The fact that RCF has been categorized yesterday as "negative" by a rating agency on account of high subsidy outstandings is a warning sign not just for the company but for the industry as a whole.
8NFL has a sovereign ownership and yet a negative rating
8Imagine the plight of a privately owned companies such as Nagarjuna or even Zuari among others who are currently facing liquidity problems
8After losing credibility in a few recent instances, rating agencies are now getting stricter, particularly in sectors such as fertilizers, which are constrained by regulatory and agro-climatic risks.
8A negative rating has many connotations, including inability to raise money from banks and financial institutions at the right cost
8RCF also faces increasing risks out of being forced to invest in a coal based urea plant at Talcher (Orissa) and in a gas based urea plant in Assam. These risks have not been factored in yet but they will weigh the rating more towards the negative side.
Comment: EPC and licensor companies bidding for these projects should look at the financials of these companies carefully before bidding for them
Click on Reports for more Details

The Bargarh 2G refinery bid closed yesterday
8The earlier bidders, TechnipFMC and L&T, whose bids were found to be too expensive in the first round of tendering, have decided to stay out
8Will the new bidders have a different pricing paradigm from the earlier two?
Click on Details for more Details

The government is eying Rs 41,000 crore worth of immovable property lying with oil companies for privatization.
8IOC has the most amount of premium value at around Rs 12,000 crore
8Followed by OIL at Rs 10,000 crore
8All of this is now under scrutiny for sale
Click on Reports for a company-wide data Details

Single Super Phosphate Greenfield Project
8Cost - Rs 10 crore
8Project Event: The proposal for an environmental clearance is likely to be granted in August 2019, The tender for an EPC contractor is likely to be released in September 2019.
Click here for more details (Available only through www.indianfertilizer.com) Details

Get the latest updates on forthcoming refinery shutdowns here
8Also details of all refinery expansion plans
Click on Report and Details for more Details

8Project Name: Drilling Site Development
8Project Cost: Rs 1400 crore
8Project Description: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited's RFQs for 2D and 3D seismic survey services will be released by September 2019. The RFQs' will be for 400 LKM 2D and 50 SKM 3D seismic survey.
Click here for more details Details

8Project Name: Oil Field Development
8Project Description: Oilmax Energy Pvt. Ltd. has awarded the contract for the surface facilities for its Charaideo field to Asian Oilfield Services Limited for a bid price of Rs 210 crores. The scope of work includes engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning, supply, and operations & maintenance of the said facilities including operations & maintenance for 10 years. In the meanwhile, all the necessary clearances for the project have been granted last last month. The project is expected to start by September 2019. 
Click here for more details Details

8Project Cost: 228 crores
8Project Description: Indian Oil Corporation Limited had hired L&T Hydrocarbon as an EPC contractor to expand its Chennai-Trichy-Madurai Pipeline from 2 MMTPA to 3.9 MMTPA. For the transportation of petroleum products viz. MS, SKO and HSD from Chennai refinery of CPCL (A group of company IOCL) to various consumption centres in Tamil Nadu. The pipeline has 3 delivery locations at Trichy, Madurai and Sankari. The project inclides replacement of existing 3 motor-driven MLPUs with MLPUs of higher capacity at Chennai pump station, construction of a green-field intermediate pumping station (IPS) at Padalam Uthiramerur SH (about 110 km from Chennai) with 3 motors driven MLPUs and associated facilities, shifting of existing 3 motor-driven MLPUs from Chennai station to Asanur for dedicated pumping in the Asanur-Trichy section of CTMPL while the existing MLPUs of Asanur are be retained for pumping in the Asanur-Sankari-section, installation of 3 new motor-driven MLPUs at Trichy (Trichy station to operate as a delivery-cum-pumping station), modifications in existing delivery and associated facilities at Madurai, Trichy and Sankari stations. 
8Get the latest update on the project
Click here for more details Details

For reference purposes the website carries here the following tenders:
8Procurement of Main Compressors Details
8Supply and Installation of Air Compressor and Air Tower Details
8Procurement of Sulphuric Acid Details
8Item Rate Contract towards providing Assistance Services for carrying out Mechanical Maintenance Jobs at Compressor Station Details
8Procurement of Hydrochloric Acid Details
8Annual Rate Contract for Pipeline RoU and CP maintenance works Details
8Supply of Cable protection/ Hose ramp for protection of power cables Details
8Transportation of ATF Ex Budge Budge to Dum Dum ASF Details
8Maintenance & Handling of Millennium Grand Outlet Details
8Expression of Interest for Oil Storage & Evacuation facility for Panna-Mukta Offshore Field Details
8Hiring of Testing/ Completion Fluid Engineering Services Details
8Procurement of Instrument Air Compressors Details
8Procurement of SCSSV & Production Packer with Accessories and Services Details
8Replacement of Manifold Header and incoming flow lines of wells Details
You can also click on Tenders for more
For reference purposes the website carries here the following Newsclips:
8GAIL hires LNG ship from Mitsui for ferrying US gas Details
8India, Russia explore additional investments in oil & gas sector Details
8India becomes second-fastest growing gas market; $30 billion war chest ready for supply boom Details
8Reliance Industries, Aramco talks on stake sale stall: sources Details
82,000 litre diesel siphoned off from IOCL pipeline Details
8Thrust on CNG leads to 50% growth in fuel’s demand Details
8Reliance topples Indian Oil to become highest-ranked Indian firm on Fortune Global 500 list Details
8Oil slips to around $63 as Iran concerns fade for now Details
8Oil inches up amid Middle East tensions; frail demand outlook caps gains Details
8Norway oil directorate confirm Aker BP oil find Details
8Iran's ability to influence oil market is limited: Rick Perry Details
8BRIEF: Nigeria's NNPC secures $3.15 bln to develop oil mining licence Details
8Oil prices gain on US inventory drop, Middle East tensions Details
8OPINION: Global oil consumption stagnates leaving prices under pressure Details
You can also click on Newsclips for more   Details

Pushed by the government, public sector companies are struggling with negative IRRs when promoting 2G bio-ethanol project, it seems.
8The government has mandated that a total of 22 2G bio refineries be set up
8PSUs who are shopping for contractors to install these refineries are finding it difficult to get them.
Click on Details for more Details

NPK Fertilizer Greenfield Project 
8Cost - Rs 1517 crore
8Project Event: RFQ for EPC contractor was floated in February 2017 and price bid was opened in January 2018, due to high price bid & land issue finalization, there has been a delay. Discussion is still undergoing, and a decision is expected in September 2019
Click here for more details (Link accessible through www.indianfertilizer.com) Details

The June data for oil & gas production is discouraging. Output is lower than last year.
8Indigenous crude oil and condensate production in June 2019 was lower by 6.8% than that of June 2018. OIL, ONGC and the private sector registered lower production of 4%, 5% and 11.7% respectively during June 2019 as compared to June 2018. On cumulative basis indigenous crude oil and condensate production of the country was lower by 6.8% during April - June 2019 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
8Gas production was lower by 1.6% compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. The cumulative gross production of natural gas of 8031 MMSCM for the current
 financial year till June, 2019 was lower by 0.5% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.
Comment: Shoring up domestic production is the need of the hour. The outlook for gas is brighter as of now than for crude. Clearly, what is needed is to experiment with more interesting business models. New discovered fields are being released for development through the revenue sharing model but what the government needs to do is to rope in the big service providers, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes. They have the capital and the technology to make a difference but they have been peeved by the conditions imposed by the likes of ONGC and OIL in production enhancement contracts. One-on-one negotiations and flexible rules -- just as Cairn India is doing with them -- will help bring them on board for some specially designated big fields for which ONGC does not have the requisite skill sets. If the discovered small fields fall into the wrong hands, as they may as per the rules which have been drawn up by an inexperienced consultancy firm, the entire exercise can end up in a disaster. Click on Report for more. Details

Project Name: Mathura-Tundla Product Pipeline Expansion Project
8Project Cost: 638 crores
8The project involves augmenting station pumping and other allied facilities along with the laying of a greenfield pipeline from Tundla to Gawaria as also enhancing the existing capacity of MTPL from 0.8 to 4.0 MMTPA.
8EPCC contractor for part of the work has been appointed. 
8Mainline pipes and compressor pumps are already delivered. Work for the laying of 253 KM, 16” OD x 0.25” WT API 5L x 60 Grade pipe from Tundla to Gawaria is awarded to Corrtech International Pvt. Ltd., and work for laying has started off at the Tundla section. Currently, the bidding process for booster pumps is going on. Further RFQs are expected soon. 
8Project Event: RFQ for the SCADA and Instrumentation is expected by August 2019. Details

For reference purposes the website carries here the following tenders:
8Construction of foundation and cabling work for LPG compressor including pipeline modification at LPG Plant Details
8Supply of Reciprocating Compressor Spares Details
8Supply of Compressor Spares Details
8Support Services for Operation and Maintenance Bases Details
8Three Years Rate Contract for FCCU-II Fresh Catalyst Details
8ARC for Scrap Shifting Jobs Details
8Hiring of services for Rate Contract for painting of Drilling rigs Details
8Procurement of Manual Tubing Tong Details
8Procurement of Plant Paging System Details
8Procurement of Causticized Lignite Details
You can also click on Tenders for more
For reference purposes the website carries here the following Newsclips:
8GST Council may weigh GST on petroleum products at July 25 meet Details
8Instructed committee to increase private participation in LPG business: Pradhan Details
8Bisra Stone Lime to resume as SAIL, RINL to provide trade advance Details
8Oil prices ease as traders weigh Middle East tensions, demand Details
8HPCL refuses to recognise ONGC as its promoter Details
8Cairn India, Vedanta under scanner in dividend case Details
8India is likely to set up Gas Trading Hub by First Quarter of 2020-21 Details
8India's June oil output falls to lowest in four months Details
8Inventory losses, muted refining margins to weigh on OMCs financial numbers Details
8Factbox: Strait of Hormuz - the world's most important oil artery Details
8Oil outlook sours as sanctions, global tensions fail to bring out bulls Details
8Iran says tanker incidents have not impacted its oil exports Details
8AG&P sells minority stake to Japanese investors for $100 million Details
8Goldman Sachs sees lower oil demand growth on disappointing economic activity Details
8French oil and gas group Maurel & Prom eyes UK's Amerisur Details
8Russia's Novatek completes sales of stakes in Arctic LNG-2 project Details
8BP, Bunge to create mega biofuel company in Brazil Details
8Tickerplant ties up with S&P Global Platts to provide energy information Details
8Iran's ability to influence oil market is limited - US Energy Secretary Details
8Japan to lose top LNG importer position to China by 2022 Details
You can also click on Newsclips for more   Details

The oil company plans to set up a 2 MLD capacity reverse osmosis desalination project
8State government approvals are awaited
8Feasibility report is under preparation
8RFQ for a LSTK contractor is expected by the end of the year
Click here for more details Details

The country's only local MSME cementing company, MG Well Solutions, has been struggling for over a decade now to get a cementing services job from the national oil companies but without any success. The company has been in operation in India and Bangladesh for the last 9 years but unable to make headway.
8For, it is up against what it says is the biased mindset of oil company executives. Also, standing up against it is a bunch of multinationals which are relentless in their effort to maintain their monopoly on this segment.
8It seems for MG Well Solutions, "Make in India" is nothing more than a slogan.
8For both cementing services and additives, tenders are issued from OIL and ONGC under the international open global tender category, yet the BEC is highly restrictive. For example, for cementing additives, Oil India Ltd's open tender says that any supplier of additives can only procure them form a select list of global cementing services companies even though they themselves are not the manufacturers of these additives.
8On one such tender, OIL's independent external monitors called upon the E&P major to either issue a restricted tender for additives, limited to a list of global service providers, or remove this restrictive BEC conditionality if it were to keep them under the international open global tender category.
8Another restrictive condition is the high estimated value of such a tender while the award valuee is far on the lower side. "The decision to keep the tender value high has a clear potential to eliminate many small vendors with limited financial turnover," the IEMs had observed.
8There are ways to kill a potential small competitor. MG Wells, for example, secured a trial order for additives but the trial process was made way more complicated than was necessary, forcing the IEMs to comment, "the current trial procedure before finalizing a particular chemical and additive is too time-consuming for small vendors to sustain." The policy should be reviewed, the IEMs said.
8Yet, despite the recommendations being clear, OIL has taken no such steps yet.
8Clearly, in many technical segments of the oil & gas industry, there are capable Indian companies who can make a mark, provided they are given an opportunity.
8The government must sit up a listen. There should perhaps be a special MSME grievance redressal panel for the oil sector, or a website where such issues can be raised and addressed. Something needs to be done
Click on Details and Reports for more Details

8Project Name: Drilling Field Development
8Project Cost: Rs 520 crore
8Project Description: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited has dropped out 2 wells from the 15 wells exploratory drilling programme in SAS Block in Golaghat district, Assam; thus taking the new well count to 13. In the meanwhile the EC for the project has been amended. The drilling will be carried out using an in house rig. The targeted depths of the well will be up to 3500 m. The equipment required for the project will be Well Logging Services, Cementing services (Cement, Cementing Chemicals and accessories), and Mud engineering services. Further RFQs are expected shortly.
8Project Event: RFQ for the hiring of Well Logging Services is expected by August end 2019.
Click here for more details Details

8Project Name: R-Series Development
8Project Cost: Rs 22684.53 crore
8Project Description: Reliance Industries Ltd, BP's KG-D6 block development project is on-track with the first gas by Mid-2020.Get the latest update on the what is up with the block
Click here for more details (for clients with access to our project monitoring software, please click on view changes for detailed archival reports to track updates over time)
8Project Name: MJ-1 Discovery Development
8Project Cost: Rs 14267 crore
8Project Description: Reliance Industries Ltd, BP's MJ-1 block development project is on-track with the award of all major contracts
Click here for more details  Details

It seems India will have its own unique model to push for higher use of gas in the economy.
8It is now concluded that the traditional direct switch from coal to gas will not happen in India.
8It is going to be a longer, more derivative route. Hence more complicated as well.
8But despite the grim narrative, there are some success stories, which give hope that there still is vast scope to raise gas consumption India
Click on Reports for more Details

Ammonia-Urea Brownfield Project
8Cost - Rs 6000 crore
8Project Event: RFQ for the civil & structural works for additional railway siding storage platform for bagged urea is out and bid due date is 29 July 2019.
Click here for more details
NPK-SSP & Sulphuric Acid Expansion Project
8Cost - Rs 15 crore
8Project Event: RFQ for a contractor is likely to be released after environmental clearance. The public hearing has been completed but environmental clearance is due and it is likely to be elicited in August 2019. The RFQ for the EPC contractor is likely to be released in September 2019.
Click here for more details (Links available only through www.indianfertilizer.com) Details

Rooftop solar power is getting to be cheaper than grid power, and far cheaper than gas-based power
8Latest price benchmarks put the cost at around Rs 4.50/kwh for rooftop power
8The rate for smaller installations are pegged at Rs 5.40/kwh
8The point to note is that it is an all-inclusive cost that includes installation, commissioning, transportation, insurance, five year AMC and applicable fees and taxes
8Will gas-based power be delivered at these rates, without a hefty dose of subsidy?
8"The government is proposing the revival of stranded gas-based power capacity, but the plain truth is that it is more expensive," a power sector official told our sister website,www.energylineindia.com
Cick on Reports for more Details

Even as Indian policy makers continue to emphasize the transition from coal to gas in India, some parts of the world are already moving on to a post-gas world.
8"Get rid of gas" is finding an increasing acceptance among the citizenry in any parts of the world and government's are reacting to that call.
8In some countries, plans have been put in pace to be gas free by 2050. Plans are already been drawn up, and gas consumption will begin falling very soon in these countries while it ramps up in India.
8Is it time for India to look at a straight coal-to-renewable transition instead of moving from coal to gas to renewable energy?
8Having not built the gas infrastructure, will India be better off jumping straight to renewables, like Africa did, when it moved to mobile telephone without building a fixed line infrastructure?
8There are great advantages for a country such as India if it can skip an entire energy paradigm and move on ahead in the direction where the advanced countries are headed, or for that matter in the direction where the world will have to be eventually headed. The costs -- in terms of ecological health, pipeline and attendant network costs as also higher energy values -- would be much lower if that could be done.
8There is not doubt that the transition from coal to gas is easier than from coal to renewables or even gas to renewables, as harder decisions have to be taken.
8But it is better to bite the bullet now than later or else by the time the transition to gas takes place, policy makers may find out to their dismay that all the cost and infrastructure were just a waste of time and money.
Click on Reports to know more Details

8Project Name: ETP Modernization
8Project Cost: Rs 200 crore
8Project Description: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited has awarded the Project management Consultant job for the Uran Gas Processing Plant ETP Modernization project
Get an update on what is up
Click here for more details Details

8Project Name: Drilling Field Development
8Project Cost: Rs 154 crore
8Project Description: Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Limited has finally got the environment clearance for the 14 well development drilling project in Malleswaram (12 wells) and Vanudurru South (2 wells). Initially, the proposal was a separate one but now the project will be executed as a part of the 72 well development drilling project in West Godavari and East Godavari. The wells will be drilled using ONGC owned drilling rig at a targeted depth of approx. 3800m.
Click here for more details Details

NPK-TSP-GSSP Greenfield Project
8Cost - Rs 100 crore
8Project Event: The proposal for the term of references has been accepted for environmental clearance. RFQ for the EPC contractor is likely to be released at the end of August 2019.
Click here for more details (Only available through www.indianfertilizer.com) Details