ONGC Videsh looks towards South America
New Delhi: ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment outfit of Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), may soon tie up with the national oil company of Venezuela, PDVSA. Sources said a detailed meeting for energy cooperation between ONGC and the Venezuelan national oil company took place here recently and there are expectations that OVL may combine forces with other international oil and gas companies to tap exploration opportunities in Venezuela.

A high-level delegation of PDVSA discussed among other issues business opportunities being pursued by OVL in Venezuela, sources added.

The Venezuelan side is understood to have proposed that both ONGC and PDVSA should explore the possibility of benefiting from sourcing of Venezuelan crude on long-term basis and synergising the same with Indian refining capacity with access to vast Indian and Asia-Pacific markets. Both sides agreed to set up a joint group to study and propose suitable mechanism for collaboration in this area, they added. The recommendations of this meeting and identification of areas of collaboration is likely to be further discussed during the visit of the Minister of Energy of Venezuela to India, which is slated later this month.
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Tata Ryerson forays into stainless steel sector
Kolkata: Tata Ryerson, the joint venture between Tata Steel and Ryerson Inc, has entered the stainless steel business through its brand, Trynox. The company is planning to invest Rs40 crore by 2008-09 and has lined up a total investment of Rs100 crore by 2008-09 in setting up several facilities. Funds for the expansion would largely come from the promoters.

Ryerson Inc is one of the leading distributors and processor of metals in America.

Tata Ryerson creates customer value by providing a wide array of processing, distribution and materials management services to both steel producers and customers.

Currently, an investment of Rs46 crore is under various stages of implementation. The investment was being made in a cold-rolling processing facility in Faridabad, cold rolling facility in Pune and an additional hot rolling facility in Jamshedpur.

Other new projects include a Rs20 crore rebar processing facility at Faridabad and steel service centre at Pantnagar in Uttaranchal. Chakravortty said, steel service centre was being set up with Tata Motors.

The centre would be designed by Tata Motors and Tata Ryerson was an important partner in the project. The expected capital investment was to the tune of Rs45 crore and 6.3 acres of land had already been acquired.
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Aurobindo Pharma gets UK approval for antidepressant drug
Hyderabad: Aurobindo Pharma has received the marketing authorisation approval from the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (UK-MHRA) for Mirtazapine 15, 30 and 45 mg tablets containing the active ingredient Mirtazapine.

This is the second formulation approval received from the UK MHRA for a product developed in-house. With this approval, the company said it would be easier for it to obtain similar marketing authorisation for Mirtazapine tablets in the other countries of the European Union through Mutual Recognition Procedure.

The company said this generic product is bio-equivalent and has the same therapeutic effect to the innovator product, namely Zispin of Organon Inc.

Mirtazapine is a newer antidepressant that exhibits both noradrenergic and serotonergic activity. Mirtazapine enjoys a market of over $140 million in Europe, the company said.
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Shyam Telecom applies for GSM spectrum
New Delhi: Rajasthan based Shyam Telecom has applied to the Department of Telecom for spectrum for offering GSM based services despite having a full-fledged CDMA based operations.

Earlier, Reliance Communication and Punjab based HFCL also applied for GSM spectrum leaving Tata Teleservices as the only operator to stick with CDMA technology in the country. State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has also decided to roll out fixed wireless telephone services using GSM technology even though it was using the CDMA technology for that service until now.
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NTPC plants hit by gas shortage
New Delhi: Six gas-fired power plants run by National Thermal Power Corp have been severely hit by gas shortage after ONGC's flooded complex in Hazira disrupted supplies. NTPC officials said the company is operating at partial capacity of about 40 percent. Some of the six plants can shift to naphtha if gas supplies are not normalised. Two of NTOC's power plants are located in Gujarat, two in Uttar Pradesh, and one each in Rajasthan and Haryana. Oil and Natural Gas Corp said it has capped gas wells at the offshore platforms of its Bassein field and the Panna-Mukta and Tapti fields after floodwater came into the key Hazira Gas Processing Complex.
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Ford India sales to double in 2006
New Delhi: Ford India, the wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Co, expects to double its sales this year to nearly 50,000 cars mainly due to the upbeat performance of its Fiesta model, company officials said.

The company said it has already sold as many cars in the January to June period this year as it sold in the whole of last year. Ford India sold 25,647 cars in 2005.

The company has launched an updated version of its Ford Fusion, which is priced at Rs569,000 in India.
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ONGC gas output, Hazira supplies continue to suffer
New Delhi: ONGC's natural gas production from Mumbai offshore and supplies from its Hazira gas processing complex continued to be disrupted due to floods in Gujarat for the second day. Officials said all efforts were being made to restore normalcy in the shortest possible time and the plant would restart after the water recedes.

The Hazira gas complex feeds a large number of fertiliser and power plants in north India, and their operations have been hit by the disruption, which began on Tuesday morning.

The company was suffering a deferred revenue loss of Rs19 crore per day due to shut down of Hazira complex.

Hazira plant receives around 40.5 millioncubic meters per day (MCMD) of gas from ONGC's offshore Bassein field. It processes this to produce 1,650 tonnes of LPG, 3,350 t of aromatic naphtha, 417 t of superior kerosene oil and 48 t of high-speed diesel.

The ONGC-Reliance-British Gas operated Panna, Mukta and Tapti (PMT) fields also did not produce any gas and were forced to cut oil production by 20,000 barrels per day. The gas from these fields was fed mainly for power and fertiliser plants and compressed natural gas (CNG) operations in Delhi.

According to sources, since Hazira could not receive gas, 30 MCMD output from Bassein and B-55 fields, and 10.5 MCMD gas and 20,000 barrels per day of crude oil from PMT fields was suspended.
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