OVL to sign agreement for Cuba oil blocks
New Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), is set to acquire a stake in seven oil and gas blocks in Cuba. The agreement will be signed on May 23.

OVL had last September acquired 30 per cent stake in seven oil and gas blocks in Cuba, which holds more than 4 billion barrels of oil reserves. A formal agreement with the Cuban government will be signed in Havana, according to company officials.

OVL had entered into an agreement last September with Repsol-YPF of Spain to acquire 30 per cent participating interest in the deepwater exploration Blocks 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 36 and part of Block 35 in Gulf of Mexico. The blocks are spread over an area of nearly 12,000 sq km in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cuba.
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OVL to hold board meeting in Vietnam
New Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of ONGC, is planning to hold its board meeting in Vietnam. If the mandatory approvals come through, this would be the first time that OVL would be holding its board meeting at a place where it has production assets.

This would also coincide with the company signing production-sharing contract (PSC) with the Government of Vietnam for the two Blocks, which OVL was awarded last November. The board meeting is expected to be held on May 24.

Vietnam's national oil company Petro Vietnam has awarded the offshore exploration block 128 in Phu Khanh Basin to OVL with 100 per cent participating interest and operatorship.

OVL already has 45 per cent participating interest in the producing properties of Lan Do and Lan Tay offshore blocks. OVL has been awarded both the blocks it had bid for. Block 128 is located in a depth of more than 400 metres with 7,058-sq.km. area. The two prospects have been identified with estimated in-place resource of around 190 million tonnes.
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Wipro to invest Rs.200-cr in Vizag campus
Chennai/ Visakhapatnam: Wipro has announced that the company would make an initial investment of Rs25 crore in Vizag and create employment opportunities for about 750 people.

The company also plans to expand its activities in the city by investing about Rs200 crore over the next four-five years and creating 6,000 jobs in the process, company officials said. The Andhra Pradesh government has allotted 7 acres to Wipro in the heart of the city at a nominal cost to promote IT industry in the city.

The chief minister said that the state government had initiated steps to provide working capital to the loss-making public sector undertaking, Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels, through sale of government land adjacent to the plant.

He also pointed out that prime minister Manmohan Singh was coming to Vizag on May 20 to inaugurate the construction works of the Rs8,692-crore Visakhapatnam Steel Plant expansion project. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) is planning to invest about Rs16,000 crore in Vizag projects over the next four-five years, while NTPC was also spending about Rs5,500 crore for expansion of the Simhadri plant. Besides, the Andhra Pradesh special economic zone, and Pharma City will attract huge investments, the chief minister said.
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Two-wheeler exports up 40 per cent
New Delhi: Exports of two-wheelers have jumped by over 40 per cent in the last fiscal with the main destination being neighbouring countries in South-East Asia.

While exports of scooters increased by 38 per cent in the last fiscal to 83,873 units, exports of motorcycles jumped by 39.4 per cent to 3,86,202 units in the year.

Bajaj Auto was the largest exporter in the year with overseas sales of 1,65,288 units, followed by Hero Honda at 92,666 units and Yamaha at 55,063 units. TVS Motor Company too saw a sizeable jump in bike exports at 54,078 units in the last fiscal compared with 38,828 units in the previous year.

Incidentally, most of the exports were accounted for the by the smaller engine capacity bikes of between 75 cc to 125 cc. This segment accounted for 70 per cent of motorcycle exports last fiscal followed by the 125 cc to 250 cc segment, which accounted for 29 per cent of sales.

The first month of the current fiscal has already seen bike sales jump by 39.2 per cent to 39,348 units.
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Ford sees rising demand for accessories and maintenance plan
Chennai: Ford India is seeing a growing demand for the total maintenance plan scheme it has introduced, as well as increasing business in sale of accessories.

According to P.K. Umashankar, general manager (Customer Service Operations), one of the emerging trends is the increasing number of customers opting for extended warranties and total maintenance plan. Almost 45 per cent of all Ford customers go in for extended warranties now compared to 5-8 per cent about five years ago.

Ford India sold about 29,000 cars in 2005-06 against 15,000 five years ago.

The extended warranties and the total maintenance plan protect the maintenance cost for the customer and also ensure that there is no spike in the spend pattern, he said. The total maintenance plan also has an extended warranty built in.

He also said that the company's accessories business was growing. This business is worth about Rs12 crore a month.
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