UAE to store crude oil in Mangaluru petroleum reserve

February 11, 2016

New Delhi, Feb 11: The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) will store crude oil in India’s 1.5 million tonnes-Mangalore strategic petroleum reserve using it as a wholesale storage capacity and sell to the Indian refiners whenever needed, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said after a meeting with visiting energy minister Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei.

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India also informed Al Mazrouei that state-run companies ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) and Oil India Ltd were interested in taking stakes in oil fields that are under production and in securing hydrocarbon exploration permits in the Persian Gulf country.

An oil ministry statement quoted Pradhan as saying Indian companies were also interested in acquiring a stake in Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Petroleum Operations Ltd. (ADCO), another company held by the UAE through ADNOC. Pradhan also offered New Delhi’s idea of a strategic reserve is primarily to tide over any possible supply disruption due to geopolitical reasons, rather than to build up an inventory of cheap oil, officials privy to the development explained.

Pradhan said that ADNOC was working with the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd (ISPRL) which is building the strategic reserve in Mangalore. “The project is on track and will be concluded soon,” the statement said quoting Pradhan.

ISPRL is also building two other reserves at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and at Padur in Karnataka. The three facilities have a total storage capacity of 5 million tonnes of crude, which could meet a few days’ requirement. India imported 189 million tonnes of crude in 2014-15, about 80% of its total requirement. ADNOC will store about half of the capacity in the Mangalore reserve.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal described the development as a significant breakthrough. “We have been talking to the UAE on this matter for a number of years. It is only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit (in August) that various aspects of the relationship (including the strategic oil reserve) have begun to move forward. It should be seen as a foreign policy success,” said Sibal.

Pradhan also sought investments from the UAE on the ongoing state-run projects in India such as ONGC Petro Additions Ltd’s petrochemical project at Dahej in Gujarat, and HPCL’s refinery-cum-petrochemical plant in Andhra Pradesh.

The UAE is expected to invest in the newly created National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) aimed at increasing infrastructure financing in the country. Discussions on a pact were concluded after India agreed to have a UAE representative on the board of NIIF, a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

In December, the Indian government announced steps to set up NIIF. The government budgeted a contribution of Rs.20,000 crore for the fund in fiscal year 2015-16 while another Rs.20,000 crore is expected to be raised from sovereign wealth funds. It is unclear, at the moment how much the UAE proposes to invest in NIIF.

Finance ministry officials had earlier indicated that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Russian Direct Investment Fund, Singapore’s Government Investment Corporation and Temasek have expressed interest in investing in NIIF. The ministry is currently in search of a chief executive officer, a post for which more than 70 executives from the private sector have applied. A final selection is expected by March end.

The investment pact with the UAE, one among about a dozen, is to be signed during the visit of General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the armed forces of the UAE, who began his three-day visit to India on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a visit to the UAE in August—the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 34 years— had urged the host nation to invest in India’s infrastructure sector, pointing out that Asia’s third largest economy has the potential to absorb as much as $1 trillion in investments in the sector.

At a briefing on Wednesday, Anil Wadhwa, secretary, East, in the foreign ministry, noted that the UAE has emerged as one of the top sources of foreign direct investment in India since 2000, with cumulative investments of $3.3 billion besides some $5 billion in portfolio investments.

The UAE controls the second largest sovereign wealth fund in the world—around $800 billion—under the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. “This is an important source of investment for the Indian infrastructure sector,” Wadhwa told reporters.

“During the visit of the Prime Minister, it was also decided to encourage investment institutions in the UAE to raise investments for the infrastructure sector in India with the target of reaching $75 billion. So the UAE has been invited to participate in the NIIF in India,” he said.

According to Indian and UAE diplomats, the two countries are expected to amplify on a joint statement issued during Modi’s visit that referred to security and strategic issues among other subjects.

In the August joint statement in which both countries had noted the upgrading of ties to a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” India and the UAE agreed to regularize a dialogue between their national security advisors, strengthen maritime security in the Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean region, and reinforce defence ties through regular exercises of naval, air, land and special forces.

They also agreed to “coordinate efforts to counter radicalization and misuse of religion by groups” besides denouncing terrorism. New areas of cooperation identified included defence production, strategic partnership in security and counterterrorism, cooperation in civil nuclear energy and space besides energy, Wadhwa said.

The UAE has plans to send a mission to Mars by 2020, Wadhwa said, adding that India is looking at offering help in launching the mission, given its own capabilities in the area. India launched its own successful Mars Orbiter Mission in 2014. In the area of defence production, India would be looking at exports of hardware produced in India to the investing partner country as well as third countries, Wadhwa said.

Comments

chaithresh
 - 
Saturday, 13 Feb 2016

Our namo narenda modi s doing something good for the development of India...we being Indians shouldn't blame him..we should support him.. no one hs thr capacity or dare like our PM has.. .please always think n thn write...guys. name.. I support narenda modi..Jai hind

Anupama
 - 
Friday, 12 Feb 2016

Modi is a gold/oil digger. In the name of development he is polluting a beautiful city. Lobbying against farmers who provide food for the country due to his selfish motives.

Syed Kazi
 - 
Thursday, 11 Feb 2016

Why cant they store their wealth, money, gold and dollars in our storage tanks and give 2/3 free to us as RENT.....

rikaz
 - 
Thursday, 11 Feb 2016

UAE has been so generous to Indians.....

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News Network
March 8,2020

Udupi, Mar 8: The 75-year old man who was admitted to Udupi District Hospital over suspected Corona Virus infection has tested negative on Saturday.

The reports from Bengaluru Medical College’s laboratory where the samples of the person were sent, confirmed that the aged person was not infected with Corona Virus.

The report was submitted to the District Administration by the laboratory that confirmed that the person was not infected by the viral Corona Virus.

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News Network
May 19,2020

Bengaluru, May 19: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has begun booking of tickets from May 18. Ticket counters have been opened after implementation of new guidelines for the fourth phase of COVID-19 nationwide lockdown.

People seeking to travel can book the tickets through KSRTC booking counters, authorised franchises booking counters and online, mobile booking, according to a release.

The advanced booking has started for Bengaluru-Shivamogga, Bengaluru-Mysuru, Bengaluru-Mangaluru routes, among others.

Bookings can be made upto 30 days in advance, as per the release.

Amid COVID-19, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation has restricted the operation services of the bus between 7 AM to 7 PM, said the release.

Passengers are permitted to travel with social distancing measures while the transport corporation will follow the standard operating procedure issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The MHA had issued updated guidelines after the implementation of the fourth phase of nationwide lockdown on May 17th.

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Ram Puniyani
March 8,2020

They say ‘history repeats itself first as a tragedy and then as a farce’. In case of India, communal violence not only keeps repeating itself, the pattern of the tragedy keeps changing every next time. Some features of the violence are constant, but they are under the wraps mostly. The same can be said about the Delhi violence (February 2020). The interpretations, the causative factors are very discernible, but those who are generally the perpetrators have a knack of shifting the blame on the victim community or those who stand for the victims.

As the carnage began presumably in the aftermath of statement of Kapil Mishra of BJP, which was given in front of a top police official, in which he threatened to get the roads emptied. The roots of violence were sown earlier. The interpretations given by the Hindu Nationalist camp is that the riot is due to the changing demographic profile of the area with Muslims increasing in number in those areas, and coming up of Shaheen Bagh which was presented was like ‘Mini Pakistan’. As per them the policies of BJP in matters of triple talaq, Article 370 and CAA, NPR, NRC has unnerved the ‘radical’ elements and so this violence.

As such before coming to the observations of the activists and scholars of communal violence in India, we can in brief say that violence, in which nearly 46 people have died, include one from police and another from intelligence. Majority victims are Muslims. The violence started right under the nose of the police and the ruling party. From the videos and other eye accounts, police not only looked the other way around, at places it assisted those attacking the innocent victims and burning and looting selective shops. Home minister, Amit Shah, was nowhere on the scene. For first three days the rioters had free run. After the paramilitary force was brought in; the violence simmered and slowly reduced in intensity. The state AAP Government, which in a way is the byproduct of RSS supported Anna Hazare movement, was busy reading Hanuman Chalisa and praying at Rajghat with eyes closed to the mayhem going in parts of Delhi.

Communal violence is the sore point of Indian society. It did begin during colonial period due to British policy of ‘Divide and Rule’. At root cause was the communal view of looking at history and pro active British acts to sow the seeds of Hindu-Muslim divide. At other level the administrative and police the British were fairly neutral. On one hand was the national movement, uniting the people and creating and strengthening the fraternal feeling among all Indians. On the other were Muslim Communalists (Muslim League) and Hindu Communalists (Hindu Mahasabha, RSS) who assisted the British goal of ‘divide and rule’ promoting hatred between the communities. After partition the first major change was the change in attitude of police and administration which started tilting against Muslims. Major studies by Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, Paul Brass and Omar Khalidi demonstrated that anti Muslim bias is discernible in during and after the riots.

Now the partisan role of police has been visible all through. Sri Krishna Commission report brought forth this fact; as did the research of the Ex DIG of UP police Dr. V.N.Rai. Dr. Rai’s studies also concluded that no communal violence can go on beyond 24 hours unless state administration is complicit in the carnage. In one of the violence, investigation of which was done by concerned Citizen’s team (Dhule, 2013) this author observed that police itself went on to undertake the rampage against Muslims and Muslim properties.

General observation about riots is that violence sounds to be spontaneous, as the Home Minister is pointing out, but as such it is well planned act. Again the violence is orchestrated in such a way that it seems Muslims have begun the riots. Who casts the First stone? To this scholars point out that the carnage is so organized that the encircled community is forced to throw the first stone. At places the pretext is made that ‘they’ (minorities) have thrown the first stone.

The pretexts against minorities are propagated, in Gujarat violence Godhra train burning, in Kandhamal the murder of Swami Laxamannand and now Shaheen bagh! The Hindu Muslim violence began as riots. But it is no more a riot, two sides are not involved. It is plain and simple anti Minority violence, in which some from the majority are also the victims.

This violence is possible as the ‘Hate against this minority’ is now more or less structural. The deeper Hate against Muslims and partly against Christians; has been cultivated since long and Hindu nationalist politics, right from its Shakhas to the social media have been put to use for spreading Hatred. The prevalent deeper hate has been supplanted this time by multiple utterances from BJP leaders, Modi (Can be recognized by clothes), Shah (press EVM machine button so hard that current is felt in Shaheen Bagh), Anurag Thakur (Goli (bullet) Maro) Yogi Aditya Nath (If Boli (Words)Do not work Goli will) and Parvesh Varma (They will be out to rape).

The incidental observation of the whole tragedy is the coming to surface of true colors of AAP, which not only kept mum as the carnage was peaking but also went on to praise the role of police in the whole episode. With Delhi carnage “Goli Maro” seems to be becoming the central slogan of Hindu nationalists. Delhi’s this violence has been the first one in which those getting killed are more due to bullets than by swords or knifes! Leader’s slogans do not go in vain! Courts the protectors of our Constitution seem to be of little help as if one of them like Murlidhar Rao gives the verdict to file against hate mongers, he is immediately transferred.

And lastly let’s recall the academic study of Yale University. It concludes; BJP gains in electoral strength after every riot’. In India the grip of communalism is increasing frighteningly. Efforts are needed to combat Hate and Hate mongers.

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