RIL may tie up with Gazprom for Russia

Private sector energy major Reliance Industries (RIL) is considering expanding its oil business to the land of the Volga and Vodka. It is talking to Russian government officials to enter the country’s downstream oil sector by investing in the refinery and petrochemical industry.

The RIL move follows the recent visit of Russia’s deputy prime minister Alexander Zhukov who was in the capital early December. Talks were held between RIL officials and the Russian authorities on possible investments in Russia’s oil and gas sector. RIL may even rope in a Russian oil firm as its partner for the projects.

Although there is no confirmation, sources indicated that Gazprom, the state-run Russian oil major, may well partner RIL’s downstream ventures in Russia. RIL, it is learnt, is expected to push for stakes in upstream oil and gas assets in lieu of its investments in the downstream sector.

When contacted, RIL officials declined to comment. In what is being seen as a strategic move, RIL is concentrating on the downstream segment in Russia which offers huge opportunities. The move comes at a time when Russia is in the process of increasing government control over its oil and gas assets.

Several major global energy players like Shell and Exxon Mobil have been forced, on the pretext of regulatory issues, to divest their stakes and take on Russian state oil firms like Gazprom as strategic partners. But while Russian authorities are on a nationalisation drive in the upstream sector, its refining sector lags behind, requiring huge investments.

RIL’s move to enter this segment will, therefore, be welcome as the company will bring in global expertise to Russia’s refining segment. On RIL’s part, an entry into Russia will provide a foothold in the European markets, where there is a growing demand for high-grade fuel.

Reliance is planning to service some of the European markets with its high-grade fuel from the under-construction RPL refinery in Jamnagar. A stake in Russia’s refinery industry will only help them service this market better.

Russia has a total of 41 oil refineries with a total crude oil processing capacity of 5.44 million bbl/d. According to an EIA report, many of the refineries are inefficient, ageing, and in need of modernisation. With Russian domestic demand at 2.6 million bbl/d in 2004, refining capacity far outstrips local needs for refined products.

According to the draft plan for economic development during 2005-08, Russia will concentrate on the reconstruction and upgrading of refineries so that they can convert a higher level of crude. The draft focuses on increasing the production of high-quality light oil products, catalysts and raw material for the petrochemical industry.

ONGC finds huge gas reserves in Bay of Bengal

Oil and Natural Gas Corp has made a huge gas find in Bay of Bengal, with initial estimates suggesting reserves of about 21 trillion cubic feet (tcf).

ONGC, which had previously discovered 2-3 tcf of gas reserves in about half-a-dozen wells in the Krishna-Godavari Basin block KG-DWN-98/2, struck a 28 metre net gas pay zone when deepsea drillship Belford Dolphin reached 5,300 metres depth at well UD-1, 55-kms from the coast.

"The ultra-deepwater well UD-1 is yet to reach its target depth of 6,500 meters and vertical seismic profile has thrown up at least one more pay zone larger than the one encountered. There could also be oil," an industry source said.

The well UD-1 will reach its target depth in next 10 days and testing will take another week.

"ONGC might be planning a new year gift to the nation with this (discovery)," the source quipped.

The state-run firm had done a mud drill test of the ultra-deepwater well UD-1 and preliminary estimate put in-place reserves at 600 billion cubic meters (over 21 tcf). The second net pay zone could be in excess of 80 meters and there appeared traces of oil too, the source said.

When contacted, Dinesh Kumar Pandey, director of exploration at ONGC, said: "It is too early to comment on reserves. We are yet to reach the target depth and will wait for conventional testing results before hazarding any guess on the size of the discovery." Reliance Industries Ltd estimates 50 tcf of in-place reserves in neighbouring KG-DWN-98/3 block, while Gujarat State Petroleum Corp had last year found 20 tcf reserves in a shallow water block in the same basin.

Soros set for first visit to India

Legendary investor George Soros is set to arrive in New Delhi on Monday for his first-ever visit to India. While the visit was dubbed as being “more on the personal side” by a member of his advance party, he is expected to meet CEOs, senior government officials, and get a sense of the Indian markets during his near week-long visit.

The 76-year-old Mr Soros will make his first public appearance in the capital on Tuesday, at an event being jointly organised by Ficci and the Sriram Centre for Industrial Relations & Human Resources (SRC). Here, he will release his new book titled The Age of Fallibility, which talks about the consequence of war on terror.

Following the book release, Mr Soros is also expected to touch base with some senior Indian policy makers and ministers. According to sources, he will meet top officals from the commerce ministry and unconfirmed reports suggest that a meeting with the PM could also be on the cards.

Mr Soros is also scheduled to meet select CEOs at a meeting in Mumbai on Friday. CEOs of the companies in which his funds have invested such as Fortis Healthcare’s Shivinder Singh, Ansal API’s Sushil Ansal and Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra have been invited for the meeting.

Sources say Mr Soros is considering stepping up his investments in India, with retail and real estate being areas of special interest. He has already invested close to Rs 100 crore for stakes in three prominent real estate players — Ansal Properties & Infrastructure, Unitech and Anant Raj Industries. Mr Soros also has investments in GMR Infrastructure and Fortis Healthcare.

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