The Brahaminical hegemony and its Government of India Incs plus LPG Mafia led by Extra constitutional Supersalves DECONTROLLED Fuel Prices only in the Best interest of Private Multinational and desi Oil Companies as the Rigging Holidya in Indian Oil Exploration is Nothing to do with bailing out ONGC, it means Monopolistic Profit for Reliance. Roll Back Fuel Prices is rejected by Brahamin Pranab Mukherjee quoting Seventy Thousand Crore Budget deficit caused by Oil Subsidies while Oil Exploration Holiday is GIFTED to Reliance which has already got the Corporate advantage in strategic Marketing with TAX Evation in a WWF Family Feud thanks to the Power Block in New Delhi. at the same time, Pranab, the defacto Prime Minister heading GOMs at every level and executing all Policy decisions has succeeded to TAME the rebel Environment MIC jairam Ramesh to get EXTRA Piece of the Aboriginal Landscape for Multi National Mining to contribute Chidambaram`s Monoplistic Aggression and Corporate war pushing for INTENSIFIED Economic ethnic Cleansing and Foreig capital sovereignity!

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - Four Hundred Fifteen

Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/

The Brahaminical hegemony and its Government of India Incs plus LPG Mafia led by Extra constitutional Supersalves DECONTROLLED Fuel Prices only in the Best interest of Private Multinational and desi Oil Companies as the Rigging Holidya in Indian Oil Exploration is Nothing to do with bailing out ONGC, it means Monopolistic Profit for Reliance. Roll Back Fuel Prices is rejected by Brahamin Pranab Mukherjee quoting Seventy Thousand Crore Budget deficit caused by Oil Subsidies while Oil Exploration Holiday is GIFTED to Reliance which has already got the Corporate advantage in strategic Marketing with TAX Evation in a WWF Family Feud thanks to the Power Block in New Delhi. at the same time, Pranab, the defacto Prime Minister heading GOMs at every level and executing all Policy decisions has succeeded to TAME the rebel Environment MIC jairam Ramesh to get EXTRA Piece of the Aboriginal Landscape for Multi National Mining to contribute Chidambaram`s Monoplistic Aggression and Corporate war pushing for INTENSIFIED Economic ethnic Cleansing and Foreig capital sovereignity!

Faced with global shortage of offshore drilling rigs, the government on Thursday decided to give a 3-year drilling holiday or moratorium to firms such as state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance Industries.

he government has stepped in to end uncertainties over coal mining caused by the tough stance of the environment ministry, as it gears up for the crucial initial share sale of state-owned Coal India.

The decision was taken at a meeting on Thursday chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and attended by coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh.

The ministers decided that the final policy on coal mining will be announced before the world's largest coal miner hits the market sometime in October, said a government official privy to the development.

The status quo will be maintained till the time a final decision is taken on the matter of dividing the country's coal-bearing regions into `go' and `no go' areas.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved a drilling moratorium from January 1, 2008, on 30 exploration blocks -- 16 of ONGC, 13 of Reliance Industries (RIL) and one of Italy's Eni, official sources said.

Companies such as ONGC and RIL have not been able to meet their work commitments for the blocks they had won under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds because of a crunch in availability of deep-sea drilling rigs.

Sources said the CCEA approved a drilling holiday from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2010, for 30 blocks awarded in the fifth round of NELP.

Globally, oil and gas explorers are faced with huge shortage of drilling rigs as countries stepped up oil and gas hunt in the wake of the surge in crude oil prices in 2008. Day-hire charges for a deep-sea drill rig had shot up 250% between 2007 and 2008.

But for the drilling holiday, the companies faced huge penalties for not fulfilling their work commitments that included drilling of a certain number of wells.

The petroleum ministry had first moved the Cabinet for the three-year drilling holiday or moratorium in 2008-end but the proposal was withdrawn after the finance ministry wanted a system of incentives and disincentives introduced to reward and punish companies based on performance during the period.

A grade system of incentives and disincentives will differentiate between companies which have completed the drilling work programme in deepwater acreages, which are being considered for a rig moratorium within the proposed three-year exploration holiday period or earlier and those which fail to complete the work, sources said.

Naxals could develop capability to strike at cities, warns Stratfor

WASHINGTON: Naxal leaders and bombmakers could develop a capability to strike at urban targets in India, a top US think tank warned, adding it will be important to watch for any indication that cadres are developing the "tradecraft" for urban terrorism.

Stratfor, a body which deals with strategic issues, however said that Naxalism is "fairly contained" in India.

It expressed these views in a report while taking a "closer Look" at the Naxal problem in India, calling it as one of the world's longest-running insurgencies.

Stratfor also cautioned against deploying the military, a suggestion made by some political leaders in India in the wake of spate of Naxal attacks in the recent months.

"Even if the government did decide to deploy the military to combat the Naxalites in eastern India, it would face a tough fight against a well-entrenched movement--something New Delhi is not likely to undertake lightly or any time soon," it said.

Stratfor also noted that Naxalites are honing the capability to construct and deploy IEDs, conduct armed raids and maintain an extensive, agile and responsive intelligence network.

"Despite threats and indications from Naxalites that they will attack urban targets throughout India, the group has yet to demonstrate the intent or ability to strike outside of the Red Corridor.

But the group's leaders and bombmakers could develop such a capability, and it will be important to watch for any indication that cadres are developing the tradecraft for urban terrorism," the think tank said.

Stratfor said even if the Maoists do not expand their target set and conduct more "terrorist-type" attacks, the Naxalite challenge to the state could materialize in other ways.

"The Naxalite organization is a sophisticated one that relies not only on militant tactics but also on social unrest and political tactics to increase its power," it noted.

The think-tank also said the flexibility and autonomy among its various component parts, along with the group's local support and indigenous knowledge of its turf, make the Naxalites a dangerous adversary against the slower moving, more deliberate and more predictable CRPF.

"Movements like that of the Naxalites have an array of motivations for why they do what they do, but self-preservation is always a very high priority," it said.

Referring to the two-day Maoist bandh which ended yesterday, Stratfor said it is a tactic that showed just how powerful the rebels have become in the region, and it demonstrates their ability to affect day-to-day activity merely by threatening to stage an attack. The bandh was called to protest the death of a top Naxal leader Azad.

The news of Azad's death was unexpected, since India has had little luck capturing or killing key Naxalite leaders, but his absence is not expected to seriously hamper the movement, it said.

"The Naxalites are a large, well-organized force that will be able to replace him with little or no visible effect on operational capability. What was not surprising was that Azad's killing elicited a Naxalite response," it added.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail going global

Mayur Shekhar Jha, July 8, 2010 (Mumbai)

Four years after making entry into the retail sector, NDTV has learnt that Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail is now looking beyond the Indian shores.

Sources tell NDTV that, while the company has already started exploring opportunities in Russia and some African markets, it would start due diligence on the Australian market later this year.

Reliance Retail has earmarked a $250 million budget to fund the first round of international expansion. The company plans to focus on large format stores with food and grocery and consumer durables are first on the radar.

From food and groceries to bringing global brands like Hamleys, Diesel and Marks & Spencer, Reliance has tried to expand in almost all formats, thus, clocking Rs 4500 crore in sales in 2009-10.

When contacted, Reliance Retail refused to comment on their global plans, but sources say that the company is on the lookout for an expat CEO, to oversee the global foray.

But does it make sense for Reliance Retail to look at international markets while its retail venture continues to make losses in India. Over the last two years, the company had to shut down several of its stores and scale down its size of hypermarkets.

Analysts too have expressed their doubt on the company's ability to make it big in retail.

But despite criticism, the company has not stopped dreaming big, Mukesh Ambani in his AGM speech last month had projected a Rs 45,000 crore turnover from the retail business in the next five years.

It's not the first time that Reliance is trying to take its Retail business global as a couple of years ago, the company had entered fairly advanced talks with French retail major Carrefour, but the deal could not be closed on valuation grounds.

This time around, the company is trying to start from a scratch in the international markets, and is also trying to create a sourcing hub in Africa.

After independence, the national Government realized the importance oil and gas for rapid industrial development and its strategic role in defense. Consequently, while framing the Industrial Policy Statement of 1948, the development of petroleum industry in the country was considered to be of utmost necessity.

Until 1955, private oil companies mainly carried out exploration of hydrocarbon resources of India. In Assam, the Assam Oil Company was producing oil at Digboi (discovered in 1889) and the Oil India Ltd. (a 50% joint venture between Government of India and Burmah Oil Company) was engaged in developing two newly discovered large fields Naharkatiya and Moran in Assam. In West Bengal, the Indo-Stanvac Petroleum project (a joint venture between Government of India and Standard Vacuum Oil Company of USA) was engaged in exploration work. The vast sedimentary tract in other parts of India and adjoining offshore remained largely unexplored.

In 1955, Government of India decided to develop the oil and natural gas resources in the various regions of the country as part of the Public Sector development. With this objective, an Oil and Natural Gas Directorate was set up towards the end of 1955, as a subordinate office under the then Ministry of Natural Resources and Scientific Research. The department was constituted with a nucleus of geoscientists from the Geological survey of India.

A delegation under the leadership of Mr. K D Malviya, the then Minister of Natural Resources, visited several European countries to study the status of oil industry in those countries and to facilitate the training of Indian professionals for exploring potential oil and gas reserves. Foreign experts from USA, West Germany, Romania and erstwhile U.S.S.R visited India and helped the government with their expertise. Finally, the visiting Soviet experts drew up a detailed plan for geological and geophysical surveys and drilling operations to be carried out in the 2nd Five Year Plan (1956-57 to 1960-61).

In April 1956, the Government of India adopted the Industrial Policy Resolution, which placed mineral oil industry among the schedule 'A' industries, the future development of which was to be the sole and exclusive responsibility of the state.

Soon, after the formation of the Oil and Natural Gas Directorate, it became apparent that it would not be possible for the Directorate with its limited financial and administrative powers as subordinate office of the Government, to function efficiently. So in August, 1956, the Directorate was raised to the status of a commission with enhanced powers, although it continued to be under the government. In October 1959, the Commission was converted into a statutory body by an act of the Indian Parliament, which enhanced powers of the commission further. The main functions of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission subject to the provisions of the Act, were "to plan, promote, organize and implement programmes for development of Petroleum Resources and the production and sale of petroleum and petroleum products produced by it, and to perform such other functions as the Central Government may, from time to time, assign to it ". The act further outlined the activities and steps to be taken by ONGC in fulfilling its mandate.

1961 - 1990

Since its inception, ONGC has been instrumental in transforming the country's limited upstream sector into a large viable playing field, with its activities spread throughout India and significantly in overseas territories. In the inland areas, ONGC not only found new resources in Assam but also established new oil province in Cambay basin (Gujarat), while adding new petroliferous areas in the Assam-Arakan Fold Belt and East coast basins (both inland and offshore).
ONGC went offshore in early 70's and discovered a giant oil field in the form of Bombay High, now known as Mumbai High. This discovery, along with subsequent discoveries of huge oil and gas fields in Western offshore changed the oil scenario of the country. Subsequently, over 5 billion tonnes of hydrocarbons, which were present in the country, were discovered. The most important contribution of ONGC, however, is its self-reliance and development of core competence in E&P activities at a globally competitive level.

After 1990

The liberalized economic policy, adopted by the Government of India in July 1991, sought to deregulate and de-license the core sectors (including petroleum sector) with partial disinvestments of government equity in Public Sector Undertakings and other measures. As a consequence thereof, ONGC was re-organized as a limited Company under the Company's Act, 1956 in February 1994.

After the conversion of business of the erstwhile Oil & Natural Gas Commission to that of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited in 1993, the Government disinvested 2 per cent of its shares through competitive bidding. Subsequently, ONGC expanded its equity by another 2 per cent by offering shares to its employees.

During March 1999, ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) - a downstream giant and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) - the only gas marketing company, agreed to have cross holding in each other's stock. This paved the way for long-term strategic alliances both for the domestic and overseas business opportunities in the energy value chain, amongst themselves. Consequent to this the Government sold off 10 per cent of its share holding in ONGC to IOC and 2.5 per cent to GAIL. With this, the Government holding in ONGC came down to 84.11 per cent.

In the year 2002-03, after taking over MRPL from the A V Birla Group, ONGC diversified into the downstream sector. ONGC will soon be entering into the retailing business. ONGC has also entered the global field through its subsidiary, ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL). ONGC has made major investments in Vietnam, Sakhalin and Sudan and earned its first hydrocarbon revenue from its investment in Vietnam.

http://www.ongcindia.com/history.asp

Meanwhile, the Telegraph, Kolakat reports:

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's timely intervention has removed the uncertainty surrounding Coal India's Rs 15,000-crore initial public offering.

Slated to be the country's biggest IPO, the issue was in jeopardy after the environment ministry restricted mining in most of the areas controlled by the company.

Mukherjee today called environment minister Jairam Ramesh and coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal to his North Block office and brokered a truce.

Ramesh agreed to give a green signal to most of Coal India's mining zones marked as no-go areas.

The environment ministry had divided forest areas into go and no-go areas, depending on the tree cover. The move drew a flurry of protests not only from industry but also from Coal India, which found much of its mining area reduced and feared an erosion in its valuation.

The two ministries had been negotiating a relaxation in the criteria for the demarcation following orders from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The PMO was forced to intervene after steel and power companies raised objection to the environment ministry's order.

However, the relaxations that Ramesh was initially willing to offer were rejected by the coal ministry as much of the area owned by Coal India continued to remain in the no-go zone.

The standoff between the two ministries raised concerns over the fate of Coal India's public issue that was initially scheduled for this month.

Coal India has already revised its production target for 2011-12 to 486 million tonnes from 520 million tonnes because of regulatory hurdles. It would have to curtail production further if mining was prohibited over large areas, while the stock would lose value even before it got listed.

The government holds 100 per cent equity in the country's largest coal producer and wants to sell 63.13 crore shares at a price of over Rs 200 apiece through the IPO to raise money for social and infrastructure schemes.

The environment ministry had made the area-wise divisions based on the satellite imagery of the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI). In a letter to the coal minister, the CMPDI expressed its reservations over the criteria for the selection of non-mining areas. The environment ministry had designated any forest land with more than 15 per cent tree cover as no-go. The CMPDI wanted areas with at least 50 per cent tree cover to be demarcated as no-go.

Mukherjee's intervention meant that a large number of steel and power companies whose mine allotments were in a similar jeopardy could be off the hook. The Tatas, Hindustan Zinc and Prakash Industries are among those affected.

The environment ministry's classification would have put 619 million tonnes of coal production annually out of the reach of miners. Officials said the peace brokered today would help the two ministries to work together to revise the land division and release at least a third of this.

According to the mid-term appraisal of the Planning Commission, domestic firms will need to buy more foreign coal assets as the demand-supply gap will shoot up to 200 million tonnes by the end of 2017.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100709/jsp/business/story_12662927.jsp

ONGC forced to exit Trinidad and Tobago gas block after Mittal walks out

Oil and Natural Gas Corp has been forced to exit a gas block in Trinidad and Tobago after its partner, Lakshmi N Mittal, walked out of the project.

"The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today granted ex-post-facto approval for withdrawal of ONGC Videsh Ltd (the overseas arm of the state-owned firm) from North Coast Marine Area-2 (NCMA-2) project in Trinidad and Tobago," Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.

ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd — the joint venture of OVL and Mittal Investment Sarl — had in 2007 won offshore block NCMA-2, which is estimated to hold in-place reserves of two trillion cubic feet of gas, beating Britain's Centrica Plc.

But last year, MIS, the holding company of the Mittal family's interest, decided to exit the project because of the global economic meltdown.

"Considering all aspects of the situation and the then depressed markets, OVL came to the conclusion that in the absence of MIS, it would not like to continue on a 100 per cent standalone basis with an estimated expenditure of USD 304 million," he said.

OMEL had 65 per cent interest in the block, while Trinidad and Tobago's state-owned oil firm, Petrotrin, had the remaining stake.

Under the initial agreement, OMEL was required to "carry" Petrotrin during the exploration phase, which means it had to contribute towards Petrotrin's share of investment.

After the exit of MIS, OVL — the overseas investment arm of ONGC — would have to foot the entire USD 304 million exploration expenditure, with Petrotrin not willing to share any risk.

Chidambaram said OVL tried to get an international energy firm as partner but did not succeed, so it had no option but to exit the block after incurring an expenditure of about USD 1.05 million.

After the exit of MIS, companies like Centrica, RWE Dea Ag of Germany, BG Group of UK and Spain's Repsol had expressed interest in partnering OVL, but subsequently withdrew, he said.

Also, there were differences between OVL and Petrotrin over treatment of disallowed costs in the exploration block. OVL wanted the disallowed cost to be shared by Petrotrin, but the issue could not be resolved, he said.

OMEL had also committed to pay a signature bonus of USD 30.1 million for the acreage, but this was never paid as the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) was not concluded.
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Mukesh Ambani

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Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani
Mukesh Ambani
Born	April 19, 1957 (1957-04-19) (age 53) Aden, Colony of Aden^[1]
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality	Indian
Education	University of Mumbai (Bachelor of Chemical Engineering) Stanford University (MBA-dropped out)
Occupation	Chairman & MD of Reliance Industries
Net worth	▲US$29.0 billion (2010)^[2]
Religion	Hindu
Spouse(s)	Nita Ambani
Children	Akash, Anant and Isha^[3]

Mukesh Ambani (Gujarati: મુકેશ અંબાણી, /mukeˑɕ əmbaˑɳiˑ/) (born on April 19, 1957 in Aden, Yemen) is an Indian business magnate, philanthropist and the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries,^[4]^[5] the largest private sector enterprise in India and a Fortune 500 company.^[6] His personal stake in Reliance Industries is 48%.^[7]

As of July 2010, Mukesh is the richest man in Asia^[8] and the fourth richest man in the world with a personal wealth of US$29.0 billion. In the year 2007, there was a strong bull rally witnessed in the Indian stock markets which boosted the market capitalisation of all reliance group companies in which Mukesh Ambani has a very significant stake resulting to make him the world's richest man^[9] ^[10]

[hide]

[edit] Family and Early life

Mukesh Ambani is the eldest son of Dhirubhai Ambani. His family (including parents and brother) lived in a 2 bedroom apartment in Bhuleshwar, Bombay until the 1960s. Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil are sons of the late founder of Reliance Industries, Dhirubhai Ambani. Mukesh Ambani directed and led the creation of the world's largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar, India, with a current capacity of 660,000 barrels per day (33 million tonnes per year) integrated with petrochemicals, power generation, port and related infrastructure.^[11] Today, he leads the largest private sector conglomerate in India^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal life

He is married to Nita Ambani and has three children, Akash, Anant and Isha.^[12] He owns the Indian Premier League team, the Mumbai Indians.

[edit] Career

He joined the family business, Reliance Industries , in 1981 when his father entrusted him with establishing a yarn manufacturing factory. Given free rein, the young Ambani lost no time in exhibiting his knack for entrepreneurship and incisive decision-making^[13] .^[14] He initiated Reliance's backward integration journey from textiles into polyester fibres and further into petrochemicals, petroleum refining and going up-stream into oil and gas exploration and production. He directed the creation of the Jamnagar Refinery. Mukesh Ambani has set up one of the largest and most complex information and communications technology initiative in the world in the form of Reliance Infocomm Limited (now Reliance Communications Limited). In 2007-2008, he commissioned the construction of one of the world's biggest oil refining complex at Jamnagar, Gujarat in Western India. Today, his refinery processes 580,000 barrels of crude oil per day, feeding not just a briskly growing, power-hungry India, but also the oil energy needs of 26 export countries^[15].

Ambani's prime business target was the flourishing middle class in India, to which he once belonged. Commenting to the New York Times, he explained, "How do you really bring about, in a country of a billion people, the individuality of every single individual? How do you make sure that you create systems that empower everybody and bring them to their true potential?" ^[16]. When he opened Reliance Retail in 2006, Ambani brought the power of Wal-Mart style one-stop shopping to India, for a middle class used to neighborhood stores and disordered convenience. Ambani sold everything from fresh produce to DVDs in air conditioned and well-stocked supermarkets with organized aisles. More importantly, outlets were opened in far flung areas, acting as a bridge that connected India's vast rural population to its urban peers^[17]. But it was this sort of diversification that helped Ambani stay afloat during the recent recession, when demand plunged drastically for textiles and petrochemicals, the main revenue source for Reliance. Though Ambani had to do some drastic cost-cutting, like shutting down his polyester manufacturing plant in Germany, the company got back on its feet soon enough to announce a profit in the third quarter of 2009 for the first time in the past one year. Reliance has continued its upsurge, recording a spectacular 92% year-on-year growth in January 2010 and posting a 30% rise in fourth quarter profits^[18].

[edit] Honors and Awards

^[19]

Ambani (right) with Ratan Naval Tata and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

January 2010: School of Engineering and Applied Science of the University of Pennsylvania confers him with the Dean's medal.
Chosen the businessman of the year 2007 by a public poll in India conducted by NDTV
Conferred the United States-India Business Council (USIBC) leadership award for "Global Vision" 2007 in Washington.
Ranked 42nd among the World's Most Respected Business Leaders and second among the four Indian CEOs featured in a survey conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and published in Financial Times, London, November 2004.
Conferred the World Communication Award for the Most Influential Person in Telecommunications in 2004 by Total Telecom, October, 2004.
Chosen Telecom Man of the Year 2004 by Voice and Data magazine, September 2004.
Ranked 13th in Asia's Power 25 list of The Most Powerful
Awarded the "Chitralekha Person of the Year Award -- 2007" by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Former Chairman of IIM-B
Fishing Diplomat
Honorary Fellow of IChemE (the Institution of Chemical Engineers)

He is also a member of International Advisory Board a neo conservative globalist think tank council on foreign relations.^[20]^[21]^[22]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ "NDTV Mukesh born in Yemen". Jeetegakaun.in. http://www.jeetegakaun.in/ndtv_indian_of_the_year_2007/mukesh_ambani/. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
^ "Forbes topic page on Mukesh Ambani". Forbes. http://billionaires.forbes.com/topic/Mukesh_Ambani. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "NY Times pics on Mukesh Ambani". India: Nytimes.com. 2008-06-15. http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/06/15/business/0615-AMBANI_7.html. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
^ "Mukesh Ambani :: RIL :: Reliance Group of Industries". RIL. http://www.ril.com/html/aboutus/mukesh_ambani.html. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
^ "Mukesh Ambani is finally revealing his philanthropic side". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091118/jsp/business/story_11754455.jsp. Retrieved November 18 , 2009.
^ "FORTUNE Global 500 2006: Countries". Money.cnn.com. 2006-07-24. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2006/countries/I.html. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
^ "The World's Billionaires". Forbes. 2007-03-08. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_Mukesh-Ambani_NY3A.html. Retrieved 2007-03-09. "Year 2007."
^ "Forbes topic page on Mukesh Ambani". Forbes. http://billionaires.forbes.com/topic/Mukesh_Ambani. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "World's richest is Mukesh Ambani: Billion-dollar decisions from a billion-dollar home". http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/29/mukesh-ambani-billion-dollar-decisions-from-a-billion-dollar-ho/. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Mukesh Ambani Becomes World's Richest Man". http://www.stockmarketsview.com/mukesh-ambani-becomes-worlds-richest-man/22/. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^ "Mukesh Ambani :: Reliance Group :: Reliance Petroleum Limited :: Reliance Industries". RIL. http://www.reliancepetroleum.com/html/mda.html. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
^ "Nita Ambani". Da-is.org. http://www.da-is.org/html/nita_ambani.html. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
^ http://www.thomaswhite.com/explore-the-world/global-players/mukesh-ambani.aspx
^ "Mukesh Ambani :: RIL :: Reliance Group of Industries". RIL. http://www.ril.com/html/aboutus/mukesh_ambani.html. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
^ http://www.thomaswhite.com/explore-the-world/global-players/mukesh-ambani.aspx
^ http://www.thomaswhite.com/explore-the-world/global-players/mukesh-ambani.aspx
^ http://www.thomaswhite.com/explore-the-world/global-players/mukesh-ambani.aspx
^ http://www.thomaswhite.com/explore-the-world/global-players/mukesh-ambani.aspx
^ "Mukesh Ambani - Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Group". RIL. 2005-02-21. http://www.rellife.com/mukesh_ambani.html. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
^ http://www.cfr.org/content/about/annual_report/ar_2008/Intl_Advisory_Board2008.pdf
^ http://www.cfr.org/about/people/international_advisory_board.html
^ http://www.cfr.org/bios/10798/mukesh_d_ambani.html

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Coal India to come out with India's largest IPO in October

State-run Coal India Ltd is likely to hit the market by the third week of October with India's largest ever public offer to rise up to Rs 15,000 crore.

The government is disinvesting 10 per cent of its stake in Coal India (CIL), the world's largest coal miner, through the IPO.

"As of now, it seems that CIL initial public offer will open on October 18 and closes on October 21. The 10 per cent disinvestment will see the government raising Rs 12,000- 15,000 crore," a person in the know of the development told PTI.

The blue-print of the IPO was finalised last evening at a meeting between Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal. The meeting was also attended by Additional Secretary Coal Alok Perti and Department of Disinvestment Secretary Sumit Bose and Coal India Chairman P S Bhattacharyya, the source said.

Coal India, the largest global coal miner, sells the dry fuel 50 per cent cheaper at around USD 25 a tonne than the prices prevailing in the international market.
Although CIL's IPO was planned in August-September, it was delayed due to opposition to the government's 10 per cent stake sale move from trade unions and political parties.

"The Department of Disinvestment has finalised the issue date. The company will now file the Draft Red Herring Prospectus of the IPO by the first week of August," the source added.

The government is selling 10 per cent of its stake in CIL disinvestment. It currently holds 100 per cent equity in the coal major. CIL had earlier said it will issue over 63 crore shares in the IPO.

The Union Cabinet had last month approved to disinvest 10 per cent of the government's holding in CIL. The Centre holds 100 per cent equity in the company.

Coal India produced 431.5 million tonnes of coal in the last fiscal. The country's coal output stood at 531.5 million tonnes in 2009-10.

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group firm Reliance Power, in January 2008, raised Rs 11,500 crore through IPO -- the biggest in India till date.

Aiming to raise Rs 40,000 crore through disinvestment in this fiscal, so far sell off in Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam has fetched the exchequer over Rs 1,000 crore. The government is likely to sell its stake in 10 PSUs, including MMTC, SAIL and Hindustan Copper, this fiscal.

The government in 2009-10 had raised Rs 25,000 crore through stake sales in Oil India, NMDC, REC and NTPC. NMDC 8.38 per cent stake sale had fetched the government about Rs 10,000 crore.

Oil explorers get three-year drilling holiday

Indian Express - ‎11 hours ago‎
The Cabinet committee on economic affairs on Thursday gave three more years to companies that are drilling for oil and gas in the blocks awarded to them ...

CCEA approves 3-yr moratorium on deepwater drilling for 30 blocks

Economic Times - ‎15 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI: The government has granted an additional three years' time to energy firms for exploring oil and gas in 30 deepwater blocks awarded during the ...

RIL, ONGC, ENI get 3-year drilling breather

Times of India - ‎19 hours ago‎
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday approved a three-year moratorium, or break, on drilling in deep waters by explorers. ...

Exploration firms get three-year rig holiday

Hindu Business Line - ‎19 hours ago‎
Oil and gas explorers such as Reliance Industries Ltd, ONGC, and ENI have got a three-year rig holiday to complete their exploration activities for blocks ...

Govt clears 3-year drilling moratorium for oil explorers

Times of India - ‎Jul 8, 2010‎
NEW DELHI: Faced with global shortage of offshore drilling rigs, the government on Thursday decided to give a 3-year drilling holiday or moratorium to firms ...

Rig relief for oil explorers

Calcutta Telegraph - ‎16 hours ago‎
New Delhi, July 8: The government today granted a three-year rig holiday to oil explorers, helping Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance Industries ...

3-yr holiday for ONGC, RIL and ENI in deep-sea drilling

mydigitalfc.com - Siddhartha P Saikia - ‎19 hours ago‎
It has come as a breather for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Reliance Industries (RIL) and Italy's ...

Cabinet clears 3-year offshore drilling moratorium

India Infoline.com - ‎Jul 7, 2010‎
The Union Cabinet approved a three-year drilling moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration starting January 2008, sending shares of companies such as ...
All 8 related articles »

Faced with global shortage of offshore drilling rigs, the government today decided to give a three-year drilling holiday or moratorium to firms such as state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance Industries.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved a drilling moratorium from January 1, 2008, on 30 exploration blocks -- 16 of ONGC, 13 of Reliance Industries (RIL) and one of Italy's Eni, official sources said.

Companies such as ONGC and RIL have not been able to meet their work commitments for the blocks they had won under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) rounds because of a crunch in availability of deep-sea drilling rigs.

Sources said the CCEA approved a drilling holiday from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2010, for 30 blocks awarded in the fifth round of NELP.

Globally, oil and gas explorers are faced with huge shortage of drilling rigs as countries stepped up oil and gas hunt in the wake of the surge in crude oil prices in 2008. Day-hire charges for a deep-sea drill rig had shot up 250 per cent between 2007 and 2008.

But for the drilling holiday, the companies faced huge penalties for not fulfilling their work commitments that included drilling of a certain number of wells.

The petroleum ministry had first moved the Cabinet for the three-year drilling holiday or moratorium in 2008-end but the proposal was withdrawn after the finance ministry wanted a system of incentives and disincentives introduced to reward and punish companies based on performance during the period.

A grade system of incentives and disincentives will differentiate between companies which have completed the drilling work programme in deepwater acreages, which are being considered for a rig moratorium within the proposed three-year exploration holiday period or earlier and those which fail to complete the work, sources said.
India's cabinet on Thursday allowed a three-year rig holiday for 30 deepwater blocks, giving more time to the three explorers that were awarded the oil and gas blocks during the first five auction rounds to meet their drilling obligations.Corporate
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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/indl-goods-/-svs/metals--mining/Govt-clears-3-yr-drilling-moratorium-for-oil-explorers/articleshow/6142451.cms
India's Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Thursday granted a three-year drilling moratorium to all deep water block production sharing contracts (PSCs) signed under various rounds of exploration till the NELP-V rounds where drilling commitments are pending as on 1st January, 2009.

The drilling moratorium dispensation would apply to 30 PSCs involving three contractors such as ONGC and Reliance Industries.

The main objective of the holiday was " to enable the contractors to meet the drilling commitments under various PSCs, which have been adversely affected on account of world-wide shortage in availability of deep water rigs since 2007, due to the then prevailing high crude oil prices." an official statement said.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO: Quote), Reliance Industries (RELI.BO: Quote) and Italy's ENI SpA (ENI.MI: Quote) will now have time until end-December to complete their exploration commitments which have been pending due to a shortage of rigs since 2007, a government statement said on Thursday.

The government penalises firms that do not conduct the promised drilling after winning an exploration block.

"The proposal would be implemented immediately and the contractors would be asked to complete the drilling commitments during the moratorium period of three years," the statement said.

The rig holiday would be applicable from Jan 1, 2008 for blocks where drilling commitments were pending as on Jan 1, 2009, it added.

The government was considering the holiday for the 30 oil blocks from January 2008 to December 2010 as the companies haven't been able to adhere to the timeline written into their production-sharing contracts with the government, mainly due to a shortage of rigs.

The objective of the holiday is "to enable the contractors to make the drilling commitments under various production sharing contracts, which have been adversely affected on account of the worldwide shortage in availability of deep water rigs since 2007, due to the then prevailing high crude oil prices," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said at a news conference.

The extension is expected to give companies such as Oil & Natural Gas Corp. and Reliance Industries Ltd. some more time to develop some of the blocks awarded under the fifth New Exploration Licensing Policy.

The Cabinet committee on economic affairs on Thursday gave three more years to companies that are drilling for oil and gas in the blocks awarded to them based on their commitment to perform exploratory work.
The idea is to compensate for the time lost in undertaking the proposed work due to lack of deep water rigs or drilling platforms since 2007 onwards as many countries expedited their oil exploration in a bid to tide over rising energy costs.
The main beneficiaries include ONGC and Reliance Industries, who would otherwise have to relinquish the blocks and pay the equivalent of the unfinished work programme to the government. Even getting extra time is a costly affair which involved paying damages at the rate of 10-30 per cent and furnishing bank guarantee of up to the entire amount of pending work.
"With grant of drilling moratorium, the objective of accelerated exploration of hydrocarbons in the country would be accomplished, which may lead to new discoveries of oil and gas," an official statement said after the meeting of CCEA chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Rig relief for oil explorers

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Chidambaram: Holiday mood

New Delhi, July 8: The government today granted a three-year rig holiday to oil explorers, helping Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Reliance Industries to retain oil blocks that they otherwise might have lost for not meeting their drilling commitments.

"The cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) has approved the grant of a drilling moratorium (holiday) of three years to all deepwater blocks where drilling commitments are pending as on January 1, 2009," home minister P. Chidambaram said.

Besides ONGC and Reliance, Italy's Eni now gets time till the end of this year to complete drilling that was due to be over by 2007.

The objective of the holiday is "to enable the contractors to meet the drilling commitments under various production sharing contracts, which have been adversely affected on account of the worldwide shortage of deep water rigs since 2007, because of the then prevailing high crude prices," Chidambaram said.

Soaring oil prices in 2007 and 2008 had caused a huge shortage of rigs, which had prevented companies from fulfilling their commitments. The oil ministry at ONGC and Reliance's request had moved the cabinet in late 2008 to grant a holiday, but a decision was deferred several times.

Chidambaram said the moratorium would apply to 30 blocks — 16 of ONGC, 13 of RIL and one of Eni — from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2010.

"The proposal will be implemented immediately and the contractors will be asked to complete their drilling commitments during the moratorium period," he said.

Deepak Pareek, oil & gas analyst at Angel Broking, said though the move was positive for ONGC and RIL, the financial implications on these companies could not be immediately quantified.

An official from a leading oil firm said the moratorium would mean that they would not have to surrender the blocks where exploration work could not be undertaken because of a rig shortage. "This means that the government will not take back our blocks,'' he said.

However, if the work is not done by December, the companies will have to surrender the blocks and pay a fine.

Trinidad plan off

The CCEA has allowed ONGC to withdraw from oil and gas exploration in Trinidad and Tobago after its partner, an L.N. Mittal company, walked out of the project. ONGC had spent $1 million in Trinidad.

ONGC-Mittal Energy Ltd — the joint venture of ONGC and Mittal Investment Sarl — had in 2007 won an offshore block in Trinidad, which is estimated to hold in-place reserves of two trillion cubic feet of gas.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100709/jsp/business/story_12663284.jsp

ET in the classroom: Mining area rules

8 Jul 2010, 0322 hrs IST,ET Bureau
ET takes a look at mining area rules that have sent the coal & power sectors in a tizzy

What are 'go' and 'no go' areas?

The environment ministry has categorised mining regions into 'A' or 'no go' areas where coal mining is prohibited and 'B' or 'go' areas where ministry could permit mining subject to other statutory clearances.

How has the environment ministry categorised these areas?

The categorisation of mining regions into 'go' and `no go' areas has been done on the basis of a study conducted by the environment ministry in nine major coal fields of the country. The areas were demarcated by superimposing coal-bearing areas and forest areas as per the records of coal and environment ministries. So the forest areas (as per records of the environment ministry) covering coal bearing regions identified by the coal ministry were categorised as 'no go' areas.

What is the implication of this categorisation?

The study has labelled almost 48% mining areas identified by the coal ministry in the nine coal fields as 'no go'. This has put 203 coal blocks in these coalfields in the barred list. Over 600 million tonnes per annum of coal production capacity (about 400 mtpa from Coal India Ltd's areas and over 200 mtpa from captive blocks) will get affected.

Will it also impact power projects?

Yes, as 70-80% of country's coal production is currently consumed by power stations. The coal ministry has estimated that under the new categorisation, domestic coal production would not reach 1,000 mtpa in the next decade. It would remain at 400 mtpa level (loss of 600 mtpa) against a projected demand of 1500 mtpa by then, thereby severely impacting several existing and upcoming power projects. The 600 mtpa of coal could support about 1,50,000 MW of power capacity which is equal to country's current generation capacity.

Is there a change in stance of the environment ministry with respect to this categorisation?

The Prime Minister's Office is looking into the matter to balance environmental concerns and development goals. The environment and coal ministries now seem to have agreed to permit coal mining in such `no go' areas where there is no contiguous forest or the forest density is thin and where some mining activities are already taking place. This could release 77 out of 203 coal blocks barred for mining but still keep a substantial portion out of bounds for mining. Mining in these areas will be permitted by putting additional burden on companies to pre-vent environment degradation.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/indl-goods-/-svs/metals--mining/ET-in-the-classroom-Mining-area-rules/articleshow/6140962.cms

Worst of crisis is over: ECB chief economist

FRANKFURT: The European Central Bank's chief economist said on Friday that the worst of the eurozone's economic crisis was over but warned other major economies their policies were unsustainable.

Juergen Stark told reporters on the sidelines of a bank conference that "it seems that the worst is over" given that ECB loan operations came off smoothly at the beginning of July and economic indicators show solid growth in much of the 16-nation bloc.

"The most recent economic data is confirming that the recovery will continue," Stark said. "We have entered a new phase in the sovereign debt crisis here in the euro area but which is a global phenomenon," he added.

Stark stressed that "both European governments and the ECB had the situation under control since early May, we always had the situation under control" as financial markets began to fear some banks could become insolvent.

India, Ontario sign MoU for cooperation in mining sector

TORONTO: India and Ontario, Canada's richest province, signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday to boost cooperation and investment in the field of geology and mineral resources.

The MoU was signed between India Mines Minister B K Handique and the Minister of Northern Development Mines and Forestry for the Ontario government, Michael Gravelle, in the presence of dignitaries from India and Canada.

Speaking on the occasion, Handique said the MoU will promote Canadian investment in the fields of mining and mineral exploration and exploitation and will encourage and foster mining investment, transfer of technology and joint ventures.

"Indeed, it is a happy occasion. We are formalising a framework of cooperation concerning geology and mineral resources on subjects of mutual interests," Handique added.

Handique, who is in Canada as part of efforts to attract Canadian mining companies to India, said: "We look forward to work with Ontario constructively for early realisation of the MoU's objectives by formation of Joint Working Group and initiating the action in a definite timeframe."

Gravelle said the MoU recognised that Ontario and India have mutual interests in the mining sector, including geosciences development, mineral exploration, mine development, mine rehabilitation, health and safety and value-added processing.

He said the MoU will provide a solid framework for Ontario and India to strengthen existing business relationships and develop new ones.

"It is a significant milestone in our efforts to identify opportunities for mutual benefit in the minerals sector," Gravelle said.

Harinder Takhar, the Ontario Minister for Government Services, said: "The MoU signed today will enable Ontario's strengths and capabilities to be deployed to help India transform its mines and mineral sector and encourage Indian investment in Ontario."

"From uranium and nickel to cobalt and potash, Ontario and the rest of Canada stand ready to supply India during its next industrial surge forward. Especially in the diamond sector, it serves everything from Bollywood films to the latest fashion, which creates demand for more cut and polished diamonds worldwide," Takhar added.

Commending India's economic growth, Takhar said that it has been remarkable and demand in India for Ontario base metals would soar in coming years as would the need for the Canadian province's long-standing expertise in mining practices and entrepreneurship, as well as metallurgy.

Obama Decried, Then Used, Some Bush Drilling Policies

By NEIL KING JR. And KEITH JOHNSON Reuters

Choppy seas have limited the ability of 'skimmers' to collect oil in the Deepwater Horizon spill. Above, TMT Group's converted super tanker 'A Whale' in the Gulf on Sunday.
Less than four months after President Barack Obama took office, his new administration received a forceful warning about the dangers of offshore oil drilling.
The alarm was rung by a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., which found that the government was unprepared for a major spill at sea, relying on an "irrational" environmental analysis of the risks of offshore drilling.
The April 2009 ruling stunned both the administration and the oil industry, and threatened to delay or cancel dozens of offshore projects in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite its pro-environment pledges, the Obama administration urged the court to revisit the decision. Politically, it needed to push ahead with conventional oil production while it expanded support for renewable energy.

BP announced the cost of the oil spill in the Gulf has passed the three billion dollar mark. Meanwhile, officials will be testing a massive skimmer in the gulf today. Craig Boswell has the latest from Pensacola Beach, Florida. Video courtesy Fox News.

Risky Design

See details on the designs of deepwater Gulf wells.
View Interactive
BP's daily spend on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues to grow through the crisis. Here is the daily spending in millions of dollars.

More photos and interactive graphics

Another reason: money. In its arguments to the court, the government said that the loss of royalties on the oil, estimated at almost $10 billion, "may have significant financial consequences for the federal government."
The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed its decision and allowed drilling in the Gulf to proceed—including on BP PLC's now-infamous Macondo well, 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.
The Obama administration's actions in the court case exemplify the dilemma the White House faced in developing its energy policy. In his presidential campaign, President Obama criticized the Bush administration for being too soft on the oil industry and vowed to support greener energy forms.
But, once in office, President Obama ended up backing offshore drilling, bowing to political and fiscal realties, even as his administration's own scientists and Democratic lawmakers warned about its risks.
After the Macondo well blew out, sinking the Deepwater Horizon rig and causing a catastrophic spill, Mr. Obama said his administration should have been more vigilant in handling the oil industry. "More needed to be done, and more needs to be done" to tighten oversight, he told reporters recently.
Still, the administration defends its intervention in the court case, and says the ruling made it look more cautiously at whether to open new areas to offshore drilling. It pins blame on the Bush administration for pursuing a policy for deep-offshore drilling "that was driven by one principle: open everything," said White House spokesman Ben LaBolt.

"Over the course of the year," he said, "the Interior Department conducted a review process to produce an offshore strategy that closed a number of environmentally sensitive areas from exploration and put in place a process to explore where additional production could take place." Since the Deepwater Horizon explosion, he added, "we are implementing top to bottom reforms to ensure that a disaster like this is never repeated."
Michel Olsen, a former official in the Bush Interior Department, defended the previous administration's offshore approach. "Our policy was founded on the requirements of the law," he said. "It wasn't just to give industry whatever it wanted."
Mr. Obama inherited a slew of energy challenges when he took office in early 2009. The agency within the Interior Department charged with overseeing the oil and gas industry, the Minerals Management Service, was reeling from scandals. An inspector general's report months earlier had described rigged contracts, drug use and sex between MMS employees and industry representatives.
Along with cleaning up the MMS, Interior had to wrestle with a five-year drilling plan the Bush administration had filed just days before leaving office. The plan sought to open the waters in most of the U.S. outer-continental shelf to oil and gas exploration between 2010 and 2015. The push into ever deeper waters in the Gulf, which began in earnest in the mid-1990s, reflected the reality that drilling in shallower waters was largely tapped out.
To buy time and work out its own policy preferences, the Obama administration reopened the Bush plan for public comment.
View Full Image
Associated Press
The West Atlas oil rig on fire last November off Australia's coast.
The tensions in the administration's own deliberations were clear from the start. Mr. Obama's Interior secretary, Ken Salazar, quickly picked a fight with the oil industry when he retroactively withdrew 77 oil-and-gas lease sales in Utah that the Bush administration had approved in its final weeks. The move drew applause from environmentalists and criticism from oil companies.
In April 2009, Mr. Salazar went on a four-city tour to discuss the nation's offshore energy future. His first stop: A solar-powered convention center in Atlantic City, N.J., where he touted the potential of offshore wind power to supply clean electricity to the eastern seaboard. Boosting offshore renewable energy had become a "top priority" for Interior at the express wish of Mr. Salazar, who had issued a secretarial order to that effect just three weeks earlier.
But, before the packed house of politicians, activists and interested citizens, Mr. Salazar also defended the need for more offshore oil and gas. "The reality is that we have oil and gas potential in significant ways, especially in" the Gulf of Mexico, he said, according to a video of the event.
The administration was apprehensive about expanding offshore drilling. But it also hoped to get a legislative package on climate change through Congress. At the center of the bill was a controversial and potentially expensive provision requiring companies to acquire permits to release carbon dioxide.
To navigate Capitol Hill, the administration needed to strike a balance between the "green energy" projects favored by environmentalists and liberals, and the traditional oil and gas projects favored by Republicans, whose support would be crucial in the Senate. Continuing to promote offshore drilling was part of that bargain.
But the federal appeals court decision, which came just days after Mr. Salazar's tour, threatened to throw a wrench in that process. The case was brought two years earlier by indigenous Alaskans and a coalition of environmental groups. It challenged a Bush-era plan to lease large chunks of offshore Alaska to oil drilling.
The groups argued the strategy didn't adequately account for the whole range of environmental perils raised by oil drilling on the outer shelf.
The appeals court agreed, ruling that the federal program was based on "irrational" analysis. The government's own assessment, the court found, weighed only the impact of oil washing up on shorelines. In a foreshadowing of the post-spill debate, the court noted that the analysis didn't address the impact of a significant spill further out at sea.
At first, Mr. Salazar used the ruling as a way to draw a distinction between his approach and that of the Bush White House. Blasting what he called "the previous administration's failure to apply the law," Mr. Salazar said in a statement that he planned to "fix the problems" the court identified. He would do so not by firing managers or shaking up MMS, but by subjecting offshore drilling to heightened scrutiny. Those fixes, he said, would "put oil and gas leasing decisions back on a firm scientific footing."
Still, the ruling presented an immediate problem. It threw into uncertainty hundreds of millions of dollars in drilling projects already under way in the Gulf—the source of about a third of the country's domestic oil supply and the lifeblood of the regional economy. In addition, the government had another big lease sale for Gulf offshore acreage coming up in August.
In its response, the government noted that the oil and gas from approved exploration and drilling projects had a combined value of $7.65 billion. Among the existing leases, the petition noted, was the March 2008 Lease Sale #206. That deal included BP's acquisition, for $34 million, of the acreage encompassing the Macondo well.
Voiding existing leases, the Justice Department argued on behalf of Interior, would cause "severe and unnecessary disruptions" to oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico, and could push companies and drilling rigs toward other nations with less onerous regulations.
A day after the administration's petition, the industry's main lobbying group, the American Petroleum Institute, made its own case echoing the government's arguments. "The significance of [Gulf of Mexico] activities under the five-year program cannot be overstated," the API argued.
In late July, the D.C. appeals court responded to the government petition by clarifying its earlier ruling. Only drilling in Alaska, the case's main focus, would be stopped. Activity in the Gulf of Mexico could continue while the administration carried out a new environmental analysis to address the court's concerns about deep-water spills.
View Full Image
Associated Press
In February, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, left, toured Nantucket Sound for a proposed offshore wind energy project.
Mr. Salazar began to express confidence that he had resolved the problems within the Minerals Management Service that had led to poor oversight of offshore drilling. In September, in testimony before the House Natural Resources Committee, he listed the steps he had taken to make sure ethical lapses "don't occur in the future."
Still, inside the administration there was debate about the right policy for offshore drilling.
On Sept. 21, Jane Lubchenco, Mr. Obama's handpicked head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, filed a lengthy comment on the Bush-era drilling plan still under review. She cited several concerns, including the government's tendency to underestimate the likelihood of oil spills and to downplay their potential environmental impacts. She also noted the government's penchant for cribbing from older, often outdated, environmental analyses.
She cited a Congressional Research Service study from earlier in the year. "The threat of oil spills raises the question," the report said, "of whether U.S. officials have the necessary resources at hand to respond to a major spill."
The administration's struggle to find middle ground on its offshore policy came to a head in Senate hearings in mid-November, just weeks after a drilling rig off the coast of Australia had suffered a deepwater blowout, creating an oil leak that would go on for months.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) pointed to an enlarged photo of the Australian rig in flames and asked rhetorically whether he was "just being old-fashioned" to worry that a similar blowout could occur in the U.S.

Heard on the Street

BP May Need Radical Rethink

MMS Deputy Director Walter Cruickshank assured the panel that such fears were misplaced. The Australian rig wouldn't have been licensed to operate in U.S. waters, he said. The U.S., he said, had "what we believe is the most aggressive oil spill contingency planning...in the world."
On March 31, Mr. Salazar joined President Obama in a hangar at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to announce their new offshore policy. Standing before an F-18 "Green Hornet" fighter jet designed to run partly on bio-fuel, Mr. Obama told the audience that "we'll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration...And we'll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence."
The plan was designed in part to allay the federal court's concerns. To satisfy the court's demand for better "balance," it included a broader environmental analysis, examining the impact of spilled oil on marine life and not just on shorelines.
It also ranked prospective drilling areas in terms of their environmental sensitivity. The Central Gulf of Mexico, where BP's Macondo well was based, topped the "most sensitive" column. It also scrapped a handful of planned lease sales in Alaska.
But the proposal kept much of the Bush plan intact, and even added for the first time new lease sales off the coast of Virginia.
It also relied extensively on environmental impact analyses carried out in April 2007 that the court had found wanting.
The 2007 document said "large oil spills associated with [outer continental shelf] activities are low-probability events." The "most likely size" of a serious spill, that report concluded, would total 4,600 barrels—a fraction of what the Deepwater Horizon continues to allow into the water every day.
Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, which brought the original lawsuit, said their court victory wound up changing little. "Salazar, and by extension Obama, have pursued the same offshore program as the Bush administration, even while playing a smoke-and-mirrors game," he said.
Two weeks before the Deepwater Horizon explosion, President Obama offered a plug for wider offshore exploration. "Oil rigs today generally don't cause spills," he told a gathering in Charlotte, N.C. "They are technologically very advanced."
On April 20, with the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, everything changed.
The Macondo spill has forced the administration to take many of the steps it dismissed as draconian last summer in the wake of the appeals court ruling. On May 27, Mr. Salazar canceled a lease sale in the Gulf set for August. He ordered that all lease sales set for 2011 had to face tougher environmental scrutiny.
And he ordered a six-month moratorium on all drilling activity in the Gulf of Mexico. That moratorium was struck down as arbitrary by a federal judge in New Orleans in June, but Mr. Salazar has fought back, insisting the moratorium remain in place. So far the judge's ruling stands.
Write to Neil King Jr. at neil.king@wsj.com and Keith Johnson at keith.johnson@wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704699604575342843359124882.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g12:r1:c0.201282:b35516324

Europe woes could hit recovery of Indian technology firms

9 Jul 2010, 1654 hrs IST,REUTERS
BANGALORE: India's leading information technology exporters should report robust quarterly sales, thanks to improving demand from their mainstay financial clients, but Europe's debt crisis and rising salaries could cap their outlook.

Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Technologies and Wipro Ltd face uncertainty on orders from Europe - the second-biggest market for the sector after the United States.

"There has been no major impact on volume growth due to the crisis," said Harit Shah, an analyst with brokerage Karvy Stock Broking.

"It could have an impact going forward, especially due to the euro. We will have to watch for what the management has to say." Indian software services firms are ramping up investments to grow their market share in Europe, which accounts for about a third of their revenue.

The US contributes more than half. Research firm Forrester said in a report last week that Europe's volatile economic situation and uncertainty about corporate IT budgets would result in possible delays or cancellations of some outsourcing projects.

Analysts expect Infosys, which sets the tone for India's $60 billion outsourcing sector and counts BT Group and Goldman Sachs among its clients, to edge up its dollar revenue growth forecast for 2010/11 to 17-19 per cent from the 16-18 per cent estimated by the company in April.

Investors will focus on management comments on deal flows, the outlook for pricing and technology spending by their clients. Growing competition from IBM , Accenture and Hewlett-Packard also pose a risk for the industry, which manages complex computer networks and maintains technology operations for Fortune 500 customers.

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Global strategic petroleum reserves

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Global strategic petroleum reserves ("GSPR") refer to crude oil inventories (or stockpiles) held by the government of a particular country, as well as private industry, for the purpose of providing economic and national security during an energy crisis. According to the United States Energy Information Administration, approximately 4.1 billion barrels (650,000,000 m³) of oil are held in strategic reserves, of which 1.4 billion is government-controlled. The remainder is held by private industry. At the moment the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve is one of the largest strategic reserves, with much of the remainder held by the other 26 members of the International Energy Agency.^[1] Other non-IEA countries have begun creating their own strategic petroleum reserves, with China being the largest of these new reserves. Since current consumption levels are neighboring 0.1 billion barrels/day, in the case of a dramatic worldwide drop in oil field output as suggested by some peak oil analysts, the strategic petroleum reserves are unlikely to last for more than a few months.

[edit] International Energy Agency reserves

According to a March 2001 agreement, all 28 members of the International Energy Agency must have a strategic petroleum reserve equal to 90 days of prior year's net oil imports for their respective country.^[2]^[3] Only net-exporter members of the IEA are exempt from the reserve requirement. The exempt countries are Canada, Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom. However, Denmark and the UK have both recently created strategic reserves due to their requirements as European Union members.

[edit] Forward commercial storage agreements

To allow oil-exporting countries increased flexibility in their production quotas, there has been an increased movement towards forward commercial storage agreements. These agreements allow petroleum to be stored at an oil-importing country, however the reserves are technically under the control of the oil-exporting country. Oil importing countries benefit from the close access to the commercial reserves, while reducing the costs of access.

[edit] Emergency oil sharing agreements

In addition to maintaining a domestic stockpile of petroleum, several countries also have agreements to share their stockpiles in the event of an emergency.

[edit] The Japan, New Zealand and South Korea agreement

In mid-2007 Japan announced a program to share its strategic reserve with other countries in its region. Negotiations are currently underway with New Zealand on an emergency oil-sharing program whereby Japan would make available for purchase its strategic reserves. In an emergency New Zealand would pay the market price plus negotiated option fees for the amount of oil previously held for them by Japan.^[4]

South Korea and Japan have also agreed to share their oil reserves in case of an emergency.^[5]

[edit] The United States and Israel agreement

According to the 1975 Second Sinai withdrawal document signed by the United States and Israel, in an emergency the U.S. is obligated to make oil available for sale to Israel for up to 5 years.^[6]

[edit] The France, Germany, and Italy agreement

France, Germany and Italy have an oil-sharing agreement to allow each other to purchase their strategic reserves in the event of an emergency.^[4]

[edit] Africa

South Africa has an SPR. It is managed by PetroSA and the primary facility is the Saldanha Bay oil storage facility, which is a major transit point for oil shipping.^[7] Saldanha Bay's six in-ground concrete storage tanks give the facility a storage capacity of 45 million barrels.^[8]

Malawi is considering creating a 21-day reserve of fuel, which is an expansion from the current five day reserve. The government has begun planning for storage facilities in the provinces of Chipoka and Mchinji as well as Kamuzu International Airport.^[9]

Kenya is setting up a Strategic Fuel Reserve, similar to that of cereals. The strategic stocks would be procured by the National Oil Corporation of Kenya and stored by the Kenya Pipeline Company Limited ^[10].

[edit] Asia

[edit] China

Main article: Strategic Petroleum Reserve (China)

In 2007 China announced an expansion of their crude reserves into a two part system. Chinese reserves would consist of a government-controlled strategic reserve complemented by mandated commercial reserves.^[11] The government-controlled reserves are being completed in three phases. Phase one consisted of a 101.9 million barrel reserve, mostly completed by the end of 2008. The second phase of the government-controlled reserves with an additional 170 million barrels will be completed by 2011.^[12] Recently, Zhang Guobao the head of the National Energy Administration also stated that there will be a third phase that will expand reserves by 204 million barrels with the goal of increasing China's SPR to 90 days of supply by 2020.^[13]

The planned state reserves of 475.9 million barrels plus the planned enterprise reserves of 209.44 million barrels will provide around 90 days of consumption or a total of 685.34 million barrels.^[14]

[edit] India

India has begun the development of a strategic crude oil reserve sized at 37.4 million barrels, enough for two weeks of consumption.^[15] Petroleum stocks have been transferred from the Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) to the Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB).^[16] The OIDB then created the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) to serve as the controlling government agency for the strategic reserve.^[17]

The facilities are:

Mangalore, State of Karnataka. Capacity of 11.22 million barrels (1,784,000 m³).
Padur village, Udipi in the state of Karnataka. Capacity of 18.7 million barrels (2,970,000 m³).^[18]
Visakhapatnam, State of Andhra Pradesh. Capacity of 7.48 million barrels (1,189,000 m³).

[edit] Japan

As of 2010 Japan has an SPR composed of the following three types of stockpiles:

State controlled reserves of petroleum at eleven different locations totaling 324 million barrels. All numbers, unless otherwise cited, come from p. 177 of this document: [1]
- Tomakomai Eastern Oil Reserve Storage Base, 55 storage tanks, total capacity 34 million barrels (5,400,000 m³).
- Mutsu-Ogawara Storage Base, 53 storage tanks, total capacity 31 million barrels (4,900,000 m³).
- Kuji Storage Base, 3 storage tanks, total capacity 10.5 million barrels (1,670,000 m³).
- Akita Storage Base, 15 storage tanks, total capacity 23.4 million barrels (3,720,000 m³).
- Fukui Storage Base, 27 storage tanks, total capacity 17.9 million barrels (2,850,000 m³).
- Kikuma Underground Petroleum Storage Facility, 8 storage tanks, total capacity 8.9 million barrels (1,410,000 m³).
- Shirashima Storage Facility, 8 tankers (4.4 million barrels each), total capacity 35.2 million barrels (5,600,000 m³).^[19]
- Kamigotou Storage Base, 7 storage tanks, total capacity 21.45 million barrels (3,410,000 m³).
- Kushikino Storage Base, 3 storage tanks, total capacity 10.5 million barrels (1,670,000 m³).
- Shibushi Storage Base, 40 storage tanks, total capacity 27.6 million barrels (4,390,000 m³).
- Kagoshima former Nippon Oil facility, 4 million barrels. This is a forward commercial storage facility with Abu Dhabi.^[20]
Privately held reserves of petroleum held "in accordance with the Petroleum Stockpiling Law" of 129 million barrels.^[21]
Privately held reserves of petroleum products for another 130 million barrels.

The state stockpile and the privately held stockpiles total about 583 million barrels.^[22]^[23] The Japanese SPR is run by the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ^[24]

[edit] South Korea

As part of the government's energy security efforts, South Korea holds strategic oil reserves to protect against oil supply disruptions. The country's strategic oil reserve program is managed by the Korea National Oil Corporation, which reports that its system has the capacity to store 116 million barrels of oil. As of April 2007, KNOC held 76 million barrels of oil in its strategic stockpiles^[25], 64 million barrels of crude oil and 12 million barrels of petroleum products.

This total amounts to approximately 34 days of net import cover, according to 2006 estimates of demand. KNOC has plans to expand the country's strategic storage capacity from 116 to 146 million barrels by 2009, and to fill the emergency reserves to 141 million barrels by 2010.

[edit] Others

The Philippines has begun plans for a National Petroleum Strategic Reserve by 2010 with an approximate size of 30 million barrels.^[26]

Russia has begun plans for a strategic petroleum reserve. Analysts estimate the size of the Russian SPR would be around 78 million barrels.^[27]^[28]

Singapore has an SPR composed of 31.8 million barrels (5,060,000 m³) of crude oil with an additional 64.5 million barrels (10,250,000 m³) of oil products for a total of 96.3 million barrels.^[29]

Taiwan has an SPR with a 1999 reported size of 13 million barrels.^[30] Taiwan's refiners (Kaohsiung 270,000 bbl/d; Ta-Lin 300,000 bbl/d; Tao-Yuan 200,000 bbl/d; Mailiao 150,000 bbl/d) are also required to store at least 30 days of petroleum stocks.^[31] As of 2005, these mandated commercial reserves total 27.6 million barrels of strategic petroleum stocks.

Thailand has increased the size of its SPR from 60 days to 70 days of consumption in 2006.^[32]

[edit] Europe

[edit] European Union

In the European Union, according to Council Directive 68/414/EEC of 20 December 1968, all 27 members must have a strategic petroleum reserve within the territory of the E.U. equal to at least 90 days average daily internal consumption.^[33]

The Czech Republic has a four tank SPR facility in Nelahozeves run by the company CR Mero.^[34] The Czech SPR is equal to 100 days of consumption or 20.3 million barrels.^[35]

Denmark has a reserve of 81 days of consumption, equal to about 1,4 million tonnes of oil products ^[36]. Not counting reserves held by the military defence.

Finland has an SPR with an approximate size of 62.4 million barrels.^[37]

France has an SPR with an approximate size of 65 million barrels.^[38] As of 2000 jet fuel stocks were required for at least 55 days of consumption, with half of those stocks controlled by the Société Anonyme de Gestion des Stocks de Sécurité (SAGESS) and the other half controlled by producers.^[39]

Germany created the Federal Oil Reserve in 1970, stored in the Etzel salt caverns near Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany, with an initial size of 70 million barrels (11,000,000 m³).^[40] The current German Federal Oil Reserve and the Erdölbevorratungsverband (EBV) (the German stockholding company) mandates that refiners must keep 90 days of stock on hand, giving Germany an approximate reserve size of 250 million barrels as of 1997.^[41] The German SPR is the largest in Europe.

Hungary has an SPR with approximately 90 days of consumption or 11.88 million barrels.^[42]

Ireland has approximately 31 days of oil stocks in Ireland and another 9 days of oil stocks held in fellow EU members states. Additionally, they have stock tickets (contracts with a 3rd party where the government has the option to purchase in the event of an emergency) and stocks held by large industry or large consumers. On average Ireland has approximately 100 days of oil available.^[43]^[44]

Poland has an SPR with approximately 70 days of consumption.^[45] Another facility holding 20 additional days of consumption is scheduled to be completed in 2008.^[34] Poland also requires oil companies to maintain reserves sufficient for 73 days of production.^[46]

Portugal has an SPR with an approximate size of 22.44 million barrels.^[47]

Slovakia has an SPR with an approximate size of 748,000 barrels.^[35]

Spain has an SPR with an approximate size of 120 million barrels.^[48]

Sweden has an SPR with an approximate size of 13.29 million barrels.^[49]

The United Kingdom has created a strategic reserve, the size is unknown.

[edit] Switzerland

Switzerland has SPRs consisting of gas, diesel, jet fuel and heating oil for 4.5 months of consumption. The reserves were created in the 1940s and were used for the first time in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina.^[39]

[edit] Middle East

[edit] Iran

In April 2006 the Fars News Agency reported that Iran has begun plans to create an SPR. The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has begun construction of 15 crude oil storage tanks with a planned capacity of 10 million barrels.^[50] In August 2008, Iran announced plans to expand their SPR with a new facility on Kharg Island containing 4 tanks holding 1 million barrels each.^[51] Iran's SPR facilities are:

Ahwaz. 4 storage tanks, total capacity 2 million barrels (320,000 m³).
Omidiyeh. 3 storage tanks, total capacity 3 million barrels (480,000 m³).
Goureh. 6 storage tanks, total capacity 4 million barrels (640,000 m³).
Sirri Island. 1 storage tank, total capacity 500,000 barrels (79,000 m³).
Bahregansar. 1 storage tank, total capacity 500,000 barrels (79,000 m³).
Kharg Island. 4 storage tanks, total capacity 4 million barrels (640,000 m³). Planned facility, not operational yet.

[edit] Kuwait

Kuwait has a joint stockpile held in South Korea. The deal gives South Korea first rights to purchase the oil. The current size of the stockpile is 2 million barrels (320,000 m³).^[52]

[edit] Others

As of 1975 Israel is believed to have a strategic oil reserve equal to 270 days of consumption.

Jordan has strategic oil reserves equal to 60 days of consumption or 6.24 million barrels.^[53]

[edit] North America

[edit] United States

Main article: Strategic Petroleum Reserve

The United States has the largest reported Strategic Petroleum Reserve with a total capacity of 727 million barrels. If completely filled, the US SPR could theoretically replace about 60 days of oil imports as the US is estimated to import approximately 12 million barrels/day of crude oil.^[54] According to the US Department of Energy the facilities maximum flow rate is limited to approximately 4.4 million barrels/day when filled to maximum, with flow rate declining as the reserve is drawn down.^[55] The U.S. facilities are in salt caverns with locations in:

Bryan Mound - located near Freeport, Texas. Capacity of 226 million barrels (36,000,000 m³).
Big Hill - located near Winnie, Texas. Capacity of 160 million barrels (25,000,000 m³).
West Hackberry - located near Lake Charles, Louisiana. Capacity of 219 million barrels (35,000,000 m³).
Bayou Choctaw - located near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Capacity of 72 million barrels (11,000,000 m³).
Richton, Mississippi. A new facility the capacity is unknown.

The US has also organized the 2-million-barrel (320,000 m³) Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve to supply northeast homeowners during shortages.

[edit] California

The state of California is considering the creation of Strategic Fuels Reserve.^[56]^[57]

[edit] Oceania

Australia has a strategic reserve with both petroleum and petroleum products equal to 10 days of consumption or 8.77 million barrels.^[58]

New Zealand has a strategic reserve with a 2008 size of 170,000 tons or 1.2 million barrels. Much of this reserve is based on ticketed option contracts with Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, which allow for guaranteed purchases of petroleum in the event of an emergency.^[59]