Bharti Airtel forms strategic partnership with Google
Mumbai: Bharti Airtel has formed a strategic partnership with Google for mobile search that would redefine the mobile Internet in India.

As part of the agreement Airtel will bring Google search to the Airtel Live mobile WAP portal while Google will incorporate advertising through its Mobile Ads product on the Airtel Live mobile portal.

The Google search engine on Airtel Live mobile portal will enable Airtel users to use the Google search engine to easily access content. Google will also power searches on Airtel Live in two areas on Net (rich content on Airtel Live) and off Net (Internet on Mobile).

Airtel Live has over 50,000 exclusive pieces of content including information such as news, stock ticker and sports scores and downloadable content like games, music, video clips and wall papers.
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Uttam Galva in pact with Sumitomo group company
Mumbai: Uttam Galva Steels has entered into a pact with Steel Summit International, the US arm of Japan's Sumitomo Corporation, to supply value-added construction grade steel to American retail giant Home Depot, which operates a chain of 2,000 retail stores, selling a variety of building material to the US, Canada, and South America. The steel supplied by Uttam will be used to make air distribution systems.

Uttam recently signed a MoU with the Orissa Government for setting up a three-million-tonne steel plant and a 210-MW power plant at a total investment of Rs8,987 crore and a new generation BI-cycle plant at Gopalpur. The company is also tripling its auto-grade cold rolled steel capacity from 60,000 tonnes a year as part of a capacity expansion programme.
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Cairn to set up 500 km pipeline with ONGC
Mumbai: Setting aside the plan for setting up a greenfield refinery in the state, Cairn Energy India, in a joint venture with ONGC, is planning to build a 500-km pipeline to evacuate crude oil from the Mangala, Bhagyam, and Aishwarya fields in Rajasthan.

Cairn is planning to invest an additional $500 million in the pipeline, sources said.

The company has already worked out the logistics of the plan to build an insulated pipeline from Barmer to Mundra port, since the waxy crude oil discovered in Rajasthan can only be transported in a heated pipeline.

MRPL, will then transport the crude oil to its Mangalore refinery and is is the only one in the public sector equipped to process waxy crude oil.
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PSL gets contract worth Rs308-cr from Bharat Oman
Mumbai: PSL has bagged Rs308 crore supply contract for meeting the requirements of Bina Refinery project of Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd. As per the contract, PSL would supply carbon steel barc line pipes worth Rs308 crore for meeting the requirements of Bina refinery in Sultanate of Oman, it informed the BSE. It would supply pipes for a total length of 600 km to Bina Refinery (Vadinar-Bina Pipeline) project of Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd, which is to be completed within a year's time.
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ONGC gets first oil shipment from Sakhalin-I
New Delhi: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has received the first shipment of Sakhalin-I crude oil from Russia at its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL).

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of ONGC, holds 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-I project, operated by ExxonMobil. ONGC's entitlement from Sakhalin-I comes to three parcels of 7 lakh barrels each in October-December. The first cargo will be processed at MRPL, while two others would be sold to ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil holds 30 per cent of Sakhalin-I, with the remaining equity owned by Russia's Rosneft (20 per cent) and Japan's Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co (30 per cent). The project started in October 2005 and is currently producing around 50,000 barr els per day.

OVL will get 2.4 million tonnes of crude in 2007 from Sakhalin-I in lieu of its 20 per cent stake in the project. Sakhalin-I project will reach the peak rate of 12 million tonnes per year once a new onshore crude.
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GMR ties up with Accor for business hotel in Hyderabad
Mumbai: GMR Infrastructure has tied up with the Singapore-based Accor Hotels and Resorts to set up a business hotel near the upcoming international airport just outside Hyderabad city.

The international airport is expected to start by March 2008. The hotel, on a five-acre property (two-hectare), would also start by then with 120 rooms. Accor Hotels, a part of French hotelier Accor SA would manage the hotel for 10 years under the agreement, which can be extended.
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UAE energy firm to fund Indian projects
Dubai: Abu Dhabi National Energy Company has tied up with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) to develop and finance Indian energy sector projects. Under the arrangement, the Abu Dhabi based Taqa, will invest a substantial amount of capital in various power and transmission projects enabling them to come online faster.

Peter Barker-Homek, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, said by working together with IL&FS - India's leader in utilities privatisation modelling - Taqa believes that it is taking the straightest, fastest path to profitability in the Asian subcontinent.

Taqa is a global energy company with investment capabilities in power generation, desalination, mining, renewables, upstream oil and gas, refining and retailing, pipelines, metals, services, structured finance and the creation, syndication and management of assets.
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IOC making losses in Sri Lanka
Colombo: The losses of the Lankan subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, Lanka IOC Ltd (LIOC) have amounted to Rs120 crore, as Colombo is yet to repay billions to it for selling fuel below costs. LIOC's fuel sales dipped 28 per cent to Rs678 crore from July-Sept over the same period 2005. The firm made a net loss of Rs60.51 crore during the second quarter of 2006, over a profit of Rs17.50 crore in 2005.

For the six months to September, sales fell to 10.45 per cent to Rs1,572 crore, with losses piling up to Rs1,189 crore, LIOC said.

Lanka IOC, which owns a third of Sri Lanka's fuel sheds, stopped supplying gasoline and diesel to its outlets in June when the losses climbed up to Rs760 crore.

Both sides struck a compromise, where LIOC was allowed to fix prices across its fuel sheds in August, while Colombo agreed to payback Rs516 crore. However, Colombo has yet to sign the settlement agreement, where LIOC gets Rs70 crore in cash and Rs446 crore worth of 2-year bonds priced at 11 per cent.
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