Govt aims at 20,000 MW from non-conventional sources by 2012
New Delhi: Government has set an ambitious target of generating 20,000 MW power from non-conventionl energy sources by 2012.

"There is an immense potential to produce electricity through co-generation in core industries like sugar, fertilizer, distilleries, paper and pulp industry and rice mills," Non-conventional energy sources minister Vilas Muttemwar said, while releasing a booklet on "Green Energy from Wastes" published by the Ministry and the maiden issue of the quarterly newsletter "IndustrialCo-Generation India".

Muttemwar said that rapid industrialisation and urbanisation had resulted in the generation of huge quantities of waste and that there was a potential for recovery of about 2,700 MW of energy from these wastes. This is projected to increase to over 7,000 MW by 2017.
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Monsoon sets in over southern rim of Bay of Bengal
Thiruvananthapuram: The southwest monsoon has set in over the southeast rim of the Bay of Bengal at least a day ahead of the anticipated timeframe.

Strong westerly flows, moisture feed and persistent cloudiness have aided in the build-up over the past two days precipitating the onset of the Bay of Bengal arm of monsoon ahead of predictions.

The onset phase saw the Southeast Bay, Nicobar Islands and the South Andaman Sea being covered. Favourable conditions are developing for its further advance into the remaining parts of the Southwest Bay, the Andaman Sea and some parts of East Central Bay within next two to three days.
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PSUs losing $51mn per day on fuel subsidy
New Delhi: Public sector oil retailing firms are losing about 51 million dollars daily on selling fuel below the cost, Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan said while addressing the Indo-US Natural Gas conference here.

Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, IBP and Bharat Petroleum Corp stand to lose Rs73,512 crore in revenues this fiscal from selling petrol at a loss of Rs9.33 a litre, diesel at Rs 10.43 per litre loss, kerosene at Rs17.16 a litre loss and domestic LPG at a loss of Rs114.45 per cylinder.

He said days of cheap crude were over as easier crude has all been found. "Oil companies have to go in search of crude further, wider and deeper and it doesn't come cheap." Srinivasan did not elaborate further.

Earlier in the week, a meeting convened by prime minister Manmohan Singh of petroleum minister Murli Deora and finance minister P Chidambaram deferred a decision on raising retail fuel prices pending a detailed exercise between oil and finance ministry over the additional revenues mopped up due to surge in international oil prices.
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Petroleum, gas regulatory board to be in place soon
New Delhi: The Petroleum Secretary, M.S. Srinivasan, has said that the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board would be in place in next three months.

Speaking at the Indo-US conference on `Building natural gas markets in India', Srinivasan said the Board would promote competition in the oil and natural gas sector.

This would help in the growth of the sector particularly natural gas, which is emerging as the preferred fuel. In India, the share of natural gas in energy mix is slated to increase from 9-10 per cent at present to around 25 per cent over next 25 years in line with global trends, he added.

He said initiatives were being taken to have a nationwide gas grid, trans-border trade of natural gas through pipelines and in the form of liquefied natural gas, which should grow simultaneously without resulting in imbalance in the development.

Limitations in the gas pricing policy have been removed with the implementation of liberal New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), the Secretary said adding that this provides incentive to the producers to go in for greater investment in exploration and production activities.

The efforts have resulted in striking more gas in the Indian basins.
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GAIL contracts for costliest LNG supply ever
New Delhi: India will receive its most expensive liquified natural gas supplies till date on Friday, with GAIL (India) Ltd contracting for an LNG cargo of 1.35 lakh cubic meter from Sonatrach of Algeria at an ex-shipment price of about $9.28 per million metric British thermal unit (mmbtu).

After accounting for various taxes and other costs, this translates into a delivered price of $11.64 per mmbtu if sold outside Gujarat and $12.04 per mmbtu if sold within Gujarat.

This price is higher than that paid by Shell for its mid-April import of LNG cargo of 1.45 lakh cubic meter from Oman at the Hazira LNG terminal. At a cost, insurance and freight price of around $8 per mmbtu, Shell is believed to have sold the re-gassified LNG at $9.07 per mmbtu to Essar and Gujarat State Petroleum.

Even as GAIL officials said they had no option but to buy more expensive gas from Algeria since Shell could not assure consistency of supplies, the stand was contested by the Shell Group who said that customers can be assured competitive access to gas in the quantities that they require provided Shell was assured access to the pipeline grid on a level-playing field basis.
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Parliamentary panel asks for 9.5 per cent interest on EPF
New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel has expressed "deep concern" over the lowering of the rate of interest on EPF deposits, and has strongly favoured at least 9.5 per cent interest from 2005-06 onwards, in order to safeguard the interest of nearly four crore subscribers.

The standing committee on labour in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha noted that the government should always evolve a consensus while taking any decision on important issues concerning workers. It said trade unions must "invariably" be consulted by government while deciding the rate of interest.

The committee, headed by S Sudhakar Reddy, in its 70-page report said it was "deeply concerned" to note that out of 39.7 crore strong workforce in the country, only 4.11 crore workers have so far been covered under the EPF scheme. It asked the government to intensify efforts for providing social security cover to every single eligible person.
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