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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Media Release
March 8,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 8: The Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd., celebrated International Women’s Day with a special seminar on Financial Planning for the banks’ women customers. The programme was held on Friday, March 6, 2020 from 4.00 to 6.00 p.m. at Hotel Ocean Pearl Inn, Bejai, Mangalore. Dr. Sukanya Rao, academician and financial planner, was the chief guest and resource person for the seminar. Mr. Srinivas C., Karnataka State Head, Future Generali India Insurance Company Ltd., was the guest of honour.  Mrs. Vimala Anchan, Senior Manager and Branch Head of M. G. Road Branch of Saraswat Bank presided over the function.

In her chief guest’s address, Dr. Sukanya Rao defined empowerment of women as the ability of take one’s own decisions and utilize resources. Quoting global rankings, she said India enjoys a high ranking of being 9th in the world in political empowerment of women, whereas in other sectors we stand abysmally low. In social empowerment of women, India ranks at 120th, in economic empowerment at 124th and health and survival at 135th.

She suggested that the best tool for enhancing these empowerment rankings is education, which will lead to earning potential and result in enhancing social status. “Every year spent in school boosts girl’s wages by 10-20%,” she said “When a girl receives 7+ years of education, marriage gets postponed by four years and she has 2.2 less children.” She advised women to learn to take one’s own decisions. “Learn to take decisions, especially financial decisions, on your own instead of depending on significant others to do the decision making,” she said.

She followed up her talk with an interactive session on personal financial planning. She enlightened the audience on factors influencing our financial decision making and gave different perspectives on prioritizing savings, spending and investment. 

Srinivas C., Karnataka State Head, Future Generali India Insurance Company Ltd., along with Deepak enlightened the women regarding financial safeguards available under Married Women's Property Act (1874).

Established in 1918, Saraswat Bank was the first co-operative bank to provide merchant banking services after it was recognized as a scheduled bank by RBI in 1988. The bank enjoys high proportion of women employees (nearly 75%) and it is a recipient of Best Cooperative Bank Award in 2016.

Fun games were conducted and prizes were distributed to the winners. Bhavanthi Street Branch Head Karthik Shetty welcomed the gathering. Prithvi Pai and Aishwarya rendered the invocation. Naina Shenoy expressed the bank’s Women’s Day greetings. Chilimbi Branch Head Kishore Shetty gave a vote of thanks. Mahesh Nayak compered the programme. Past Branch Head Mamtha Rao was present.

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News Network
April 20,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 20: Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, reacting to the incident which happened in Padarayanapura area of the city last night, in which a group of men vandalised a police barricade, said that the perpetrators of the violence should be dealt with severely.

He further said, "It was not at all needed to attack Asha workers, police or doctors. These kinds of incidents are not acceptable. It is an act of shame. It does not matter which community the perpetrators belong to, each and everyone must follow the guidelines and law. Whoever indulged in such an act must be punished."

Earlier on Sunday, a ruckus erupted in Padarayanapura on Sunday allegedly over the shifting of suspected COVID-19 persons to a quarantine facility by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials.

The incident occurred in the late evening at Padarayanapura, which is recognized as a 'Red Zone', when BBMP officials went to shift 15 secondary contacts of corona positive patients. However, some people created a ruckus, broke the barricade and removed the police post in the area.

In Karnataka, 390 people have detected positive for COVID-19, of which 16 people have succumbed to the infection, as per the Union Health Ministry.

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coastaldigest.com news network
January 19,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 19: ‘Ride For Rotary’ convoy of motor vehicles was flagged off from Hotel Ocean Pearl Inn at Bejai-Kapikad, Mangaluru on Sunday, 19th January, 2020 at 9.00 a.m. Rotary district governor Joseph Mathew flagged off the event along with Assistant Governors Sumith S. Rao, Geethanand Pai and Ritesh Baliga. The riders headed for Puttur after topping up their fuel tanks at Lady Hill Petrol Pump.

2019-20 Ride For Rotary includes 28 motorbikes and 5 cars. 38 Rotarians from 14 countries are participating, in this, the fourth edition of the event. They will traverse through Madikeri, Mysore, Wayanad, Ooty, Coimbatore, Munnar, Thekkady and Allepey before terminating at Kochi on 29th of January, 2020. The participating nationalities are India, Norway, Sweden, Canada, France, Germany, USA, UK, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Poland and Belgium. They belong to ages 21 to 78, with 78-year old Otto Rieve from Canada being the senior most enthusiast. Swiss national of Indian origin Raj Patholi and Mangalorean Abraham Zacharias are among the riders. 

Mangalore was chosen as the starting point for the convoy route this year which will cover Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. On the eve of the event, the organizers hosted a gala dinner for the riders at Citi Beech, Bolar. The riders were given a glimpse of the traditional dance forms and were treated to some wonderful songs in Tulu and Kannada along with local coastal cuisine.

They were also given a glimpse of the major service projects undertaken in our district by Rotary, such as the Rotary Blood Bank on Wheels, the Physiotherapy Clinic at Wenlock Hospital, the Schools adopted by Rotary and the Ashrams and Villages that are being served by Rotary. The idea behind this is to see that riders carry these memories and think of helping Rotarians in India through their matching contributions for future service projects.

‘Ride For Rotary’

Ride for Rotary is a charity event conceived by Rotary District 3181 which comprises of the revenue districts of Mysore, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Chamarajanagar covering 85 Rotary Clubs in 9 zones. Rotarians from across the world will come together for twelve exhilarating days. They will traverse through the meticulously arranged routes, enjoy the natural beauty of the places and experience the varied cultures and cuisines of the region. Ride for Rotary connects people and places like no other - Rotary Connects the World.

The proceeds from the event go to The Rotary Foundation, a charitable organisation that works tirelessly for the upliftment of the society.

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