74 Bids Received for 33 Blocks out of 34 Blocks Offered under NELP-IX
NELP-IX Bid Round Closes with 19 Blocks Attracting Multiple Bids
Response to NELP-IX More than Satisfactory: Jaipal Reddy

The Government has received 74 bids for 33 blocks out of 34 exploration blocks offered under Ninth Round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IX) bidding for which closed here today. Speaking on the occasion Shri S Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas said that response to NELP IX bidding round has been more than satisfactory.

The Minister added that a total of 37 companies comprising of 8 foreign companies and 29 Indian companies have bid either on their own or as a part of consortia. The Government’s desire to enhance the number of players in the E&P sector has been achieved as is evident from the fact that 10 new companies(2 foreign and 8 Indian) have given bids either on their own or in consortium.

Shri Reddy stated that the highlights of NELP IX bid round results are:

(i) Bids have been received for 33 blocks with the total number of bids being 74 for 33 blocks under NELP-IX .

(ii) A total of 37 companies have bid under NELP-IX.

(iii) A total of 2 new foreign companies out of 8 foreign companies submitted bids under NELP-IX.

(iv) 19 blocks attracted multiple bids

(v) 8 S-type blocks received 26 bids .

(vi) 14 blocks received single bid ( 5 deepwater, 5 shallow water, 4 onland).

(vii) One offshore block has not received any bid.

The Minister also said that evaluation of the bids received under NELP-IX will be undertaken by the Government and the blocks are expected to be awarded within 3 months. The entire process including signing of contracts is expected to be completed in four months.

The response of E&P industry has been encouraging. The data packages were purchased by 25 companies, including a large number of non-E&P companies. The Bid Evaluation Criteria (BEC) under NELP is based on quantitative and transparent parameters thereby enhancing investor confidence in the policies.

Background

In order to enhance the country’s energy security, the Government of India launched the ninth bid round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IX) on 15th October, 2010. The Government had offered 34 blocks covering a sedimentary area of about 88,807 Sq. Km. The offered blocks include – 8 deepwater blocks, 7 shallow water blocks, 11 onland blocks and 8 Type-S blocks.

The Government had undertaken intensive promotional efforts to promote the blocks offered under NELP- IX. A special web site was created which had online availability of data, bid documents including terms and conditions for NELP-IX and other promotional material. Prior to launch of NELP-IX, a Curtain Raiser event for NELP-IX was organized at London. Further, the Government held promotional Road Shows in Mumbai, Perth, Calgary and Houston. Data centers were also opened at Noida, Houston, London, Perth and Calgary to facilitate companies to view data for NELP-IX. Besides above promotional activities. Investors’ Meet were also organized at Moscow and Singapore.

India 4th Largest Investor in Mozambique - Bilateral Trade Increased by 73% in 2008-09: Anand Sharma

Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, in a bilateral meeting with Mr. Armando Inroga, with Minister of Industry & Commerce of Mozambique here today, expressed optimism over the growing trade and investment between the two countries, as reflected in the annual bilateral trade for the year 2009-10 between the two countries was US $ 427.13 million with our exports amounting to US $ 358.37 million and imports amounting to US $ 68.76 million. Shri Sharma in the meeting said, “In order to exploit the true potential of bilateral trade in a more diversified area, we sat up a target of US $ 1billion by the year 2013 during the visit of the President of Mozambique last year. We hope that the trade targets could be achieved”. The Minister expressed happiness over the Investment from India to Mozambique has been growing well. India was the fourth largest investor in Mozambique in 2009 with investments of US $ 64.17 million in energy, mineral resources, agro-industries, transport and communication, food processing, coconut and cashew processing sectors.

Shri Sharma during the meeting observed that, India is now among five major trading partners of Mozambique. The volume of trade between the two countries increased by 73% from US $172.77 million in 2008 to US $ 299.92 in 2009 largely due to increase in exports from India to Mozambique. India’s exports to Mozambique increased by 71% rising from US $ 144.37 million in 2008 to US $ 247.01 million in 2009. Union Minister of Commerce informed his counterpart about the great potential to increase India’s exports in the field of drugs and pharmaceuticals, transport equipments, cotton yarn, fabrics, plastic and linoleum products, primary and semi-finished iron and steel, cement, medical and surgical equipments, inorganic/organic/agro-chemicals, electronic goods, etc.

Shri Sharma extended a warm welcome to the Mozambique Minister and the accompanying delegation at the 7th CII EXIM Bank Conclave on India- Africa project Partnership. He also expressed happiness that Mozambique is the partner country at the Conclave this year.

The major items of exports from India are: dried vegetables, raw casher nuts and coconut, scrap metal, titanium minerals, precious and non-precious stones, etc. And the major items of imports are: petroleum and bitumen minerals, medicines, steel and related products, textiles garments, minerals/fertilizers, cement, etc. It is to be noted that India already has the agreement on Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection (BIPPA) and the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between the two countries. BIPPA and DTAA would further spur investments in both countries.

Production of Coal

The Ministry of Coal has reviewed the production level of Coal India Limited (CIL) at several levels including reviews at Planning Commission and also at the level of Ministry of Coal. Accordingly, the Government shall continue to intensify its efforts to provide the support required by the coal companies to achieve the targets, CIL has planned to take the following major steps to achieve the targets during the next financial year:

i) By increasing the efficiency of the equipments, regular monitoring, mechanization as programmed and strict supervision of the existing mines and on going projects.
ii) Capacity addition from new & future projects.
iii) Intensively pursuing with the Government for resolving issues of environmental and forestry clearances, land acquisition and law & order problems.

As per Annual Plan 2010-11, Coal production target for CIL was fixed at 460.50 Mt. This has been reviewed at the time of finalization of Annual Plan 2011-12. Revised estimate for CIL for 2010-11 is 440.20 Mt. Though, the achievement made up-to Feb. 2011 is 380.625 Mt.

Barker Minerals Ltd [TSXV:BML] - Barker Minerals Reports Trenching Results on its Cariboo Zinc/Lead Project

Prince George, B.C., March 28, 2011 – Barker Minerals Ltd. (“BML” on TSX/V) (the “Company”) is pleased to report trenching results on the Cariboo zinc/lead/silver project which was previously announced on August 25, 2010. (BM-10-161) The Cariboo property is approximately 35 km northeast of the settlement of Likely and 100 km northeast of Williams Lake, in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. The project has excellent access and infrastructure nearby and occurs within an 80 km x 30 km contiguous block of claims which are 100% owned by Barker Minerals Ltd.

Urgent Action Needed to Prevent Recurring Food Crises 

Just three years after the 2007-08 food crisis, the food security of poor people and vulnerable groups, especially women and children, is under threat as the prices of basic food items skyrocket. A new policy brief by IFPRI researchers outlines the similarities and differences between the situation then and now, and outlines seven decisive steps the international community must take in order to tame price volatility and prevent future food crises.

Umesh Chowdhary takes over as Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Kolkata

 

 

The Swiss Ambassador to India, Mr. Philippe Welti announced today the appointment of Umesh Chowdhary as Honorary Consul of Switzerland in Kolkata. He succeeds J P Chowdhary, who retired from the post after having reached the retirement age of 70 as per regulatory procedures of the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

 

Ambassador Welti acknowledged his gratitude for the services rendered by J P Chowdhary during the 20 years as Consul of Switzerland in Kolkata.

 

The Government of Switzerland had already written to J P Chowdhary to express their official thanks. Ambassador Welti added on a personal note his thanks and recognition for the cooperation between the Consulate in Kolkata and the Embassy in Delhi and described it as loyal, trustful and extraordinarily effective when it came to problem solving. He said, that JP Chowdhary was a model of a Honorary Consul, whose accomplishments would be a challenge to match.

 

Ambassador Welti introduced Umesh Chowdhary as successor of JP Chowdhary as the new Honorary Consul and stated that the Embassy had considered possible candidates for the post before the Swiss Government nominated him in November, 2010. His appointment was accepted by the Government of India earlier this month.

 

Ambassador Welti went on to elaborate on the role and obligations of a Honorary Consul of Switzerland and outlined the current state of relationship between Switzerland and India with particular focus on Kolkata.

 

He said that Indo-Swiss relations had steadily developed right from 1948 when independent India signed its first friendship treaty with Switzerland. He said, he was sure that with increasing involvement of India in the global society and economy, political, social, cultural and economic exchanges would gain momentum in the years to come. He said he was confident that Umesh Chowdhary was the right person to make the appropriate contribution in the Kolkata region.

 

Umesh Chowdhary, born in 1974, is the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Titagarh Wagons Limited, one of the leading wagons manufacturers in the country.

 

Siemens to modernize process control system in Wuhan Iron & Steel's hot rolling mill
New upgrade concept retains plant configuration and speeds up implementation

Wuhan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. (Wisco), a Chinese steelmaker, has engaged Siemens to bring the process control technology in its hot rolling mill no. 2 up to the state-of-the-art. The process control system will be upgraded to Simatic PCS7 version V7, the associated computer architecture will also be modernized and a new operating system installed. The existing plant configuration will be largely retained. The upgrade concept allows for the upgrade of the process control system to be carried out within a period of ten days in Summer 2012.