Killajoules

BPCL to focus on low-cost refinery expansions
Bharat Petroleum Corporation plans to achieve refining capacity of nearly 42 million tonnes by 2015-16 where the focus will be on low-cost expansions. Kochi Refinery will see the largest capacity increase to 15.5 mt from 9.5 mt during this period. The recently commissioned Bina refinery, a joint venture with Oman Oil, will be up to nine mt as part of a ‘creeping expansion' exercise using the existing infrastructure.

BP and Reliance Commence Strategic Alliance for India
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and BP today announced the completion of BP's acquisition of a 30 per cent stake in 21 oil and gas production sharing contracts (PSCs) that Reliance operates in India, including the producing KG D6 block.

SBX - Awarded $40 million OBN survey by ONGC of India for Mumbai High Field
SeaBird Exploration PLC ("SeaBird" or "SBX") is very pleased to announce through its wholly owned subsidiary SeaBird Exploration FZ LLC the receipt of a Notification of Award (NOA) from Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd of India (ONGC) for a 4C-3D Seismic API Pilot Project in Mumbai High Field. This is an official notification that SBX has been awarded Tender No Y16KC10017 and consequently the Hugin Explorer and Munin Explorer will mobilize from the Norwegian North Sea immediately following the conclusion of the current ExxonMobil contract expected to be around 10th September 2011.

Petronet LNG Ltd –Achieves yet again the highest profit
During the quarter ended June 30th, 2011, the company has operated at 105% of its capacity breaching the psychological barrier of its nameplate capacity of 10 MMTPA. Total regasified volume rose to 133.37 TBTUs against 95.11 TBTUs in the corresponding quarter last year. Due to increase volume, the turnover of the company has risen sharply to Rs. 4623.31 crores, an increase of over 83%. The Net Profit of the Company has increased to Rs. 256.71 crores, a whopping increase of over 130% from the corresponding quarter of last year. This increase in net profit is on account of additional volumes, better margins on short term contracts/sopt cargoes sourced by the company, coupled with increased efficiency in operations.

Proposed part sale of shareholding in Cairn India Limited Cairn India to Vedanta Resources plc
Cairn and Vedanta have agreed to certain adjustments to the Transaction sale and purchase agreement for the sale of part of Cairn Energy PLC’s shareholding in Cairn India, involving the removal of the non-compete arrangements and associated fee, which are expected to result in a 5.3 per cent reduction in post-tax proceeds. Cairn and Vedanta have also agreed that completion of the Transaction will take place in two tranches: an initial sale of a 10 per cent stake in Cairn India, and a subsequent sale of a 30 per cent stake which remains subject to receipt of the necessary consents and approvals from the Government of India.

Gas Discovery on D9 Block
Hardy Oil and Gas plc (LSE: HDY), the oil and gas exploration and production company focused in India, is pleased to announce its first gas discovery in the exploration well KG-D9-A2 within the D9 licence.

ONGC Awards Baker Hughes Deepwater Drilling, Evaluation Contact
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of India has awarded Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) a five-year contract to provide drilling and evaluation services and to manage third-party services for the Platinum Explorer drillship.

Reliance Industries makes Gas and Condensate Discovery in Cauvery-Palar Region
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) announced a rich gas and condensate discovery in the very first well drilled in the block CY-PR-DWN-2001/3(CYPR-D6) located in deepwater Cauvery-Palar basin. The Block with an area of about 8600 sq km was awarded to RIL under the bidding round of NELP-III. RIL currently holds 100% participating interest in this block. This is one of the 23 exploration blocks where BP Exploration (Alpha) Limited would have a 30% participating interest subject to the Government approval.

Transocean Ltd. Announces World Water-Depth Drilling Record in 10,194 Feet of Water
Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) (SIX: RIGN) today announced that the ultra-deepwater drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 has set what the company believes is a world record for the deepest water depth by an offshore drilling rig of 10,194 feet of water while working for Reliance Industries offshore India. The rig, which is owned by a joint venture with Quantum Pacific Group, surpassed Transocean's prior record of 10,011 feet of water, set in 2003 by the Discoverer Deep Seas working for Chevron in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Essar Energy defers 35 day planned refinery shut down in response to customer requests
Essar Energy [LSE: ESSR] has today announced that it will defer its 35 day planned shut down at the Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, originally planned for May and June 2011.