A consortium comprising Reliance Industries (RIL) has made a significant oil discovery in Yemen. The discovery in Block 9 in Qarn Qaymah 2 well is learnt to be significant, and RIL is in process of evaluating the potential commercial interest. This was confirmed by RIL’s president for international business Atul Chandra.
Block 9 has an output of 10,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd), operated by Calvalley Petroleum of Canada holding a 50% stake. Hood Oil, subsidiary of the Yemen-based business group, Hayel Saeed Anam Group (HSA) owns 25% in this block and balance 25% with RIL. Now, Qarn Qaymah 2 has encountered excellent hydrocarbon indications while drilling and, depending on the test results, may be the first hydrocarbon discovery within the granite basement zone of Block 9. The basement is a large structural high and could have significant potential, Calvalley Petroleum had said in March. However more details of the said discovery were not available at present stage due to regulatory issues.
Globally, besides Block 9, RIL has acquired stake in two onshore oil blocks, 34 and 37, in Yemen where it is partnering Hood Oil. Both blocks measure 7,500 sq km each and are located along the border with Oman. RIL’s other global exploration assets comprise of two blocks each in Oman and Columbia and one each in East Timor and Australia covering an area of about 38,000 sq km.
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Netherlands-based district court in Hague has upheld an order by the arbitration tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce in 2006 directing Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL, now Tata Communications) to permit Reliance Globalcom (formerly Flag Telecom) to upgrade its bandwidth capacity at the cable landing station in Mumbai.
The district court has also ordered the Tata group company to pay proceeding charges of euro 13,092 plus euro 12,844 for legal representation to ADAG. The decision comes just ahead of a final verdict on the dispute in which Flag Telecom has separately sought $400 million (Rs 1,600 crore) in damages. Hearings for this issue have ended.
Under an agreement with VSNL, Flag terminated its undersea cable at the Tata group company’s landing station at Mumbai. This meant Flag also required VSNL’s permission to upgrade cable capacity. In 2004, VSNL denied Flag this permission on various technical grounds. ADAG filed for arbitration with the international tribunal in December 2004 against Tata Communications on two accounts. One, it had asked for directions to allow the company to upgrade the capacity of the Indian leg of the cable. Two, it demanded compensation for the business opportunity it had lost due to its inability to upgrade the capacity.
This significant development will pave the way for further expansion and will result in reduced costs for RCom and improvement in services to RCom’s customers. The group has already announced laying of cable at the cost of $400 million connecting 14 countries in West Asia to India and seamlessly integrated with Flag Global Network. Currently, the cable connects 39 countries across four continents. The company had recently announced a $1.5 billion project under which it would be laying 50,000 km of fresh optic fibre, bringing in over 65 countries across six continents within its network.
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Reliance Industries (RIL) and Bhel are in talks to form a joint venture (JV) for setting up solar fab units. RIL has plans to invest over Rs 30,000 crore in the chip manufacturing business. While RIL is scouting for partners for setting up two fab units, Bhel is looking for a strategic partner to venture into equipment manufacturing for solar power.
BHEL has received a communication from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in this regard and may go in for a JV with Reliance Industries. The proposed JV is likely to venture into manufacturing of other small and medium equipment for solar power apart from the solar photo voltaic (SPV) cells. The JV would also look for small and mid-sized acquisitions in the international market for solar power.
The partners-in-waiting have not finalised the financial and technical details for the proposed JV and would firm up the plans in the next couple of months. The JV Company would be eligible for capital subsidies and tax concessions for the solar fab units, a cost of Rs 11,631 crore. The solar fab unit is proposed to be set up at Jamnagar in Gujarat, while the company is in talks with the state government of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana to finalise the site for the semiconductor fab, according to details available with the government.
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