OCTOBER 20239INDIAN OIL COMPANIES EXPLORE USING STRANDED $600 MILLION TO PURCHASE RUSSIAN OILThe over $600 million in dividend income that Indian oil corporations have stashed in Russia may be used to purchase oil from Russia. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), a division of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Oil India and ONGC Videsh India's main four oil producers, have not been allowed to repatriate dividend revenue from their interests in Russian oil and gas fields. Due to the Western sanctions enacted in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the money was resting in their Russian bank accounts but could not be transferred to India. At the moment, Russia has replaced Saudi Arabia as India's biggest crude oil supplier, accounting for more than a third of all imports made by New Delhi from overseas. One of the solutions may be to lend the money that is now in Russian bank accounts to organizations that are purchasing oil. They might pay back the debt in India. IOC and BPCL are among the companies that purchase oil from Russia."We are studying legal and financial implications of such a move," an official said. 'We are mindful of the sanctions and do not want to do anything that may in any way attract any breach.' Indian state oil firms have invested $ 5.46 billion in buying stakes in four different assets in Russia. These include a 49.9 percent stake in the Vankorneft oil and gas field and another 29.9 percent in the TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha fields. They get dividends on profits made by the operating consortium from selling oil and gas produced from the fields. Soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year, several major Russian banks were banned from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) financial transaction processing system, constricting Moscow's ability to access the global payments system. Also, the Russian government has put restrictions on the repatriation of dollars from that country to check volatility in foreign exchange rates. ADANI DEVELOPS JV FOR MARKETING GREEN HYDROGEN IN THE JAPANESE MARKETAjoint venture (JV) for the sale and marketing of green ammonia, green hydrogen, and its derivatives has been announced by Adani Global Pte Singapore, a step-down company of Adani Enterprises The JV's primary focus will be on product marketing in Japan, Taiwan, and Hawaii. According to a statement from the company, it is a logical and strategic extension of Adani Group's long-standing marketing and trading partnership with Kowa.The Adani Group's green hydrogen platform, Adani New Industries (ANIL), is working on ways to manufacture green hydrogen and its related derivatives. In Gujarat, the first ANIL plant, which will produce 1 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually, is being implemented in stages. "Production for the first phase is anticipated to begin in FY2027. With an estimated $50 billion in investment over the next 10 years, ANIL hopes to grow capacity to up to 3 MMTPA of green hydrogen, depending on the state of the market.It was further stated that ANIL's strategy was centred on the development of a hydrogen ecosystem with three business streams: green hydrogen generation, downstream derivative product production, and manufacturing of supply chain products (solar - polysilicon, ingot, wafer, cell & module, wind turbine generator, electrolyzers and ancillary items). TOP STORIES
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