Vedanta NEWS

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While the London-based parent will continue to be the holding company of the diversified mining group, Vedanta Ltd and the three businesses will operate parallelly as independent, listed companies.

A Parliamentary panel has asked the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to set up a pilot tidal power project in the country, preferably at a cost effective location like Gulf of Kutch. There are three main types of ocean energy -- wave, tidal and ocean-thermal. The estimated potential of tidal and wave power in India are 12,455 MW and 41,300 MW, respectively while the potential for ocean-thermal has not been estimated till date, it noted. "Ministry should set up one demonstration/ pilot tidal power project in the country at the most favourable cost-effective location like Gulf of Kutch considering that the capital cost of a tidal power project is site specific.

Vedanta Aluminium today said it procured 354 million units of solar and non-solar renewable energy primarily from Green Term-Ahead Market (GTAM) at IEX for its aluminium production facility at Jharsuguda, in Odisha. IEX is a premiere energy marketplace and is the largest power exchange in the country.

After the announcement by the Indian government to privatise BPCL, many firms have started showing their interest in buying its stakes. Recently, Vedanta Resources Ltd has informed about that the company is evaluating an investment in the downstream giant. “One by one privatising these companies will take 10 years. It is better to (do it in) one-shot. The government has no business to be in business”, said Vedanta's Chairman.

Vedanta has won 10 blocks in the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round II and Round III. The firm informed that over the period of the next 3-4 years, it will invest $245 million on exploration in these blocks. Now Vedanta will enter into 10 revenue sharing contracts with the government. It said, "The group believes that the transaction complements its existing strategy to focus on production growth".

Cairn Oil and Gas has planned to invest Rs 7,924 crore on various sectors of upstream over the next decade. The company has strategized the drilling of additional 123 exploration and development wells at Ravva oil field in Krishna Godavari basin off the Andhra coast. In the last financial year, the company's average daily working interest production from Ravva field declined by 13%.

India's natural resources major, Vedanta Ltd. witnessed major drop in profit in the recent quarter which ended in March. The company has reported a 46% drop in net profit to Rs 2,615 crore which was Rs 4,802 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. 32% of the drop in the firm's total income in this quarter made the income roll down to Rs 7,065 crore.

An arbitration case against the Government of India is adding heavily to Cairn Energy’s administration expenses. In its latest annual report, the British oil firm has revealed that the cost of fighting the arbitration against the Rs 10, 247 crore tax imposed by India nearly tripled in 2018, while it has lost investments and tax refunds pending final award. Cairn has so far spent approximately $ 22.9 million in 2018.

Vedanta Ltd has reported oil discovery in the Krishna Godavari basin block in the Bay of Bengal. The Anil Agarwal-led firm said that "it has notified the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas of an oil discovery in the second exploratory well H2, located in the block KG-OSN-2009/3, Krishna-Godavari Basin, East Coast of India".

The Government of India has put forward state-run GAIL’s name as the buyer for gas output from Vedanta’s Barmer block. The production sharing contract for the Barmer block requires producers to sell the output to a government-nominated entity. The block is expected to generate around 4 million metric standard cubic meters a day (mmscmd). GAIL and Vedanta have been in a long-drawn negotiation row over the pricing of the output.

In a recent briefing, Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said that they are seeking consortia of US oilfield service companies to aid the development of 41 blocks in India. Accompanied by Cairn Chief Executive, Mr Agarwal met with executives from 70 services companies in Houston this week. The meeting aimed at encouraging the firms to establish a consortium to compete for contracts. Cairn won 41 of the 55 blocks auctioned in OALP.

The Government of India has extended Vedanta’s contract for the Rajasthan block by 10 years, the company informed through a regulatory filing. Vedanta has been in a 3-year long legal dispute, which is still underway, with the government over the terms of the renewal. The government wanted an added 10% share in profit from the Rajasthan field during the extension, to which Vedanta had refused.

Vedanta, India’s metals and mining company, has planned to triple the female percentage in its workforce in two years’ time. The company will strategize its hiring process accordingly by employing 50% women talent for various posts of its company. Several facilities will be provided to the female staff including flexible working hours. Currently, out of 25,000 employees of Vedanta, only 11% of them are women.

After Vedanta announced its discovery of natural gas block in Krishna Godavari basin, the shares of the natural resource giant of the nation increased by 4% on Friday. There was a 4.3% hike in stock which went on to hit a high of Rs 233.40 on the BSE. Vedanta informed about the discovery of gas in its KG-OSN-2009-3 block in which it has 100% participatory interest.

India's natural resources giant, Vedanta Ltd., announced a gas discovery in its block KG-OSN-2009-3, in the Krishna Godavari basin. Vedanta said that the authorities, oil ministry and Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, have been provided all the information regarding this discovery. The company has 100% participatory interest on the block. Earlier this month, ONGC also informed about its discoveries in MP and West Bengal.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) yesterday announced the results of the maiden open acreage auction, with Vedanta Group winning big. The auction received 110 bids for the 55 blocks on offer, and Vedanta received licenses for 41 of them. Vedanta played aggressive in the auction, placing bids on the entire blocks on auction. ONGCs conservative bids landed it only 2 blocks, while OIL won licences to 9 blocks.

In a bid to increase its reserve base, Vedanta Limited is planning to invest $2.3 billion towards CAPEX on its oil and gas activities. Vedanta is targeting an increase in production from the current 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 300,000 boepd over the next few years. Under the OALP auction, Vedanta recently bid for all 55 blocks on offer in the first round.