BHARAT PETROLEUM STRATEGIC SALE:
1. The Government has put its entire stake of around 53 per cent in BPCL valued at about INR 53,000 crores (US$ 7.3 billion) at the current share price.
2. Vedanta and two Private Equity firms Apollo Global Management and I Squared Capital submitted EoIs and visited virtual data room. They will now get access to physical inspection of assets and confidential data.
3. BPCL has 15 per cent of India’s oil refining capacity and 22 per cent of the fuel marketing share. The company owns more than 18,000 petrol pumps, 6,000 LPG distributor agencies and sixty aviation fuel stations across the country. It has also 26 upstream assets in nine countries.
4. Though BPCL is one of India’s best performing Maharatna PSUs and one of seven Indian companies in the Global list of Fortune 500, the strategic sale received a timid response.
5. Domestic oil Refiners and OMCs such as Reliance, Essar Nayara and the global oil companies stayed away.
6. The Government had barred PSUs from bidding for BPCL.
H1 2021 ROUND-UP: KEY MARKET LOOKING UP
1. Covid-19 pushed back the economy into recession and we virtually lost valuable 18 months of progress.
2. However, there is a silver lining in the cloudy weather. The key market indicators are now showing a green signal.
3. Sensex and US DOW, both are around one-third higher than that two years back.
4. Crude price has moved up showing economic activities are picking up.
5. WTI has jumped 27% in two years. The price gap between Brent and WTI narrowed, as the U.S. shale oil companies have not gone for a rapid production ramping up.
6. Though Dollar Index has declined compared to other currencies, Indian Rupee continues to depreciate compared to the Dollar.
7. With the fall in rupee, and rise in crude prices, India’s current account deficit is likely to widen and inflation to move upward.
8. Gold has appreciated by one-fourth in two years which indicates people’s confidence is yet to be restored. People prefer Gold, the so-called safe haven.
COVID-19'S IMPACT ON ECONOMY
1. Covid-19 pushed back the economy into recession and we virtually lost valuable 18 months of progress.
2. However, there is a silver lining in the cloudy weather. The key market indicators are now showing a green signal.
3. Sensex and US DOW, both are around one-third higher than that two years back.
4. Crude price has moved up showing economic activities are picking up.
5. WTI has jumped 27% in two years. The price gap between Brent and WTI narrowed, as the U.S. shale oil companies have not gone for a rapid production ramping up.
6. Though Dollar Index has declined compared to other currencies, Indian Rupee continues to depreciate compared to the Dollar.
7. With the fall in rupee, and rise in crude prices, India’s current account deficit is likely to widen and inflation to move upward.
8. Gold has appreciated by one-fourth in two years which indicates people’s confidence is yet to be restored. People prefer Gold, the so-called safe haven.
FORTUNE 500 GLOBAL COMPANIES: HIGHLIGHTS
1. Chinese companies are rising in the global economy. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions worldwide are held by them. For the first time, their number with 124 has exceeded the US with 121 companies appearing in the list of Fortune Global 500.
2. Seven Indian Companies continue to appear in the Fortune Global 500 list as in the previous year.
3. Reliance Industries which continues to be the top-ranked Indian company has now come within top 100 companies worldwide by jumping 10 positions to 96th ranking from its previous ranking of 106.
4. Other Indian companies in the list are Indian Oil (151), ONGC (190), SBI (221), Bharat Petroleum (309), Tata Motors (337), and Rajesh Exports (462). But their rankings have declined except for SBI and Rajesh Exports.
5. Six out of the Top 10 Fortune 500 Global Companies are in Energy sector. The other 4 are Retail and Automobiles, two each.
6. Ranking of Fortune 500 companies is done every year based on the revenue in the previous year.
H1 2020 Round-Up:
1. COVID-19 continues to take a heavy toll on human lives and their livelihoods. The lockdown globally has pushed the economy into recession.
2. Half of the year 2020 have gone with negative growth as reflected by the key market indicators
3. The unprecedented reduction in oil demand pulled down Brent and WTI that have lost more than one-third since January 2020.
4. The share market collapsed in March and remains volatile.
5. The uncertainties have seen money shifting towards Gold, the so-called safe haven.
6. likely to take time, say two years or so, to normalize even after the control of the pandemic.
UNLOCKING WIND ENERGY POTENTIAL IN INDIA: GROWING OPPORTUNITIES
India’s first large-scale offshore wind project has attracted 35 Expressions of Interest (EoI) from the leading offshore wind developers, global and domestic. In April 2018, the Government invited the EoI for the first 1 GW commercial offshore wind farm in India, off the coast of Gujarat.
This is in line with the target of achieving 5 GW offshore wind power capacity additions by 2022 and 30 GW by 2030. India has an untapped offshore wind power potential of 125 GW, especially off the coasts of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra; though the offshore wind energy come with a set of challenges, like high costs and transmission issues.
On the hand, India’s on-shore wind energy has the target of 60 GW by 2022 and more than half of this has already been achieved. In a recent bidding, onshore wind power has emerged today one of the cheapest source of renewable energy in India at around Rs2.50 per unit.
In 2019, Crude oil recovered the loss incurred in 2018; buoyed by signs of improving trade relations between the United States and China, tensions in the Middle East and expectation of additional output cut by OPEC plus Russia. Outlook for oil companies and oilfield service providers in 2020 appears positive. Both Gold and Equities posted an impressive annual return in 2019. Dollar Index remained flat and year ended virtually without any INR depreciation.
