RSWM acquires 50 per cent stake in SISA S.A. of Spain

RSWM acquired a 50 per cent equity stake in SISA S.A. (SISA) of Spain, which will enable the company to considerably expand its trial in the higher value added international yarn market.

The company will now be rechristened as 'RSWM SISA S.A'. Its partnership with SISA will enable it to significantly enhance presence in the higher value-added international yarn market. Additionally, SISA will substantially enhance its yarn outsourcing from the company, thereby increasing RSWM's international yarn volumes. The company will market its superior and specialty yarn through SISA, to a broad range of high-end fabric makers in Europe. This will enable it to obtain better prices for its products and help SISA improve its earnings since it would have access to value-added yarn, produced at a lower cost.

ONGC strikes oil in Iran

A consortium of Indian oil companies, led by Oil & Natural Gas Company (ONGC), has discovered an estimated 10 tcf of natural gas and 1 billion barrels of oil at Farsi Offshore block, 90 km off Bushehr port.

The consortium led by ONGC Videsh (OVL), includes Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Oil India (OIL). Testing work is in process and it may be a while before the actual extent of reserves can be fully ascertained. Production from these fields is estimated to begin within five years.

Essar acquires oil block in Nigeria

Essar Energy Holdings, a part of the Essar group, has acquired an oil and gas exploration block in Nigeria during the latest round of bidding. The respective shallow offshore block is completely owned by Essar Energy.

The company is awaiting to sign the contract with the Nigerian government. The recoverable reserves in the block are in excess of 75 million barrels of crude oil.

Nigeria auctioned 45 oil blocks on 11 May 2007, and 16 companies had bid under the auction. The acquisition of the exploration block is also likely to fuel Essar's plans to buy stake in an oil refinery at Nigeria's Port Harcourt.

NTPC signs energy pact with Nigeria

On 22 May 2007, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) signed an energy co-operation pact with the Nigerian government to get at least three million tpa of liquefied natural gas (LNG), on a long-term basis, for fuelling its projects in India, besides assistance in participation in bidding for a gas block in Africa.

According to the agreement, NTPC will, in turn, set up and operate a 500 MW coal-based power plant and a 700 MW gas-based power plant in Nigeria, on its own, or through a JV. The company shall also assist Nigerian utilities in rehabilitation, renovation and modernisation of power stations and in developing and upgrading existing training facilities.

Iran-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline Project: Contract by end June

Iran and India are likely to sign a contract to build an Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline project, by 30 June 2007. A group of companies led by Vienna-based OMV AG, plan to spend $6.3 billion on building the pipeline, which will link western Europe to the Caspian Sea and possibly Iran and Iraq.

India and Pakistan have narrowed their differences over the charges to be paid to Islamabad, for allowing passage of the Iran-India-Pakistan gas pipeline. Differences arose over the tariff, as India has to pay for gas transportation from Iran, through the 1,035-km pipeline segment in Pakistan, as well as pay a transit fee to Islamabad for using its territory as a passage for the pipeline.

Iraq invites IOC, EIL for refinery projects

Iraq has invited Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Engineers India (EIL), to invest in its downstream sector including construction of an oil refinery. OVL and Reliance Industries (RIL) have also evinced interest in entering Iraq's oil exploration sector. Iraq has proven oil reserves of 112 billion barrels, which makes it the world's second largest, after Saudi Arabia. In June 2005, India had signed a sale-purchase agreement with Tehran, for importing 5 million tpa of LNG, by end-2009. The contract, signed between the National Iranian Gas Export Co (NIGEC) and a consortium of GAIl, IOC and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), has not yet been approved by Iran's Supreme Economic Council. Under the contract of 2005, India was to buy the LNG at $3.25 per million British thermal units.