UPI Energy Watch

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- India courts Gazprom on gas project

India's ambassador to Russia said Monday it could secure extra safety guarantees if Russian gas giant Gazprom participated in the project to build a natural gas pipeline to link Iran, Pakistan and India.

Gazprom has been considering joining the $7.5 billion project for more than a year to transport Iranian gas through Pakistan to India, RIA Novosti reported.

Kanwal Sibal, the Indian ambassador to Russia, said though the project had at first raised India's concerns over safety issues, Gazprom's abundant experience in the field could ease all concerns.

The 1,430-mile pipeline would have a capacity to transport 21.1 billion cubic meters of gas annually. If the project does materialize, it could come on stream in 2011. However, Sibal said disputes over pricing and transit duties had yet to be settled.

Alexander Medvedev, deputy head of Gazprom's management committee, said in late June that an intergovernmental agreement on the project must be the most important condition.

Medvedev said at the time that Gazprom could both become a party to the project and offer its research services under certain conditions.

India and Pakistan plan to split deliveries from Iran, and the pipeline's capacity is eventually to be increased 150 percent.

India eyes Iranian oil field

India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd. is looking to acquire a 20-percent stake in Iran's Yadavaran field, which has an estimated capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day.

“Exercising our option we have asked Iran to consider giving OVL a 20 percent stake in the project. The fate of the 5 million-ton liquefied natural gas deal, which was inked between India and Iran in 2005, is linked to the development of these fields,” company officials were cited as saying in local news reports.

Under a 2005 memorandum of understanding, Iran agreed to give Indian firms a 100-percent stake in the Jufeyr project along with a 10-percent stake in the Yadavaran project.

“However, if OVL is unable to get 100 percent participating interest in Jufeyr field then there was an option that Iran would offer 20 percent in Yadavaran project,” India’s Business Line cited an official as saying.

In addition to India, China has also expressed an interest in the Yadavaran project, according to media reports.

Philippine government to invest $5B in gas sector

The Philippines plans to invest some $5 billion until 2014 to develop its natural gas industry and expand the use of the fuel beyond power generation, a top Filipino energy official said Monday.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said the government would invest to develop the market, expand the gas supply sources and establish the necessary infrastructure.

The government would use part of the $5 billion for the construction of pipelines that would make natural gas accessible for more areas nationwide, not just Batangas where the gas-fired power plants are or Palawan from where the gas comes, Reyes said.

Apart from the pipelines, Reyes said the government would invest in oil-based power plants in Sucat, Limay in Bataan and Malaya in Rizal, which could also all be converted to natural gas-fed plants.

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Closing oil prices, Aug. 14, 3 p.m. London

Brent crude oil: $70.49

West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $72.01

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