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Indo American News • Friday,February 25, 2011
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Friday, February 25, 2011
25
IndoAmerican News
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Reliance, BP Sign Historic Agreement for Oil Exploration in India
LONDON: Reliance Industries Limited and BP have announced a historic partnership between the two companies. Mr. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited, and Mr. Robert Dudley, BP Group Chief Executive, signed the relationship framework and transactional agreements in London. The partnership across the full value chain comprises BP taking a 30 per cent stake in 23 oil and gas production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the producing KG D6 block, and the formation of a 50:50 joint venture between the two companies for the sourcing and marketing of gas in India. The joint venture will also endeavor to accelerate the creation of infrastructure for receiving, transporting and marketing of natural gas in India. The partnership will combine BP’s world-class deepwater exploration and development capabilities with Reliance’s project management and operations expertise. Mukesh Ambani said: “We are
delighted to partner with BP, one of the largest energy majors and one of the finest deep water exploration companies in the world. This partnership combines the skills of both companies and will be focused on finding more hydrocarbons in the deep water blocks of India and significantly contribute to India’s energy security.” For BP, Reliance is a natural partner in India, given its strong position in the Indian market. “This partnership meets BP’s strategy of forming alliances with strong national partners, taking material positions in significant hydrocarbon basins and Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries and Robert Dudley, BP Group increasing our exposure to Chief Executive, signed a historic partnership toward exploration in India. growing energy markets,” said Mr. Carl-Henric Svanberg, acquired in the 23 production sharing payments and combined investment contracts. Future performance could amount to US$20 billion. Chairman of BP. BP’s confidence in India is evident BP will pay Reliance Industries payments of up to US$1.8 billion Limited an aggregate consideration could be paid based on exploration from the fact that the transaction of US$7.2 billion, and completion success that results in development constitutes one of the largest foreign adjustments, for the interests to be of commercial discoveries. These direct investments into India.
BlackBerry: Tougher Measures Would Affect India’s Business TORONTO (TOI): BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM), which has faced many deadlines from India for providing access to its enterprise service or encrypted emails in view of threats to the country’s national security, on Tuesday said that any tough measures by New Delhi won’t help in attracting businesses or its huge outsourcing industry. RIM, which has already given the Indian authorities access to its consumer services since January, is unwilling to bend on its enterprise emails in the world’s fastest growing mobile market. In a note to its enterprise customers, the BlackBerry maker said it “fully appreciates and supports the priority India rightly places on national security.” But the Waterloo-based Canadian wireless giant added that encryption is the key to wooing and retaining business in today’s world and Indian authorities have understood its importance in
their various meetings with its representatives. Any ban on it will impact the country’s economic development and its outsourcing industry, RIM said Expressing its willingness to discuss any policy changes, RIM said since its competitors also use encryption in India, they too should be the subject of the Indian scrutiny. RIM said its encryption-using competitors have tried to take advantage of the situation Indian authorities fixed the spotlight on its enterprise service. Among the companies which use encryption in India are Nokia, Google, Apple,
Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Cisco, according to RIM. In its note, RIM mentioned the January 31 as
the deadline for giving access to its consumer services in India. But it
made no mention of any deadline given by India for access to its enterprise service. India was among many other countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Indonesia, which last year threatened to shut BlackBerry services for security or related reasons. Just last month, BlackBerry blocked porn sites in Indonesia after the government of the biggest Muslim in the world threatened to shut its services. Indonesia has three million BlackBerry subscribers and generates about $250 million for RIM. Unlike emails on the Internet, RIM’s encrypted emails pass through its own servers. The Canadian company has maintained that its has no master key to get access its enterprise emails.
The 23 oil and gas blocks together cover approximately 270,000 square kilometres. This will make the partnership India’s largest private sector holder of exploration acreage. So that the joint venture can capitalize on Reliance’s outstanding project management track record and operations expertise, Reliance will continue to be the operator under the production sharing contracts, whose blocks lie in water depths ranging from 400 to over 3,000 metres. These currently produce about 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcf/d), over 30 per cent of India’s total consumption, and over 40 per cent of India’s total production. “India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. By allying ourselves with Reliance, we will access the most prolific gas basin in India and secure a place in the fast growing Indian gas markets, creating a genuinely distinctive BP position,” said Bob Dudley. “BP looks forward to a long and successful working partnership with Reliance.”
Saudi Petrochem SABIC Has Giant Investment Plans
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY,february 25, 2011 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
Petrochemicals major Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) is planning big investments in India that may run into billions of dollars. Sabic, which ranks among the world’s top five petrochemical companies, has been in talks with Indian petrochemical players for a joint venture to tap the huge potential of the Indian market with cracker projects and downstream refineries. India, which imports over $22 billion of petrochemical products ever year, offers Sabic the perfect platform to tap the potential for its core business areas like chemicals, fertilizers, innovative plastics, polymers and performance chemicals.