Cairn estimates output of Barmer field at 112,000 barrels per day
New Delhi: As per the field development plan submitted by Cairn Energy India Pty Ltd for its oil field in Barmer, Rajasthan, the peak oil production from the field is envisaged at about 112,000 barrels per day (BPD) and gas production at 19 million standard cubic feet (MMSCMD) per day. This was stated by the minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Dinsha Patel, in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The minister said commercial production from Barmer basin is likely to start by end-2008. Cairn Energy has submitted the field development plan in respect of four commercial discoveries — Mangala, Aishariya, Saraswati and Raageshwari. The field development plan is yet to be approved, he said.

In block RJ-ON-90/1 Cairn is the operator.

Meanwhile, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) would sell 1.5 MMSCMD from Panna, Mukta and Tapti joint venture fields to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd for the Dholpur Combined Cycle Power Project at $4.60 per million British thermal unit ex-Hazira including royalty but excluding sales tax, transportation charges and all other levies, Patel informed the Rajya Sabha.
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Daimler targets mining sector for its Actros trucks
Mumbai: German passenger and commercial vehicle major DaimlerChrysler intends to target the mining sector in India with its Actros range of trucks.

Towards this end, the company's Indian subsidiary, DaimlerChrysler India, has currently initiated custom drives of its trucks across the country's mining centres in Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. DC India will initially import trucks in the form of completely built units.

The company hopes to sell 200 trucks, in the first year. The Indian truck market in value terms is estimated to be around $3bn (Rs13,500 crore), which is currently dominated by Tata Motors.

DC India is currently identifying dealers for Actros trucks in the country. The company will sell trucks on its own until an active dealership network is established.
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Infosys to set up campus in Shanghai
Mumbai: Infosys will set up a campus in China. According to Mohandas Pai, head, human resources, the Chinese government had offered Infosys land near Shanghai and the company was considering the proposal.

Infosys currently has around 500 employees in China and is planning to ramp up strength to around 10,000, in about four years.

Pai said the company was trying to globalise its workforce and exploring countries such as the US and Latin America. Currently, just over 3 per cent of the company's workforce is of non-Indian origin.

However, Pai said while the company would explore other geographies, scaling up operations was possible only in India.
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Punj Lloyd in joint venture with Saudi royal
New Delhi: Engineering construction major Punj Lloyd (PLL) has announced a joint venture with Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan (KBS) of Saudi Arabia. The jointly owned company with the share capital of 2 million Saudi riyals would be named Dayim-Punj Lloyd Engineering Ltd, in which PLL would hold 49 per cent, while KBS would hold 51 per cent stake.

Dayim-Punj Lloyd Engineering Ltd will operate in engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning of onshore and offshore projects for the hydrocarbon sector, power, chemical, water and sewage sector, civil infrastructure and industrial projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan will be the Chairman of Dayim-Punj Lloyd. PLL would provide engineering, design, construction and project management expertise, apart from selecting, hiring the requisite manpower and assisting the joint venture in identifying and selecting suppliers for equipment. KBS' role would be to identify commercial opportunities for the joint venture in Saudi Arabia and to liase with various governmental and regulatory authorities, besides organising banking facilities.
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Punj Lloyd bags Rs.138-cr contract from Gail
New Delhi: Engineering and construction company Punj Lloyd has bagged a contract of over Rs138 crore for construction of a pipeline project from Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL).

The contract involves construction of spread I of the Dahej-Uran pipeline project and is expected to be completed by February 2007, a company release said.
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Saint Gobain to set up production line for Cool-lite
Calcutta: Saint Gobain Glass India will invest about Rs100 crore towards setting up a production line for Cool-Lite, a premium range of reflective glass from its parent company's stable.

"Currently, we are importing Cool-Lite and Antelio branded reflective float glasses from Saint Gobain's factories in Europe and China. Manufacturing of these glasses requires a more sophisticated technology than Reflectasol that we make here. We will invest about Rs 100 crore to set up a new production line for Cool-Lite this calendar year, which will produce 3 million sq ft of glass per annum," said R. Subramanian, national head (sales and marketing), Saint Gobain Glass India Pvt Ltd.

The company today launched an umbrella brand, Sun Ban, for its range of reflective glasses. These glasses, which have a coating of a metal or a metal oxide on one side of it, cost 40 per cent more than a plain sheet glass, Subramanian said.

Saint Gobain Glass India recently set up its second manufacturing unit adjacent to the first one in Sriperumbudur near Chennai at an investment of Rs750 crore.

While the first unit, built in 2001 at an investment of Rs650 crore, caters mainly to the domestic market, the second unit manufactures products primarily for the export market.
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Hindalco hikes aluminium price by Rs.10,000 per tonne
Mumbai: Hindalco Industries Ltd has raised prices of aluminium by Rs10,000 per tonne. The company said that this is in a bid to keep pace with the overall upturn in the metal's prices on international markets.

The primary metal price will now be Rs1,45,800 per tonne. The company had raised prices of the metal last month.
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Private airlines hold 75 pc market share
New Delhi: Private airlines continued to dominate the domestic market, with a market share of more than 75 per cent in March this year.

The latest data compiled by the Airports Authority of India shows that more than 85 per cent of the domestic air traffic at Bangalore is handled by private sector airlines.

The case is similar at many domestic airports, with the private sector airlines handling 75.7 per cent of domestic passenger traffic at Mumbai, 70.6 per cent at Delhi, and 74 per cent in Chennai.

Currently, there are at least eight established private sector airlines, including Jet Airways, Spice Jet, Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines and Paramount.

The minister for civil aviation, Praful Patel said that in 2005, private airlines enjoyed market share of 69 per cent against 31 per cent of Indian Airlines.
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Sony Ericsson to grow at faster pace than the market
Mumbai: Mobile phone major Sony Ericsson is targeting a faster growth than the market's 60 per cent growth, in the coming years with its range of mobile phones.

"Market is growing at 60 per cent and our ambition is to grow faster than the market," the company's general manager, India, Sudhin Mathur said.

"We have clear differentiators in the market. Whether it is imaging phone, camera phone, walkman phone, colour phone, we have a strong market share in mid and high segment," he said.

Worldwide the company has a market share of six per cent, he added.

The company on Tuesday launched four new walkman phones along with launch of new speaker systems and other mobile phone accessories. The company is also entering into tie-up to offer the latest Bollywood tracks through its phones. "We have tied up with Sony BMG to bring latest Bollywood tracks on the mobiles," Mathur said.
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Suzuki launches 125cc bike `Zeus'
Mumbai: Suzuki Motorcycles India Pvt Ltd launched its 125cc single cylinder bike, `Zeus,' at an introductory price of Rs46,084 ex-showroom, here on Tuesday.

According to company officials, they will launch another variant of the model, which could give `Zeus' a dominant share in the market, more than the volumes for `Heat', the company's other product in the Indian market.

Both `Heat' and `Zeus' are 125cc motorcycles.

The company has invested around Rs 200 crore to put up a capacity for 100,000 bikes per annum at Gurgaon.

According to Katsumi Takata, Joint Managing Director, production capacity would touch 180,000 units by August. The company would like to have a capacity of 500,000 units eventually.
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