23 March 2010;deccanchronicle.com:New Delhi, March 22: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp is in talks with three Russian companies for acquiring oil properties in Russia and the CIS region, company chairman and managing director, Mr R. S. Sharma, said. “We are in discussions with Rosneft, Gazprom and Sistema,” he said on the sidelines of the 6th Asia Gas Partnership Summit here. One of the properties under discussion is the Sakhalin 3 project in Far East Russia, he said. During the visit of the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, earlier this month, Moscow has ignored the demand by ONGC for stake in fields in Far East and East Siberia, but was willing to consider the Indian firm in the Arctic peninsula of Yamal. Ongc, however, was not excited by the Yamal offer and preferred stake in Sakhalin-3 and Vankor oil- fields. Sources said ONGC wants to source one million barrels per day of oil and oil-equivalent gas from Russia, and has identified Sakhalin-3 in Far East, Vankor in East Siberia, and Terbs and Titov oilfields in Timan Pechora region for this purpose. However, Russia has so far not obliged ONGC. Instead, it said Indian firms were welcome to join Russian gas monopoly Gazprom OAO in the Yamal Peninsula. ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of the state explorer, has 20 per cent stake in Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in East Russia and in 2008 acquired Imperial Energy.
23 March 2010;economictimes.indiatimes.com:The oil ministry is considering a proposal to raise pump prices of Euro-IV petrol and diesel to recover about Rs 15,000 crore spent by state-owned oil companies in upgrading their refineries, a senior oil ministry official said. “We are in consultations for differential pricing of Euro-IV fuel,” oil secretary S Sundareshan told reporters on the sidelines of the 6th Asia Gas Partnership Summit. As per oil ministry officials, the price increase will be marginal and will remain below Re 1 a litre. But no one could give a definite numbers. Oil minister Murli Deora will launch the Euro-IV fuel on Wednesday, an Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) official said. The 13 cities will switch from the Euro-III grade of auto fuel to the Euro-IV (or Bharat Stage-IV) auto fuel from April 1. State-owned refiners such as Indian OilCorp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) have already spent about Rs 40,000 in upgrading their refineries to produce Euro III and Euro IV fuel. Capital expenditure on upgrading refinery to Euro-IV alone was about Rs 15,000 crore, an oil ministry official said requesting anonymity.As per a direction by the Supreme Court, oil companies are to sell higher grade (Euro-IV) petrol and diesel in 13 major cities and Euro-III grade fuel in rest of the country from April 1, 2010. While oil companies are ready to supply Euro-IV fuel from April 1, some of their refineries are not in position to supply of Euro-III fuel. They will upgrade refineries in a phased manner. Euro IV fuel is cleaner having a maximum of 50 parts per million of sulphur in petrol and diesel. But Euro-III fuel have a maximum of 350 parts per million of sulphur.
Daimler to invest Rs 4,400 cr in India; looks for partners
19 March 2010;dailypioneer.com:Chennai: The world’s largest truck maker Daimler on Thursday said it will invest Rs 4,400 crore over the next five years to set up a manufacturing plant. Following its aborted joint venture with the Hero Group, the company is also looking for partners for its Indian venture. The German auto major’s Indian subsidiary Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) on Thursday inaugurated a truck testing facility at Oragadam, near the city. “The company has planned a total investment of Rs 4,400 crore over the next five years. This is the company’s first important step towards its strategy to develop, manufacture and launch trucks for the Indian volume market, beginning mid- 2012,” DICV Managing Director and CEO Marc Llistosella told reporters. The 400-acre plant, which will manufacture light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, will have an initial capacity of 36,000 units in the first phase and will be scaled up to 72,000 units finally, he added. When asked if the company would again look for partners, Llistosella said: “We are open for shareholding partners, but it should add value for business sense. We will never jump from partner to partner... We will compete on the combination of our USP and we are open for multiple partnerships.” The company is holding negotiations in different areas, including logistics, IT, supply, dealers and financial services as “we need partners”, he added. In 2008, Daimler had planned to set up the plant with the Hero Group through a JV, but it did not materialise as the Indian partner pulled out of the venture last year. “Partnership with Hero Group was with full consciousness and willingness, (but) then we were impacted by the financial crisis. This environment is really the best for Hero Group to invest on their own,” Llistosella said. Giving details of the facility, he said the company has spent about Rs 25 crore in the test track and has allocated Rs 1,200 crore for its R&D centre within the plant. “This R&D centre, to be located in the plant, will be one of the biggest in South-East Asia,” he added. DICV will produce a range of trucks in between 6 tonnes and 49 tonnes category from the facility with a targeted localisation of components of 85 per cent. “Initially in the first phase, we will manufacture 25 tonnes and 49 tonnes heavy duty trucks, and it will be followed by 9 tonnes and 15 tonnes trucks,” he said. Daimler, which currently sells its Actros range of trucks from its group firm Mercedes-Benz’s facility in Pune, had last year planned to introduce lightweight trucks from Mitsubishi Fuso stable in the Indian market by 2010. Recently it exited Tata Motors by selling the residual stake of 5.34 per cent in the Indian firm for about 300 million euros. Apart from the Chennai plant, which employs 450 engineers at present, Daimler has its CV facilities in Germany, the US, Japan, Brazil and Turkey.
19 March 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:TORONTO: Toyota may be slapped with criminal charges in Canada for hiding accelerator problems from motorists even as it was trying to fix it. The Japanese automaker recalled more than 2.3 million vehicles in the US and Canada in January to fix accelerator pedals that get stuck. Toyota executives appeared before a Canadian parliamentary panel Tuesday to explain the lapse. According to Transport Minister John Baird, the government will ponder initiate criminal proceedings against the car giant after studying the testimony. He said action against the auto giant will be determined under the country's Motor Vehicle Safety Act. "I can't direct the department to conduct a criminal investigation and lay criminal charges,'' minister said, adding that "if we have to raise the bar and make the law tougher with respect to disclosure, that's something we're prepared to do.'' Toyota executives reportedly admitted before the MPs that the company didn't alert vehicles users and the government about the sticky accelerator pedal as it was working to fix it. The MPs blasted the Toyota executives for not being prompt in alerting car users about the problem. "You've got a serious safety problem, you're already talking to your supplier about redesigning a faulty gas pedal and no one told Transport Canada ... until after a recall was issued. It was all occurring but you were telling nobody about it,'' said a ruling Conservative Party MP. Apologizing for the 'anxiety and inconvenience' caused to car users, Yoshi Inaba, president and chief operating officer of Toyota Motor North America, said, "Nothing is more important to Toyota than the safety and reliability'' of its vehicles. Canadians are also upset that Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda personally didn't come here to apologize as he did before Americans and Chinese.
Honda to recall 410,000 vehicles for brake problem
16 March 2010;hindustantimes.com:Detroit:Honda Motor Co. says it is recalling about 410,000 Odyssey minivans and Element small trucks in the US because of problems with the brake pedals. The recall includes 344,000 Odysseys and 68,000 Elements from the 2007 and 2008 model years. Honda says the brake pedals can feel soft to drivers and must be depressed closer to the floor than usual before the vehicles will fully stop. The condition worsens over time but affects only some of the vehicles. The company says the problem happens because a part in the stability control system can let a small amount of air into the braking system. Honda says owners should take their vehicles to a dealer as soon as they get notification from Honda. Letters will go out at the end of April.
16 March 2010;timesofindia.indiatimes.com:NEW DELHI/NEW YORK: Energy giant RIL is eyeing a big stake in a US natural gas field, for which it is believed to be putting in USD 1-1.5 billion, days after losing its $14.5-billion takeover bid for global petrochemicals major LyondellBasell. "Under the deal as considered, Reliance would pay between USD 1 billion and USD 1.5 billion to take a joint venture stake with Atlas...," the Wall Street Journal reported today. Atlas owns the targeted natural gas field Marcellus Shale. Sources said that Reliance Industries is said to be eyeing a joint venture with Nasdaq-listed Atlas Energy for developing the Marcellus Shale gas operations. WSJ quoting several people familiar with the matter, said that Mukesh Ambani-led RIL is in "late stage talks to buy a big stake in a US natural gas field". According to the report, Atlas Energy is said to be seeking a "50-50 partner". The report said the deal is expected to make RIL, the first Indian company to buy into the Marcellus, which has drawn big investments from other foreign firms. "Reliance is nearing a deal to partner with Atlas Energy, which controls about 584,000 acres in the expansive Marcellus Shale, a huge gas-bearing formation that stretches from West Virginia to New York," the daily noted. Meanwhile, an RIL spokesperson declined to comment on the matter and queries sent to Atlas Energy remained unanswered.
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