proposal that would more than triple the capacity of the Sunshine State. Duke’s Florida utility plans to start building the first site this year and complete 35 MW of solar power by 2018, the company said. Florida ranks 13^th in installed solar capacity, with 234 MW, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Duke’s utility currently owns no solar in the state, which doesn’t require renewable power use and prohibits leases that have spurred an explosion of solar elsewhere in the U.S. It has been slow to adopt the technology despite ranking third in rooftop solar potential. California, Arizona and Hawaii have seen installations surge as companies like SolarCity Corp. offer leases that allow homeowners to buy power from systems installed on their rooftops. Pro-solar advocates are gathering support for a ballot initiative that would allow solar companies to compete in the state. NextEra Energy Inc., owner of the state’s largest utility, announced plans in January to build three solar plants that would bring its capacity to about 335 MW from 110. Duke said the added solar capacity, along with plans to build a natural gas-fired power plant and buy one, will help to retire half its coal-fueled facilities by 2018. The proposal to expand solar was filed with Florida regulators as part of the utility’s 10-year plan. The utility, which serves 1.7 million customers in the state, plans to continue offering about $2 million worth of annual rebates to homes and businesses that install solar. Duke Energy Florida’s Charlotte, North Carolina-based parent has invested more than $4 billion in utility-scale renewable-energy projects over the past eight years and in February bought a majority stake in REC Solar Commercial Corp., which builds solar power systems for businesses and schools. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 2, 2015. China's first power plant producing electricity both from biomass power generation and photovoltaic power generation started its first phase operation. The Zhejiang Longquan Biomass Power Plant in east China's Zhejiang Province began operating its two biomass power generators, which boast a total installed capacity of producing 162 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. To reach the capacity, the generators need to consume 250,000 tonnes of biomass fuel, which is processed from rural waste.

The plant will see the installation of its 1.44 MW photovoltaic power generation system. It is expected to go into operation 4 months later. The solar power generation is able to add 1.3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year to the power grid, which is equivalent to the thermal power generation of burning 430 tonnes of coal. (www.globaltimes.cn)

April 1, 2015. Carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union’s cap-and-trade program, the world’s largest, probably fell to a record last year as warmer-than-average weather curbed demand for gas and power. Emissions from companies covered by the program dropped 5.8 percent to 1.798 billion metric tons in 2014, according to the median forecast of six analysts surveyed before the European Union (EU) makes the data public. That would be the lowest level since the bloc’s carbon market started in 2005, data from the European Environment Agency show. Last year was Europe’s warmest on record, according to MDA Information Systems LLC in Gaithersburg, Maryland, whose data goes back to 1981. Power prices in Germany, the largest European economy, fell for a fourth year as renewable energy’s share of the nation’s electricity use rose to almost 28 percent in 2014, the government said March 5. The EU has said a glut of carbon permits that came to about 2.1 billion tons in 2013 is set to linger beyond 2020 without steps to curb it.

The EU’s emissions trading system (ETS), covering about 12,000 installations owned by utilities and manufacturers, is the bloc’s main policy tool to reduce greenhouse gas discharges. It imposes decreasing pollution caps on power producers and industries from cement to paper. The permit surplus expanded as economies slowed amid the euro-zone crisis, weighing on demand. Each year companies must surrender enough carbon permits, which they get for free or must buy at auctions, to account for their emissions or pay fines amounting to € 100 ($107) a ton. Each permit entitles the holder to emit one ton of carbon dioxide. Companies in the ETS emitted 1.908 billion tons of greenhouse gases in 2013. Last year was the hottest ever recorded for the earth, according to U.S. government scientists, who pegged the increase to the effect of greenhouse gases from human activities. The average temperature last year was 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), surpassing the previous high of 66 degrees in 2010. Germany, the biggest emitter in Europe, shrank its pollution for the first time in three years in 2014, the government said. Total greenhouse-gas emissions, including discharges outside the ETS, dropped 4.3 percent to 912 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the lowest level since 2010, according to the environment ministry. Much of the reduction in 2014 was due to the mild winter, the environment ministry said. (www.bloomberg.com)

April 1, 2015. Mexico has set a national target of getting 5 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2018, lower than the 8.2 percent goal in draft policies released. The goal is part of a national development plan issued by Mexico’s energy secretary. It’s a step toward reaching the country’s existing long-term target of getting 35 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2024. Mexico is undertaking an overhaul of its energy industry, beginning with a constitutional amendment approved in December 2013. The clean energy target is part of that reform. The Energy Ministry issued a draft document March 6 setting the 8.2 percent clean-energy goal. (www.bloomberg.com)

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