SUV owners should pay full market price of diesel: Ramesh
30 Nov 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI: Training his guns again on sports utility vehicles (SUVs), environment minister Jairam Ramesh today asked the users of these fuel-guzzling cars to pay full market price for diesel which is subsidised for the benefit of farmers. Ramesh, however, made it clear that his "deliberate" criticism of the SUVs need not be seen as him being against the automobile sector. He had recently called SUVs as "criminals" and "Socially Useless Vehicles" for being bad emitters, fuelling a controversy in the auto sector. Germany, which is home to auto major BMW, had also taken strong exception to the remarks. "Why should they get subsidised fuel meant for farmers," Ramesh asked while speaking at a conference on 5th Sustainability Summit organised by CII. "We introduce the (diesel) subsidy for a certain economic purposes but have ended up with a wholly different purpose...," he said while favouring incentives to the firms aiming at sustainable development. Ramesh made it clear that he is not trying to hurt the growth of the auto industry in the country. "I am not knocking the growth of the automotive industry but those who want to use diesel cars must pay the full market price for the fuel. Why should they get subsidised fuel meant for farmers?" he said. Ramesh said there was a need for creating an incentive structure from a fiscal point of view particularly which rewards and added that stimulating sustainable development at the producer-end is absolutely important. The Minister also called for an incentive structure which has to be skewed in favour of sustainable development choice as far as consumers are ready to embrace such mechanism. "We need to move to a system which looks at rewarding or incentivise those companies that actually promote the objective of sustainable development, that promote energy conservation, water conservation and protection and preservation of natural resources," Ramesh said.
30 Nov 2010;deccanherald.com:Beijing:Automobile giant Volvo has said it would recall 18,848 vehicles in China to repair manufacturing defects. The recall beginning Monday will cover Volvo XC60, C30 2.0, S40 and S80L models in China due to defects in their airbag, engine software, and cooling systems, China's quality watchdog said in a statement. Xinhua reported that some Volvo XC60 models will be recalled for an airbag assembly issue that could result in the airbag failing to deploy or deploying improperly. The vehicles were produced between Jan 26, 2009 and April 14, 2010. A total of 30 models were sold in the Chinese market. Volvo is also recalling its 4,033 C30 vehicles and 8,952 S40 vehicles for an engine software upgradation as a preemptive measure to prevent the vehicles from shaking in certain conditions. The Volvo C30 vehicles were produced between Nov 12, 2008 and Sep 23, 2010. The Volvo S40 vehicles were manufactured between Sep 19, 2009 and Sep 11, 2010. Officials said the company is recalling 5,833 S80L models, produced between April 27 and December 2009, due to an engine cooling system problem.
Govt to decide on Cairn-Vedanta deal by Feb-end: Oil Secretary
30 Nov 2010;dailypioneer.com:New Delhi: The Government will decide on giving approval to the $9.6 billion Cairn-Vedanta deal by February-end, Oil Secretary S Sundareshan has said on Monday. “I had earlier given a timeline of December-end (for deciding on giving approval to Vedanta Resources, buying majority stake in Cairn India) on the presumption that it will take 2-3 months to process (the case) from the date we get all applications. “But given that we have got the application (seeking approval) only last week, we will certainly be able to decide on the case by February-end,” he said. After months of dithering, UK’s Cairn Energy on November 25 applied for government nod to transfer control in its three producing assets, including the prolific Rajasthan fields to Vedanta Resources. Sundareshan said the oil ministry had told Cairn that it would have to apply for approval in all of its 10 assets for the government to consider giving consent to the deal. Three separate applications were made for the Barmer oil fields in Rajasthan, the eastern offshore Ravva oil and gas fields and the Cambay fields off the west coast, which had previously been omitted from the applications for government approval. “Yes, we have got the applications in last 2-3 days,” Sundareshan said. Cairn Energy had on August 16 announced sale of 40-51 per cent stake in its Indian unit to London-listed Vedanta, but has been selective in approaching government for approval for the deal.
30 Nov 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:MUMBAI: In a bid to expand its international presence, RPG group-owned Ceat has acquired the global rights of brand Ceat from Italian tyre maker Pirelli for Rs 55 crore. The acquisition will help Ceat enter new markets such as Latin America, Europe and the US in the radial tyre segment. The tyre manufacturer expects to double its revenue from exports to Rs 1,000 crore in the next 3 years. Currently, Ceat owns the brand Ceat in nine South-Asian countries and used to export to Europe and Latin America under the Altura brand. Ceat will have exclusive rights to access the European and Latin American markets for radials from January 1, 2012. Talking to TOI, Harsh Goenka, chairman RPG Enterprises, said, "As a group we are confident about the India story and are looking to grow organically and inorganically in all our businesses. The acquisition of the Ceat brand is a step forward towards becoming a truly global player," he said.
29 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:Mumbai: Videocon Industries said on Monday its partnership with Anadarko Petroleum, BPRL Ventures, Mitsui E&P and Cove Energy has discovered major natural gas presence in Rovuma basin of Mozambique. The discovery well at the Lagosta prospect has a net 550 feet of natural gas find, it said in a statement. With three discoveries in the region, the partnership is in a process of advancing commercialisation options for liquefied gas, it added.
29 Nov 2010;business-standard.com:Ajay Modi:New Delhi: Cash-rich Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India (OIL) have joined hands separately with Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for a foray into city gas distribution (CGD). Though ONGC and OIL are major producers of natural gas, they currently have no presence in its retailing and marketing, a field dominated by GAIL and its joint ventures. ONGC owns and operates 22,000 km of pipelines in India, including nearly 4,500 kilometres under the sea. It has tied up with BPCL and OIL. “This is a sector that has tremendous growth potential. Since it is a retail business, we have tied up with BPCL and have identified certain cities for bidding,” D K Sarraf, its director (finance), told Business Standard. T K Ananth Kumar, director (finance) OIL, said the company had formed two consortiums, one with IOC and the second with ONGC and BPCL. “We are looking to bid for some cities,” he said. IOC, BPCL and Hindustan Petroleum, the three state-owned oil marketing companies had earlier formed a consortium with Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation to bid for trunk gas pipelines. Recently, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) invited bids for installing and running a CGD network in Asansol-Durgapur (in West Bengal), Bhavnagar, Gandhidham-Anjar, Bhuj-Mundra and Jamnagar (all in Gujarat), Ludhiana and Jalandhar (in Punjab) and Panipat (in Haryana). The bids will close on December 3. Setting up a full-fledged CGD network with CNG stations and a pipeline for industrial and domestic consumers usually costs Rs 1,000-1,500 crore. The Board plans to take a CGD network to 200 cities by 2015. Background In the first round, completed early last year, the Board had invited bids for six cities — Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Mathura and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Kota in Rajasthan, Dewas in Madhya Pradesh and Sonepat in Haryana. GAIL Gas, a subsidiary of GAIL India, and Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd, a joint venture of GAIL India, had won the CGD rights in bids for five of the six cities last year. Another company, Saumya-DSM Infratech, had bagged CGD rights for Mathura. Bids were invited for seven cities in the second round — Allahabad, Ghaziabad and Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, Shahdol (Madhya Pradesh), Rajahmundry and Yanam (Andhra Pradesh) and Chandigarh. However, this round got stuck in a legal tussle between Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) and the board on CGD rights for Ghaziabad. IGL, which was keen to enter the CGD business in Ghaziabad, approached the Delhi high court, claiming the board had no powers to conduct CGD bidding. The matter is now at the Supreme Court. The HC had struck down the board’s power to issue an authorisation for CGD business and the ministry went ahead to authorise IGL for Ghaziabad. In July, the legal lacuna was rectified,, with a section of the PNGRB Act finally notified, and the Board now has all the powers to conduct CGD bidding. At present, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Vijayawada, Vadodara and Surat have a CGD network.
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