ONGC Videsh eyes Chevron gas block in Vietnam

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) overseas arm ONGC Videsh (OVL) plans to buy a stake in US super major Chevron's $4.3-billion Block B gas project in Vietnam.

Chevron has called for expression of interests from international firms willing to farm in (or buy stake), said sources adding that OVL is keen to take part or whole of the stake in the block, which has 4 trillion cubic feet of inplace reserves, of which 63 per cent can be recovered or produced.

Chevron holds 42.38-per cent stake in Blocks B and 48/95 in Malay-Tho Chu Basin of Vietnam. It can produce up to 490 million cubic feet of gas and 6,000-7,000 barrel of condensate per day.

Others who are reported to be interested in picking up the stake include Gazprom of Russia. Hanoi is seeking to involve Russia and India to counter the influence of China, with whom it has a territorial dispute. It has offered OVL five offshore oil and gas exploration areas in South China Sea and its Kossor block in Uzbekistan without bidding.

Sources said that OVL feels Vietnam will support its bid for Chevron stake by giving necessary approval and waiving its first right of refusal. OVL already has 45-per cent stake in Block 06.1, which produces about 12.8 million standard cubic metres per day of gas and 1,896 barrels per day of condensate.

OVL feels it can get the Chevron stake as it has an experience in operating at the offshore Vietnam.

Sources said that Chevron has prepared a development plan to produce gas from the block but hasn't started work over a dispute with Vietnam's national oil firm PetroVietnam about the price of gas.

In association with Mail Today

Rupee, FIIs to set the trend for stock markets this week

 
The monthly derivatives contract would expire on Thursday followed by announcement of GDP data for the second quarter on Friday.

The movement of the rupee, which has been under pressure in the last few days, and action of foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who seem to have turned cautious last week, would be the main drivers this week.

Besides, hints by the US Federal Reserve on timing of the stimulus tapering would also affect the market.

Key levels for this week will be 19,910 and 20,625 on the Sensex and 5,915 and 6,145 on the Nifty.

Markets rallied on the first two days and lost on the next two while remaining flat on the fifth day. Markets tested important levels when the Sensex turned just before the low of November 13 while the Nifty took support at the same level. This technical set-up could trigger a rally. The October series futures had expired at 6,164.35 points. The current market is lower by 169 points, or 2.74 per cent.

The bulls are having an upper hand and unlikely to give way so easily. This week will be volatile with sharp intra-day moves but an upward bias.

Investment by FIIs in the last three trading days of the last week was virtually flat. This could be attributed to them turning cautious post the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, minutes of which indicate that tapering may happen earlier than expected. FIIs were net buyers of equity worth Rs 1,924 crore while domestic institutions were net sellers of Rs 813 crore.

The special window for foreign currency non-resident deposits opened by the Reserve Bank of India will close on November 30. It has has attracted remittance of $22.7 billion so far.

Dow Jones continued to rally and closed at 16,064 points, a gain of 103 points, or 0.64 per cent. Gold prices have been falling internationally and closed at $1,243 an ounce, quite close to the low made in June, $1,211.

In India, the price of gold is Rs 31,000 - courtesy the periodical import duty, which has been levied, and the depreciating rupee, which has fallen from 55-56 to 63.

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) will buy back up to 10 per cent of fully paid-up equity capital, which works out to 123 crore equity shares at Rs 19.25 apiece payable in cash, for an aggregate amount of Rs 2,367.89 crore through tender offer.

These shares were issued at Rs 36 in August 2009.

RBI extends special forex windows for banks till December 31

After getting a good response to the double forex swap windows - aimed to shore up forex buffer and prop up the rupee - the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to utilise the special window till December 31 to borrow forex against their core capital, but with riders.

The other swap window was to draw in NRI funds through the FCNR-B deposit route.

Under the facility, banks were permitted to borrow from international banks/multilateral agencies up to 100 per cent of their core capital and swap the amount with the Reserve Bank at a concessional rate of 3.5 per cent.

However, it is not known how many banks have availed of this facility so far, barring a few like YES Bank, which said it raised $255 million early October.

"It has been decided that if any bank is being sanctioned any loan from any international/multilateral financial institutions and is receiving a firm commitment in this regard on or before November 30, it will be allowed to enter into a forward-forward swap under the first leg of which the bank will sell forward the contracted amount of forex corresponding to the loan amount for delivery up to December 31," RBI said in a statement on Friday.

However, the regulator clarified that the window will remain open till December 31 only to those banks which are negotiating loans or are close to closing the deal.

"If the bank is not in a position to deliver the contracted forex amount on the contracted date, it will have to pay the difference between concessional swap rate contracted and the market swap rate plus 100 basis points," RBI said.

"It is reiterated that the above relaxation is available only for the contracts entered into up to November 30, and not thereafter and that all the other terms and conditions for the swap will remain unchanged as notified earlier," the RBI said.

Both the windows till Wednesday had netted in $22.5 billion and are to be tapered off on November 30.

Inflation indexed bonds worth Rs 1,000 cr to be sold on Nov 26

 
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will sell inflation-indexed bonds worth Rs 1,000 crore through price-based auction on November 26.

This is the second round of inflation bonds, after the maiden offering in June.

RBI would allot up to 20 per cent of the notified amount of the bonds to eligible individuals and institutions according to the scheme for non-competitive bidding facility.

Interest at the rate of 1.44 per cent per annum will accrue on the indexed principal value of the bonds from the date of original issue and will be paid half yearly on December 5 & June 5, the central bank said in a release.

The bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on RBI's core banking solution on November 26, the release said.

The central bank will announce result of the auctions on November 26 and payment by successful bidders will be on November 27, it added.

Indian rupee up 31 paise against US dollar

The Indian rupee strengthened by 31 paise to 62.56 against the US dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks.

Forex dealers said strengthening euro against the dollar and fall in oil prices overseas following a key deal between world powers and Iran on its controversial nuclear programme and a higher opening in the domestic equity market also supported the local currency.

The rupee had gained six paise to end at 62.87 on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India was said to have stepped in to stem the fall.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex recovered by 223.26 points, or 1.10 per cent, to 20,440.65 in early trade on Monday.