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News06/08/24India to tweak law to ease doing upstream businessIndia to tweak law to ease doing upstream businessMumbai, 6 August (Argus) — India has introduced legislation in the upper houseof parliament to amend an existing law to enhance the ease of doing business inthe exploration and production sector. The oil and gas ministry has proposed a"petroleum lease" for exploration and production of mineral oils. It has alsoexpanded the definition of mineral oils to include crude, natural gas,petroleum, condensate, coal-bed methane, oil shale, shale gas, shale oil, tightgas, tight oil and gas hydrate. The legislation proposes to separate miningoperations from petroleum operations, which were originally regulated together.It also proposes to grant the petroleum lease on stable terms where its termswill not be altered to the disadvantage of the lessee during the period of thelease, while allows sharing of production facilities and infrastructure. Theproposed amendments also include effective dispute resolution, decriminalisingsome provisions by replacing imprisonment with financial penalties and allowingappeals against the orders of the ruling authority. It also aims to ease energytransition by enabling development of comprehensive energy projects forharnessing wind and solar energy, along with mineral oils at oil fields. It hasprovisions to use oil fields for production of hydrogen, carbon captureutilisation and storage or coal gasification. The bill has to be passed by bothhouses of parliament to become law. India has been trying to attract domesticand international investors in the exploration sector by working to promote theease of doing business in the sector. It also wants to increase domestic outputof oil and gas to meet the country's increasing energy demand and reducedependence on imports. India's crude production during April-June fell by 2pcfrom a year earlier to 538,000 b/d, oil ministry data show. Its dependence oncrude imports for this period eased to 88.3pc from 88.8pc a year earlier. Indiawill offer 25 oil and gas blocks in the tenth upstream bidding round in Augustor September. It has extended the deadline for the ninth round three times, withthe latest to 31 August. Foreign participants have raised key issues with theoil ministry, including those related to indemnity and compensation that arelikely to be addressed in the new legislation. Hydrocarbon exploration has beenlacking because of the slow implementation of policies. India's upstreamlicensing has largely been dominated by domestic participants. Indianstate-controlled upstream firm ONGC in January won seven of the 10 areas inexploration blocks offered in the eighth upstream bidding round. Aprivate-sector consortium of Reliance Industries and BP, state-controlledupstream firm Oil India and private-sector Sun Petrochemicals received one blockeach. By Roshni Devi Send comments and request more information atfeedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rightsreserved.Find out more
NewsAustralia’s Queensland pledges state-owned retail fuel06/08/24News06/08/24Australia’s Queensland pledges state-owned retail fuelSydney, 6 August (Argus) — Australia's Queensland Labour party government haspromised to open a chain of state-owned retail fuel outlets and cap day-to-dayfuel increases, as part of its campaign in the lead-up to the 26 October stateelection. State-owned stations would charge a fair price for fuel and increasecompetition for Queensland motorists, premier Steven Miles said, adding that thefuel stations will be built in areas where competition was needed, operate on acost-recovery basis, sell gasoline and diesel, as well as charging stations forelectric vehicles. "Currently when you fuel up your car with petrol you'resending money offshore to big multinationals. Our publicly owned fuel stationswon't be taking a profit," Miles said on 6 August. Miles also promised tolegislate to limit gasoline price rises to once per day and to trial cappingdaily increases no more than 5A ¢/litre, with fuel outlets required to releaseprice changes a day in advance, saying Queensland has the nation's leastcompetitive gasoline market. The fuel retailing policy has been costed at A$36mn($23.4mn), to be funded by borrowings in the government-owned corporationssector, Miles said. Queensland's retail gasoline sales were 47,000 b/d duringJanuary-May this year, according to Australian Petroleum Statistics, with dieselretail sales of 42,000 b/d over the same period. The state's capital Brisbanehosts the 109,000 b/d Lytton refinery, one of only two remaining in the country,which is operated by Australian refiner and retailer Ampol. By Tom Major Sendcomments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright ©2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.NewsHurricane Debby halts traffic at southeast US ports05/08/24News05/08/24Hurricane Debby halts traffic at southeast US portsHouston, 5 August (Argus) — Major ports in the southeast US are closed to vesseltraffic as Hurricane Debby made landfall today as a category 1 storm in northernFlorida. Seaport Manatee and the port of Tampa Bay in Florida closed waterwayson 3 August, with Seaport Manatee issuing port condition Zulu — where gale forcewinds are anticipated within 12 hours and port operations are suspended. PortTampa Bay closed its shipping lanes on 3 August. Combined DAP and MAP exportsfrom the port of Tampa reached 245,000 metric tonnes (t) between January and May— comprising nearly 91pc of year-to-date offshore export volumes — according toUS Census Bureau data. Nearly two-thirds of US ammonium phosphate productioncapacity is consolidated in central Florida with Mosaic, according to TheFertilizer Institute (TFI) data. The Port of Savannah, in Georgia, will closetoday at 3:00pm ET and will remain closed on Tuesday before reopening onWednesday, according to the Georgia Ports Authority. No vessel activity will beallowed during the closure. By Meghan Yoyotte Send comments and request moreinformation at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . Allrights reserved.NewsCalifornia CARB ULSD prices hit multi-year lows05/08/24News05/08/24California CARB ULSD prices hit multi-year lowsHouston, 5 August (Argus) — Outright California CARB diesel prices are at nearly31-month lows following a narrowing in Los Angeles differentials and theunderlying Nymex ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) contract last week. Front-monthoutright prices in Los Angeles closed at $2.20/USG on 2 August, the lowest levelsince December 2021, after a 4pc downturn in the Nymex ULSD contract and a2¢/USG weekly dip in differentials as August volume was heard traded lower.Overall ULSD liquidity remained muted in San Francisco, but Friday's Nymex losspressured outright cash prices to $2.14/USG, also the lowest level sinceDecember 2021. California refiners had nearly doubled CARB diesel production inthe week ended 26 July and averaged 193,000 b/d, according to latest data fromthe California Energy Commission (CEC) released on 1 August. The uptick fueled a1.6pc increase in the state's total diesel inventory, to 2.9mn bl, despite aconcurrent 38pc drop in output of other diesel fuels — a category includinghigh-sulphr, non-California EPA and renewable diesel. By Jasmine Davis Sendcomments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright ©2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.NewsLibya's largest oil field almost completely offline05/08/24News05/08/24Libya's largest oil field almost completely offlineLondon, 5 August (Argus) — Libya's largest crude field, El Sharara, has almostcompletely ceased production, a source with direct knowledge of its operationstold Argus . Some crude is being kept online so the 640MW power plant at Ubarican continue to generate electricity. This plant usually burns around10,000-15,000 b/d of crude. El Sharara was producing around 260,000-270,000 b/dbefore it was ordered to shut down on 3 August. State-owned NOC has not declaredforce majeure on shipments of the field's Esharara export grade crude from theZawia terminal, as is customary under such circ*mstances, sources said. Argusunderstands the shutdown is being orchestrated by the Tobruk-based LibyanNational Army (LNA), which controls much of the country's east and southincluding El Sharara in the southwest. Sources said the order to shut the fieldcame from Saddam Haftar, son of LNA head General Khalifa Haftar. The reason forthe shutdown is unclear. The field has been a frequent target of armed groups inthe past decade for reasons ranging from local grievances to national politicalambitions. Libya's rival Tripoli-based government said on 4 August that attemptsto close El Sharara were "political blackmail." Field operator Akakus OilOperations said on 4 August that production was being gradually wound down andthat it would stop piping crude to Zawia. Akakus is a joint venture betweenSpain's Repsol, TotalEnergies, Austria's OMV, Norway's state-controlled Equinorand NOC. Eight cargoes totalling 5mn bl of Esharara crude are scheduled to beexported from Zawia in August, according to loading programmes. A 630,000 blcargo chartered by Equinor departed on 3 August, Kpler data showed. A prolongedshutdown would force NOC to halt operations at its 120,000 b/d refinery atZawia, which runs on crude from El Sharara, potentially leading to higherimports of refined products. The forced production outage at El Sharara is thethird under NOC chairman Farhat Ben Gudara. The field was most recently shutdownin January , for three weeks. Opec member Libya typically produces around 1.2mnb/d of crude, but output in recent weeks had increased to about 1.25mn b/d. Someof these gains had been due to Repsol-led development work at El Sharara. Thefront-month October Brent contract stood at $76.55/bl at 16:31 BST (15:31 GMT),compared to $76.81/bl at close of trade on Friday, 3 August. By Aydin Calik andKuganiga Kuganeswaran Send comments and request more information atfeedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rightsreserved.
