Crude prices hover around $57bl
London: Crude oil prices continued to slip as traders waited for OPEC to finalise details of an output cut. Nymex crude was traded around $57.33 per barrel, and London Brent was around $58.30/bl.
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Ministry projects 26 pc increase in crude output
New Delhi: The Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Gas has projected a 26 per cent increase in domestic crude oil production and a 41 per cent increase in natural gas production in the XI Plan period.

Crude oil and natural gas production in the country over the last four years of the current Five Year Plan has been almost stagnant as there had been few major oil and gas discoveries by state-owned E&P companies. The minister said it is proposed to target an increase of 26 per cent in domestic production of crude oil to 211.64 million metric tonnes (MMT) over the X Plan achievements, which is likely to be 167.74 MMT. Similarly, the production of natural gas is projected to increase by 41 per cent in XI Plan period to 224.56 billion cubic meters (BCM) over X Plan estimated production of 158.79 BCM.

Besides, the first Coal Bed Methane (CBM) gas production is slated to begin in 2007-08, the first year of XI Plan. During the XI Plan period CBM production is projected at 3.78 BCM.

Officials said the country would to witness gas production from another alternative source - Underground Coal Specification (UCS) — towards the end of XI the Plan.
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US wants India to clear Guardian subsidiary plan
New Delhi: The US wants India to quickly clear Guardian International's proposal to set up a 100 pc subsidiary in India which is stuck at the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) due the refusal of its local partner — Modi Rubber — to support the new venture.

The core group of FIPB has already approved the plan and it is likely to be referred to the Board once again.
After that, Guardian needs to obtain a green signal from finance minister P Chidambaram who is authorised to approve FIPB recommendations.

Addressed to Mr Chidambaram, the US treasury department's letter says that the proposed venture would not affect Gujarat Guardian, jointly promoted by Guardian and Modi Rubber along with two Gujarat government-owned companies. The US treasury department's letter points that Guardian has been a long-term investor in India and the joint venture with Modi Rubber was formed two decades ago.

Modi Rubber is opposing the new venture of Guardian since it is felt that Gujarat Guardian's business would be affected. Hence it has not provided a 'no-objection' certification for the proposed venture as required under Press Note 1 of '05.
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The GVK-SA to invest Rs5200 crore in Mumbai airport
Mumbai: The GVK-SA consortium will invest Rs 5,200 crore in the Mumbai airport to double the passenger handling capacity to 40m by '10, more than treble the parking lot's capacity to 12,000 cars and increase the number of aerobridges.

However despite this Mumbai airport will still face the problem of flight delays, caused by its inability to handle more flights per hour. The GVK-SA consortium is not planning to build a second runway till '10 as most of the land for the runway has either been encroached upon or does not belong to the airport authority.

The new runway is unlikely to commence before '10. In the meantime, the MIAL intends using the cross runway for all departures which will allow the airport to handle up to 40m passengers.

The Mumbai airport is being developed by the GVK-SA consortium which has a 74 pc stake in the project.
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PM invites European countries to invest in infrastructure
Helsinki: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited European firms to invest in India's core sectors that require a massive 320 billion dollars over the next five years.

Singh specifically identified areas like infrastructure, manufacturing, knowledge services and retail as opportunities for foreign investors.

Though EU remains India's largest trading partner with bilateral engagement of about 40 billion dollars, FDI inflows from the 25-nation bloc was meagre at 375 million dollars in 2005 compared to 451 million dollars a year before.

Singh noted his government was giving thrust on increased private sector participation in public works, including highways, ports, and power sector, besides telecommunications.
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