China is poised to allow more private companies to directly import oil, a move that will have only a marginal impact on crude markets but may have a disproportionate impact on fuel oil prices. The vast majority of China’s crude imports come via the two state giants, PetroChina and Sinopec , which account for about 90 percent of the imports of the world’s second-largest oil user. Last […]
Photo: STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA As they head for their holidays, senior Conservatives are beginning to worry that they are failing to benefit fully from Britain’s economic recovery. Recent months have seen a succession of good news stories, with growth well established, living standards no longer falling and predictions of future performance regularly upgraded. Yet the Tories seem unable to overturn Labour’s narrow lead. The table below illustrates what […]
The government is proposing a major overhaul of its foreign direct investment (FDI) policy as part of the Narendra Modi-led administration’s plan to woo overseas investors and improve ease of doing business in India, which ranks at a lowly 134 out of 189 global economies in this respect, according to the World Bank.
The government is looking to adopt the international practice of linking policy with industrial codes to ensure foreign investors won’t have to wade through complicated press notes or circulars to decipher the policy for a sector.
“Discussions are on. There is merit in seeding the industrial codes with the FDI policy,” said a government official aware of the deliberations. The mov
NEW DELHI: Stung by Reliance Industries’ alleged bid to “influence” the foreign third arbitrator appointed by the Supreme Court in the KG-D6 block case, the government is set to approach the court with a plea that the relevant arbitration be done strictly within the country sans a foreign umpire.
Armed with a law ministry opinion conveyed to it recently, the petroleum ministry will also take the firm stand that RIL’s foreign partners, BP and Niko, should not be made a party to the arbitration, which was initiated by the Indian company, sources familiar with the matter told FE.
The government’s move would escalate the conflict between it and RIL over the alleged suppression of gas production at the once-pro
The value of shares bought by foreign investors through swap arrangements on the Saudi stock exchange jumped in July, official statistics showed on Sunday. Authorities in the kingdom granted long-awaited approval on July 21 to open up the bourse to direct foreign investment for the first time in early 2015. Foreigners currently can only purchase shares through swap arrangements, contracts in which a local broker or investor […]
|TAP Special|Indians living in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other GCC countries along with those in the US are among the victims of an Indian wealth management scheme gone bust. They are among the 5,000 investors who had parked their money with the wealth management schemes of Prashant Wasankar, who has been arrested as the main accused in one of the biggest Ponzi schemes. The amount involved is […]
By JODI RUDOREN and ISABEL KERSHNER August 1, 2014 JERUSALEM — Palestinian militants sprang from the ground and confronted Israeli soldiers Friday morning, as they have repeatedly in recent days. This time, Israeli officials said, one exploded a suicide belt while another unleashed machine-gun fire. This time, two Israeli soldiers were killed and the militants apparently escaped with a third. The attack, at the start of what was supposed to be […]
Iran holds the world’s fourth largest proved crude oil reserves and the world’s second largest natural gas reserves, according to a report produced by US Energy Information Administration. Despite the country’s abundant reserves, Iran’s oil production has substantially declined over the past few years, and natural gas production growth has slowed. International sanctions have profoundly affected Iran’s energy sector. Sanctions have prompted a number of cancellations or […]
The World Trade Organization failed on Thursday to reach a deal to standardise customs rules, which would have been the first global trade reform in two decades but was blocked by India’s demands for concessions on agricultural stockpiling. “We have not been able to find a solution that would allow us to bridge that gap,” WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo told trade diplomats in Geneva just two hours […]
|TAP Special| Some foreign banks with exposure to Dubai World are believed to be planning to divest parts of their debt as they feel it may be a good time to offload to take advantage of improved confidence in Dubai. Obviously, the improving Dubai rating would mean more value to the debt. $25 billion worth of debt is owed by Dubai World, which is keen to restructure […]
NEW DELHI: The government is formulating a policy package aimed at infusing life into 26,489 MW of gas-starved power plants. The plan includes partially revisiting the gas pooling proposal, which the UPA government conceptualised but later turned wary about, given the huge subsidy cost it entailed.
As per the new plan, some 10,382 MW of administered price gas-based installed power capacity, running at a very low plant load factor (PLF) for want of the fuel right now, would get pooled gas — at a price higher than the APM gas price — with an assurance that the cost of power from these plants above a threshold of R5.50 per unit will be subsidised.
As for the balance gas-based capacity, sources said, some 7,000 MW bas
NEW DELHI: A visiting US team has told Indian negotiators it would link pacts on the power sector to the agreement the two countries draw on climate change and one would not happen without the other.
This message was conveyed by the US team to India in a meeting held with the power ministry on Wednesday. Power Minister Piyush Goyal and other ministry officials attended the meeting.
The US team, headed by Todd Stern, the US special envoy on climate change, also called on Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar in its bid to stitch an agreement on various climate change issues.
Sources said the meeting with the environment ministry focused on areas where the two countries
Dubai construction company Arabtec’s former boss has sold about $4 million worth of shares in the group this week, cutting his stake slightly, stock exchange data showed. Arabtec’s shares have swung around wildly this year on apparent tensions between chief executive Hasan Ismaik and Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments, also a major Arabtec shareholder. Ismaik resigned abruptly in June. Ismaik cut his stake to 28.77 percent […]
NEW DELHI: Petrol became cheaper by Rs 1.09 per litre in Delhi from Friday after state oil companies slashed the price of the fuel for the first time since mid-April because benchmark gasoline rates in the international market dropped.
Companies, however, raised the price of diesel by 56 paise in Delhi, helping to reduce the gap between pump and market rates by about Rs 1.50 per litre and increasing the prospects of deregulating the fuel soon.
If the trend continues, diesel pricing could be freed from state control in three months, government and industry officials said. Prices of diesel sold to bulk consumers such as the railways and state transport companies at market rates have been reduced, IOCsaid in a statement.
Gold headed for a third weekly loss in the longest run of declines since September as U.S. employment data may add to signs that the world’s largest economy is gaining traction. Gold for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.3 percent to $1,279.30 an ounce, the lowest level since June 19, and was at $1,283.85 at 2:20 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing. The metal […]
Middle East funds are heavily bullish towards Saudi Arabian stocks after news the market will open to direct foreign investment, while they are bearish on the United Arab Emirates because of concern about high valuations. The latest Reuters survey of 15 leading investment managers,conducted over the past 10 days, showed two-thirds expected to raise their equity allocations to Saudi Arabia in the next three months, up from […]
Dubai shares gained the most in almost seven years in July, helping claw back some of the losses sustained in a bear market that wiped a quarter off the benchmark index. Real estate-related companies led the rally. Arabtec Holding Co. (ARTC), which spurred the DFM General Index’s collapse in May and June, advanced 4.9 percent today to bring monthly gains to 63 percent. Emaar Properties PJSC, the […]
Dubai luxury property developer DAMAC is offering investors the option of converting its Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), listed on the London bourse, into ordinary shares that would be listed on Dubai’s main stock market. Investors would get around 23.08 shares per GDR. They have until Sept. 2 to decide on the offer, the developer said in a statement to the London bourse on Wednesday. No new shares […]
Damac Properties is recommending investors convert GDRs, listed on the London bourse, into shares that would be listed on Dubai’s stock market. Reuters A company needs to sell at least 55% of its stock to list on the main U.A.E. bourses – a regulation that has been blamed in part for the weak IPO market in the Arab Gulf country. After all, most big companies in the […]
Video | Behind the Escalations in Gaza A look at why Israel and Hamas have repeatedly chosen to intensify the violence at every stage of the continuing conflict. By JODI RUDOREN July 30, 2014 JERUSALEM — After years in which Israel’s prevailing approach to the Gaza Strip was a simple “quiet for quiet” demand, there is growing momentum around a new formula, “reconstruction for demilitarization.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]
Three young rebels, their AK47s propped against wooden stools in the afternoon heat, guard the entrance to the giant Ndassima goldmine carved deep into a forested hilltop in Central African Republic. Sat in a thatched shack at the edge of a muddy shantytown, the gunmen keep the peace – for a price – among hundreds of illegal miners who swarm over the steep sides of the glittering […]
DUBAI // Moein Al Bastaki was not aware of the controversy that becoming a magician would bring to his life. But Al Bastaki, 34, is adamant he can change the perceptions of magic and illusions among Gulf Arabs. “Coming from an Islamic background I faced a lot of difficulties,” he says. “This concept of being a magician is totally wrong and, in the Quran, it’s totally against […]
NEW DELHI: Gautam Adani plans to acquire power plants with a total capacity of 5,000 mw, but he will avoid aggressive bids to ensure good returns, a source close to the tycoon said a day after Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group outbid him to buy 1,800 mw hydro power capacity from Jaypee Group.
Gautam Adani is directly involved in evaluating offers and negotiations, something he left to company executives in the past, the source said. The company is in talks with several power sector players, including GMR, Lanco, Indiabulls, Avantha Power and Athena, the source said.
Another person in the Adani Group said there are many sellers in the market, offering projects with a combined capacity of nearly 50,000 mw.
 
Mumbai: State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited may go solo on its plans to build its second underground liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage facility in Mangalore.
The company which was planning to rope in Total SA of France, to build the cavern jointly, said Total is not interested at present and may join the company at a later stage.
“We see merit in the project and have decided to go ahead. We will commission the detailed feasibility report shortly and then call for tenders in the next four-six months,” said a senior HPCL official.
The cavern, will cost HPCL Rs 700 crore and will store 60,000 tonnes of LPG. HPCL and Total, through their equal joint venture, South Asi
