Wet and Windy!

Looks like its going to be a rather wet and blustery weekend in Snowdonia, with 84 mph winds reported last night.  I'm taking a couple of mountain newbies up for the weekend - hope I don't put them off for life.  I guess Crib Goch will be off the agenda!

New JetBoil....M'mmm

Just noticed on Outdoor Magic the new Jetboil Sol stoves due for 2011.  While I get the concept I never quite subscribed to the Jetboil philosophy and have thus stuck to my trusty MSR Titan kettle and Optimus Crux Lite combo.  The Jetboil seemed to be too big, (top) heavy and in-flexible, though I guess it does exactly what it was intended for, i.e. boil water quickly, efficiently and conveniently.  

With Primus bringing out a similar stove Jetboil have had to respond and their new 2011 version may just make me re-think.  With a significant weight reduction from current 425g to 300g, or 260g for the titanium cup version the weight argument doesn't hold much, well,...weight.   In the main I use my stove only for boiling water (bar the occassional fried bacon if I'm on a camp-site but then I'd tend to use my MSR Whisperlite stove with a frying pan). With a boil time of 2 mins for 0.5 litre of water and a claimed 12 litre boil per 100g canister it's definitely quick and efficient.  And the clincher, of course, is the new orange and grey colour scheme!!

No prices announced yet but there's also a smaller (0.8l) and cheaper version called the Jetboil Zip at 333g.  Spring 2011 seems so far away......!

PS. I've realised that researching gadgets is far more enjoyable than looking for pants.  I'd been searching for some decent wicking underwear  - a particularly inspiring subject - when I was distracted by the Jetboil article.

Diesel subsidy may be set at Rs 1.49/litre

Diesel price decontrol may only be partial, unlike in the case of free pricing of petrol, as the government may continue to provide a fixed subsidy of Rs 1.49 per litre irrespective of the rise or fall in its market-linked retail price. 

The government freed up prices of petrol and diesel on June 25, but capped the increase in the case of diesel to Rs 2 per litre against a required hike of Rs 3.49 a litre. 

There is no clarity within the government about the balance Rs 1.49-a-litre hike needed to lift diesel to market rates. 

“What this means is that on diesel we will give a (virtually) fixed per-litre subsidy of Rs 1.49,” a finance ministry note circulated to top decisionmakers in the country said. 

Irrespective of variations in the pump price of diesel, the note says, consumers will continue to get the Rs 1.49-a-litre subsidy cushion. 

In its June 25 decision, an empowered group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee fully deregulated petrol and diesel prices. While the price of petrol immediately rose to what it would cost in a free market — by Rs 3.5 a litre in Delhi — in the case of diesel the EGoM pegged the increase at Rs 2 a litre, Rs 1.49 per litre short of what the free market price would have been. 

While the assumption was that diesel prices would gradually rise to a free-market price, the government does not seem to be so clear. 

“There is no clarity who will bear this burden (shortfall of Rs 1.49 a litre),” a senior executive of a public sector oil marketing company said. 

The note pointed at the ambiguity in the EGoM decision. 

“I stressed this (fixed subsidy on diesel) at the EGoM and there was some discussion on it. But in various statements coming out subsequently this got muffled. So observers are not clear if diesel has been decontrolled or not,” a senior official said in the note. 

The oil ministry seems to think the EGoM freed pricing of both petrol and diesel. “The EGoM has deregulated both petrol and diesel prices on June 25 and it has not proposed any fixed subsidy on it,” an official in the ministry said. 

But he could not say why the government restricted retail price increase in diesel to only Rs 2 a litre while the then market price would have required an increase of Rs 3.49 a litre. 

The government’s statement issued on June 25 did say that “the pricing of petrol and diesel both at the refinery gate and the retail level will be market-determined”. 

But it was vague on moving towards a market-determined diesel price. “... in respect of diesel, the initial increase in retail selling price of diesel will be Rs 2 per litre ... Further increases will be made by the public sector oil marketing companies in consultation with the ministry of petroleum & natural gas,” it had said.

Source: Economic Times

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Shale: A home remedy for India’s gas problem

Taking a cue from the US, India is seriously looking at the unconventional shale gas, which, if successful, could mean a substantial improvement in the country’s energy outlook within the next few years. 

The government is gearing up with policy guidelines for shale gas exploitation and auction shale gas blocks within the next two years, even as various E&P players are moving ahead with their pilot projects. ONGC has tied up with Schlumberger for a pilot project in Damodar valley at a capital cost of Rs 128 crore. Similarly, Oil India has initiated a project in Assam, while Reliance Industries is active in Cambay basin. 

However, the project timelines are not short. ONGC, which has been researching shale gas in India since 2006, is expected to spend the next two years gathering geological data in its Damodar valley field, followed by drilling and resource estimation by 2013. In 2014 the company will be able to assess the feasibility and consider production from this pilot project. 

While state-owned players are trying to source shale gas technologies from foreign players, Reliance Industries has chosen to learn the trade by working on live projects. RIL has agreed to invest over $3.1 billion in two separate deals over the next four years to garner 3,08,000 acres of shale in the US. 

Shale is a common rock found across the world and the petroleum explorers are well aware of hydrocarbon deposits trapped in it for a long time. But its exploitation was considered impossible due to the solid nature of shale that prevented hydrocarbons to flow up. With development of newer drilling techniques in the past few years, it has become possible to tap this energy reserve. 

The US is today witnessing excessive availability of natural gas, which is depressing its imports, increasing its inventories and pressurising prices. 

A number of Indian sedimentary basins, including the hydrocarbon bearing ones — Cambay, Assam and Damodar — are bestowed with thick sequences of shale. Though not all shales are good candidates for shale gas exploration, substantial potential for gas from shale is expected from these basins. 

ONGC informed that parameters like productive shale volumes, gas content, thermal maturity, type and amount of organic matter, lithology & extent, mineralogy and saturation, need to be assessed before shale formation can be considered promising. 

While learning the technology to exploit these shale gas reserves is a key hurdle, lack of transporting and storage infrastructure for natural gas and policy framework are other impediments. The entire shale gas exploitation process also carries a number of environmental risks which need to be addressed for sustainable growth. 

Although it is too early, India’s ability to successfully exploit shale gas could go a long way in supporting its future growth. A home-grown remedy to domestic energy needs could indeed be the key in sustaining economic growth and strengthen India’s position in global economics.

Source: Economic Times

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Snowdon Horseshoe...almost!

A hastily packed few bags chucked in the boot of the car saw me leave London at 5pm on a Friday evening.   I feared the worst - either a terrible journey or I've forgotten something crucial like my sleeping bag.  Surprisingly the motorways were clear and I arrived at Dolgam campsite in Capel Curig at 9.15pm, just as it was getting dark and it had started to rain.  I'd decided I wanted to get some height and the Snowdon Horsehoe seemed a good bet.  I hadn't been up Snowdon for a few years - the summer crowds put me off but I was tempted by Crib Goch.   I was also interested in gauging my (poor) fitness levels, having been reading up on Alpine Courses and Mont Blanc.

I awoke to a sunny, but rather blustery morning, which immediately gave me concern about my first traverse of Crib Goch, the guide-book words about avoiding when windy sitting in the back of my mind.  Parking near the Pen-y-Gwyrd hotel I hot-footed up to the Pen-y-Pass hostel and immediately made for the Pyg Track which would give me the option of heading up the east face of Crib Goch, or continuing along the Pyg track.  At Bwylch y Moch it was decision time but it was still rather blustery and I expected it would be worsen with altitude, as evidenced by the speed of the clouds whizzing overhead. Frustratingly I decided that today wouldn't be the best time to test my nerves on the knife-edge, so I reluctantly continued up the Pyg Track.

Llyn Lladar and Y Lliwedd from Bwylch y Moch

The route was full of the usual summer mix of families, large groups and fancy-dress parties.  As I reached the zig-zags it started to rain a little and the temperature dropped,  so I donned my new Rab Cirrus wind-shirt which seemed to shrug off the few spots of rain.  Snowdon's summit was as packed as ever so I elected to huddle behind a wall by the new visitors centre, sheltering from the wind to have lunch.

Looking back to Crib Goch

I had never traversed over Y Lliwedd and its imposing cliffs looked even more impressive viewed from Snowdons peak, though the view back along Crib Goch left me with some regret.  I left the summit by the south ridge for about 100m before dropping south-east where the Watkin Path route joins.  Losing height height I kept near the cliff edge to make the most of the rock-hopping opportunities on offer before scrambling up to reach the West Peak of Y Lliwedd, quickly followed by the East Peak.

East peak of Y Lliwedd

Llyn Llydaw from Lliwedd Bach

From here it case a case of picking my way down towards Lliwedd Bach and following the feint path back down towards LLyn Lydaw.  On the descent my ankle was pretty painful - I strained my ankle ligaments 4 weeks ago and the descent had eventually taken it's toll.  I'd been chatting to a couple of climbers who'd also come up from London the evening before and one of them kindly lent me his walking pole (thanks Hajaz) which eased the load as we descended to meet the Miners Track and trudged back to Pen y Pass.  A cool beer back in Capel Curig also seemed to help ease the pain!

So not quite the full Snowdon Horseshoe - similar in length but not profile and Crib Goch will have to wait for another day (soon).  But as I'm trying to get hill-fit it was good to get in some miles and metres on a beautiful day.

PS. It was the first outing for my Rab Cirrus windshirt - it's laughably thin, windproof and shrugged off mild rain without problen.  I kept it on whilst working hard up-hill and it seemed to breathe well.  The only slight niggle was that the Pertex Quantam fabric is so thin that in high winds a slight excess of material on the arms would catch the wind and flap with a wild slapping noise...and one of the chaps I met asked if it was a base-jumpers top - he was expecting I was going to launch myself from the cliffs!

RIL, Essar to hit the highway to fuel oil profits

With the government deregulating prices of petrol and planning to do the same in case of diesel, private fuel retailers like Reliance Industries (RIL) and Essar plan to aggressively expand their presence along India's national highways, giving public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) a run for their money .

OMCs have traditionally controlled this high-volume business segment of the retail market. Intense compe tition from private players could put pressure on OMCs' retailing margins. "After price deregulation, there would be significant investments by private players in petroleum retailing, but they are likely to focus on highways," says Ajay Arora, an energy expert with global consultancy firm Ernst & Young.

Now that both refinery and retail prices of petrol have been deregulated, RIL and Essar can sell the fuel at any price of their choice.

This will put pressure on OMCs to keep their prices competitive, making the current practice of fortnightly price revisions irrelevant.

Competitive pricing is going to be the name of the game.

Both RIL and Essar have relatively larger and technologically more advanced refineries capable of processing a higher share of tough, heavy and sour crude oil which is cheaper. They also have the flexibility to produce more petrol and diesel out of the same barrel of crude oil. As a result, their refining cost is lower than that of PSUs like IOC, BPCL and HPCL, which have relatively older and smaller refineries.

However, refining facilities of private players are concentrated in a particular area unlike public sector players who have facilities across the country . For example, both RIL and Essar have their refineries in Jamnagar. This translates into higher transportation and distribution costs. "We are well-positioned to face competition from private players. Our overhead cost may be higher, but our distribution cost would be lower," IOC chairman BM Bansal told FE. Besides, OMCs have also acted fast in improving customer services at retail outlets.

Private players will have to further reduce their refining costs to offset the impact of higher distribution costs. Setting up new refineries to achieve geographical spread is not an option due to high capital costs. Continued from Page 1 Private players have been swapping products with O M C s t o s ave t r a n s portation costs. But it is difficult to say how long this understanding would hold once competition for market share intensifies.

The global slowdown of the last two years led to some demand contraction for petrol and diesel in North America and west Europe, both of which were favourite destinations for Indian petro-product exports.

However, the Indian market still remains lucrative, given the strong demand for auto fuels in the country.

So, it makes sense f o r p r iv a t e p l ay e r s , wh i ch h ave b e e n e x porting a sizeable quantum of their production, to expand their footprint in the domestic market.

Source: Financial Express

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Government approves $5.25 per mmBtu for ONGC gas

The government has approved a higher price of gas for ONGC’s C-Series fields in Mumbai offshore taking a step forward in its policy to bring all gas prices closer to market-determined rates. 

The C-Series gas priced has been fixed at $ 5.25 per million British thermal unit (mmscmd), which almost a dollar higher than the price at which Reliance Industries sells gas from the its fields in Krishna Godavari basin. 

Reliance gets $ 4.215 per mmBtu for the gas it produces from KG-D6 fields. The price for ONGC is a tad lower than $ 5.5 per mmBtu which it had sought earlier, said a oil and gas ministry official. 

The government had recently increased the price of gas sold at controlled price (administered price mechanism or APM gas ) by state owned upstream oil companies to $ 4.2 per mmBtu bringing it at par with KG D-6 gas. 

Natural gas produced from C-Series fields is sold to Gail which further markets it to end users. ONGC began production from C-Series fields last month and is currently producing between 0.8 to 1.2 million standard cubic meters per day from the wells drilled so far. 

The peak output from the field is expected to be 2.8 mmscmd after all the 15 wells are drilled after monsoon season. 

Source: Economic Times

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