NCC to revive Dubai development plan

Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC) is likely to go ahead with its twin tower project NCC Harmony in Dubai. The project in Dubai is being taken up through NCC's subsidiary NCC Urban.

NCC was planning to construct twin towers for commercial and residential purposes covering 2.3 million sq ft. However, it had to put the project on hold due to slowdown in the Dubai property market. Now, the company plans to go ahead with the project. It has invested close to Rs 50 crore so far and also infused about Rs 180 crore collected in the form of advances from buyers on civil works. The twin towers are to have 32 floors. However, in the first tower, which the company plans to take up immediately, it is likely to seek further payments from the buyers after about six floors have been built. The construction of both the towers is estimated to cost about Rs 1,500 crore and the first tower is expected to cost about Rs 750 crore.

Welspun to acquire Saudi pipe firm

Welspun Corp, formerly Welspun-Gujarat Stahl Rohren, is likely to acquire majority stake in Aziz European Pipe Factory Llc, a Saudi Arabian pipe and pipe coating facility for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition is to be done though the company's subsidiaries, and is subject to the regulatory approvals. Aziz European Pipe manufactures pipes primarily for the oil & gas industry. Aziz European Pipe Factory is a JV between the Saudi firm Aziz and the Forest Group. It has a production capacity of 2.7 lakh million tonne per annum of pipes.

L&T in pact with Howden

L&T and UK based Howden on 4 May 2010 signed a JV agreement to manufacture various components for thermal power plants in India.

The JV plans to invest around Rs 100 crore for setting up of the industrial facility and related infrastructure in Hazira, Gujarat. It is likely to design, engineer, manufacture and supply axial fans and air pre-heaters to India based thermal power plants ranging between 100 MW and 1,200 MW. The proposed facility is likely to be operationalised in 2011.

Tata Motors shelves car project in Thailand

Tata Motors has taken an exit from its 7-billion-baht (approx Rs 793 crore) project to produce an eco-car in Thailand. The excise tax structure along with large investments required may be the reasons why the company scrapped the project. Also the Thailand Government's recent decision to back alternative fuel vehicles with a lower excise duty compared to the eco-car project has reportedly led the company's exit from the project.

The Thailand Government offered a 17 per cent excise tax on eco-cars to attract development, but later cut the excise tax on E85-powered vehicles to 22 per cent from 25 per cent.

Now, the company is likely to explore opportunities to expand its portfolio by introducing a relevant passenger car model with appropriate investments for local production in Thailand. The company may introduce the Nano in lieu of an eco-car after it scrapped its project in Thailand, according to sources.

OVL consortium to ink pact for Venezuela oilfield

ONGC Videsh (OVL) led conglomerate is likely to sign contracts for developing an oilfield - Carabobo- 1 in Venezuela.

OVL and its consortium partners Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Oil India (OIL) are planning to invest $2.181 billion (approx Rs 9,814.5 crore) in the 4,00,000 bpd project by 2015. Initially, OVL is likely to invest $1.333 billion (approx Rs 5,998.5 crore), while IOC and OIL will invest $454 million (approx Rs 2,043 crore) each. The companies may be able to fund most of the future investment from the revenues they will start earning when the project goes on stream in three years.

The Carabobo-1 project is to be operated by Spain's Repsol-YPF and Petronas of Malaysia. Repsol-YPF, OVL and Petronas will each hold a 11 per cent stake in the 'mixed company' that will develop Carabobo- 1, while seven per cent will be split between IOC and OIL. The remaining 60 per cent participating interest will be with Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

The Carabobo-1 project of the Orinoco extra-heavy oil belt of Venezuela will involve a total investment of close to $21 billion (approx Rs 94,500 crore) over 25 years. The project comprises developing the Carabobo-1 Central and Carabobo-1 North blocks with a total output of 4,00,000 bpd. Early output of at least 50,000 bpd is slated to commence in 2012- 13, before rising to its peak in 2016.

Nava Bharat arm buys stake in Maamba Collieries

Nava Bharat (Singapore) Pte (NBS), a subsidiary of Nava Bharat Ventures, has acquired 65 per cent equity stake in Zambia based Maamba Collieries (MCL) from ZCCMInvestment Holdings Plc (ZCCM-IH). MCL has coal mining rights over an area of 79 sq km at Maamba in the Sinazongwe district of the southern province of Zambia with mineable reserves of 65 million tonne of high-grade coal and an equivalent reserve of thermalgrade coal. The company proposes to revive coal mining and trading of high-grade washed coal initially. MCL's long-term viability plan envisages establishment of a mine-mouth coal based power plant of 300 MW. MCL, under the management of NBS, is likely to enter into a bankable PPA with Zesco, the local power utility of Zambia, and will achieve financial closure for the plant by the end of the current fiscal. Power generation from this plant is envisaged to commence in 2013-14 to meet the growing power needs of Zambia.

JSW Steel acquires coking coal mines in USA

JSW Steel has completed the acquisition of coking coal mining concessions in USA. These mines are located in West Virginia having total reserve of 123 million tonne. The reserves are estimated to be around 45 million tonne on part of the area where drilling was already done. The Company carried out due diligence on title, details of seams, resource estimates & quality valuation, legal & financial matters. The company has applied for new permits to operationalise some of the mines immediately which are expected in the next few months. Based on the estimates on receipt of permits, it is planning to produce 1 million tonne coal in the first year starting from September 2010 which is expected to go up to three million tonne by 2013.

GAIL plans to invest in Egypt

GAIL proposes to set up a petrochemical project in Egypt at an investment of $1.7 billion (approx Rs 7,735 crore). Currently, the company is in discussion with Egyptian Petrochemical Holding Company for the project in Port Said, which is near the Suez Canal. The project is likely to have a cracker capacity of 300 KTA (annual kilo tonne). GAIL is already present in Egypt through Fayum Gas, Shell CNG and National Gas - entities in which it holds equity stakes.

Meanwhile, the company along with Total and Shell, has been shortlisted by the Nigeria Government as one of the companies to develop the gas project. Nigeria is to select one of the shortlisted firms, which will make investments of $30 billion (approx Rs 1,36,500 crore) in developing the reserves and transporting them to power firms as well as export in the form of LNG. The project involves setting up three gas gathering plants and transporting the gas through pipelines, one of which will traverse the Sahara for supply to Europe.