India

Brazen Gang rape in India sparks outrage and shocks the world

December 20, 2012 by Reporter Leave a Comment

The 23-year-old medical student has been left fighting for her life after a attack by upto four men on a bus. She was gang-raped by at least four men, brutally bashed, and then thrown out of the bus while it was still moving. Her male companion was also seriously injured by the same group of attackers.

Her male companion who tried to intervene also got beaten up brutally with an iron rod.

According to police and reports, the rape took place over a period of more than 40 minutes. The victim was dragged to the rear of the bus and brutally beaten and raped.”

Rape cases in India more than doubled between 1990 and 2008 according to official data

Four people including the bus driver have so far been arrested and the police are on the hunt for two other suspects

Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh joined his ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi in condemning Sunday night’s “heinous” assault.

The brutal gang-rape of a student on a bus has sparked outrage and protest on the streets of New Delhi, India. Demonstrators say violence against women is skyrocketing across the city.

During the protest screened live on television, police could be seen hosing down demonstrators after a group of them tried to tear down steel barricades outside the official residence of New Delhi’s Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan weighed in by calling on his Facebook page for “every Indian (to) become a vigilante, a soldier, a commander” to “fight such heinous crimes with strength and conviction”.

In a more recent incident

After gang rape of a girl in a moving bus in Delhi, which shocked the entire country, a 38-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by three persons at a roadways bus stand in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh. According to this report the police refused to lodge a rape complaint and registered a case of molestation, eve-teasing and theft

After public anger and outrage rocking India , New Delhi’s police chief on Tuesday demanded the death penalty for people convicted of rape, a crime that currently carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison.

India gets warnings on chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE

December 8, 2012 by Sheldon Leave a Comment

Indian Research body C-DoT has dialled and informed the telecom department to bar Chinese network vendors Huawei and ZTE from bidding and putting in tenders in the communication ministry’s Rs 20,000-crore broadband venture involving the roll out of a national optic fibre network (NOFN) that will take high-speed internet in India to new levels.

Huawei, ZTE Security warning in India for optic fibre bidding

A top research wing of the government has raised concern over two Chinese companies, primarily engaged in telecommunications equipment and services in the country

Ref: http://www.timesnow.tv/

The research body, in an internal note or memo to the Indian telecom secretary R Chandrasekhar, says India must keep Chinese telecom networks – Huawei and ZTE out of sensitive government projects in the aftermath of a recent US congressional report that warned both Chinese gear-makers pose a security threat to telecom networks worldwide.

The Indian agency C-DoT has urged DoT to allow 100% domestic sourcing of GPON gear for the NOFN venture by tweaking preferential market access (PMA) norms, in light of “a 22% cost disadvantage for electronics manufactured in India compared to imports”.

What is National Optical Fibre Network ( NOFN)

Project to be implemented by NOFN‐SPV namely Bharat
Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL).
Govt. of India to fund the project through the Universal Service
Obligation Fund (USOF). Rs. 20,000 Cr.($4B)
Suitable Tri‐partite MoU to be signed by GOI, State Govt & BBNL

Guar – The mining gold from India Coveted by US Miners

July 17, 2012 by Reporter Leave a Comment

The people of rajasthan India often live in poverty, specially a lot of the farmers in the desert land of Rajasthan India. But suddenly a small little bean grown in rajasthan India is changing many lives for the better , creating a flutter in the Indian commodity market and also worrying a lot of us miners who use this bean for a mining method called fracturing

Guar the Indian Bean and Mining by Fracturing

A recent discovery that guar could stiffen water so much that a mixture is able to carry sand sideways into wells drilled by horizontal fracturing, also known as fracking has made this bean a commodity in demand.

U.S. companies drilling for oil and gas in shale formations have developed a big appetite for the powder-like gum made from the seeds of guar giving many small-scale farmers in India a nice bonanza who produce 80 percent of the world’s beans.
Halfway around the world, earnings are down for an oil services giant, Halliburton, because prices have risen for guar (The bean that is used in fracturing), the bean that many Rajasthan farmers have now started to grow, abandoning their traditional farming crops. . The increase in guar prices is helping to transform this part of the state of Rajasthan in north-western India, one of the world’s poorest places.

The magic bean Guar from India

This hard little bean when ground up, it becomes an essential ingredient for mining oil and natural gas in a process called hydraulic fracturing. This bean Guar is so hard that it can crack teeth, has become an unlikely global player, and poor farmers in India have suddenly become a crucial link in the energy production of the United States.

For centuries in Rajasthan India , farmers here used guar to feed their families and their cattle. These beans are easier to grow in the Rajasthani desert, a land poor in rain. Commercial interest in guar first developed when food companies found that it absorbs water like a souped-up corn-starch, and a powdered form of the bean is now widely used to thicken ice cream and keep pastries crisp.

Fracking boom in the United States

The fracking boom in the United States and now spreading in Europe has led to a surge in natural gas production, a decline in oil imports and a gradual transition away from coal-fired power plants. "Without guar, you cannot have fracturing fluids," said Michael J. Economides, a professor of engineering at the University of Houston who is a fracking expert. "And what everybody is worried about is that there is virtually no guar out there now."

In March, the United States bought 33,800 metric metric tons of guar gum from India, the highest amount ever. Last year, U.S. firms bought an average 22,000 metric metric tons from India a month.

India produces about 85 percent of the world’s guar. Worries for this year’s monsoon, which is vital for an adequate crop has risen in speculation over commodity prices for guar

Vikas WSP, an Indian company that specializes in the production of guar powders. Vikas signed contracts with farmers guaranteeing a return of nearly $800 per acre if they planted guar, no matter what this year’s monsoon brought.

"Last year was an extraordinary year," said S. K. Sharma, managing director of Lotus Gums and Chemicals in Jodhpur. "In 35 years in this business, I’ve never seen that."

Mr. Sharma said his company would soon open a second plant dedicated entirely to serving gas companies, adding that he was cautiously optimistic that guar prices would remain robust. "But we know there are efforts to grow guar in China, Australia, California and elsewhere, and it has us worried,"

Neil Beveridge, an oil analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said demand for fracking services should continue to grow rapidly as the industry expanded outside North America. "We’re already starting to see a big increase in Eastern Europe, Argentina, Australia, China and India itself," he said.

Mr. Economides, the Houston fracking expert, said. "There are no easy or cheap alternatives to guar,"

guar sowing increases
price of sugar
guar prices 2012
guar
guar gum price monitor 2012

That is good news for guar producers and farmers of Rajasthan India.

The good Black stuff that everyone wants– Coal

December 22, 2011 by Reporter Leave a Comment

India and china have been scouring the Australian shores for good deals on acquisitions this past year for our gold in black , coking coal and thermal coal resources. Australia is one of the world’s largest miner and exporter of coal. Prices for coking coal, used to make steel, may rise 50 percent next year to $291 a metric ton.

Rising demand in China and India for their energy needs has pushed mergers and acquisitions globally to a record $34.5 billion this year, with 192 companies acquired .

The possible combination of Whitehaven Coal Ltd. and Aston Resources Ltd. could create a giant of a company valued at A$5.1 billion ($5.1 billion).

International coal consumption is projected to climb by an annual 2.8 percent in the six years to 2016 due to rising demand to feed power generation stations and steel mills in China and India.

Deals and acquisitions In coal sector

Yanzhou was China’s biggest takeover of an Australian company with the A$3.1 billion acquisition of Felix Resources Ltd. in 2009.

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., China’s fourth-biggest producer, plans to buy Gloucester Coal Ltd. for at least $2 billion.

International Coal Ventures Ltd., a group of Indian state- backed companies formed to buy overseas coal assets, is one of the bidders for Aquila Resources Ltd.’s Washpool coal mine in Australia

Peabody Energy Corp.’s impending $4 billion takeover of Macarthur Coal Ltd.

New Hope Corp., with a market value of A$4.7 billion, said last month is said to be in talks with several bidders.

Tata, India’s largest business group or JSW Steel Ltd. another large Indian steel company could possibly bid for the miner to secure thermal- coal mines.

Cockatoo Coal Ltd., with a market value of A$376 million, is another possible target.

Carabella, which has a market value of A$155 million, said in October that it had received “several unsolicited expressions of interest” in its Grosvenor West project in Queensland

Rising Prices of coking coal & thermal coal

Global imports of thermal coal may increase 5.2 percent next year to 581 million tons led by gains in India, Australia’s bureau said and analysts are predicting gains in price for coking and thermal coal and also and increase in imports from the major growing economies.

The value of Australian mining companies has fallen to the lowest since July 2010, dropping 35 precent from a high this year creating a very attractive price factor for takeovers and mergers in this sector.

WordPress Tags: Black,Coal,India,china,Australian,shores,,Ventures,

Indian,assets,bidders,Aquila,Washpool,Peabody,

Macarthur,Hope,Tata,Steel,miner,Cockatoo,million,

Carabella,October,Grosvenor,West,Queensland,

The “Anna Hazare” India revolution taking place in Delhi

August 22, 2011 by Reporter 1 Comment

After the protest against the dictators in middle east , Riots in London , and the unrest in Libya and Greece Its now India’s turn with massive protest happening against corruption in India led by activist Anna Hazare.

Indian anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare has called on the government to pass a new anti-graft(corruption) law or quit.Anna Hazare has been on a public hunger strike since last Tuesday and Thousands of supporters are gathered in the capital Delhi, where Mr Hazare is conducting his fast.

Mr.Hazare has gained massive support from the poor and middle class who are disillusioned with the chronic corruption In India. The inflation and rising grocery prices in India has also created dissatisfaction among many of the poor in India.

The Anti corruption Anna Hazare backed protest

Anna was arrested previously and then he agreed to a police offer permitting him to go on hunger strike for 15 days with a deal with the current government and Police. Anna Hazare has inspired Thousands of people who are fed up with the corruption in India and also joined his rally in support of Mr Hazare in different parts of india like Mumbai (Bombay), cities of Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Surat.

Mr Hazare says the government’s proposed anti-corruption bill is weak and wants his own tougher version to be passed by parliament. The Jan Lokpal bill is a civil society-backed version of the government’s Lokpal bill.A recent survey said corruption in Asia’s third largest economy had cost billions of dollars and threatened to derail growth.

"The youth are our national power. … And what I find significant in this ‘revolution’ is that the youth are standing behind it," Hazare told a crowd on Sunday. "I request the citizens of this country to hold sit-ins at the homes of parliamentarians from their areas to make them give a written commitment for the Lokpal," he said.

A constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap said "Mr Hazare is well within his rights to hold protests. But to say, ‘You accept my bill and nothing else,’ might amount to coercing the government and parliament.

A leading civil-rights activist, Arundhati Roy commented on Hazare’s campaign.
"I think (Hazare) is ill-advised. Anyone who says, ‘My view should be the only view,’ is wrong," said Roy of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information.

Links:

The ugly scourge of inflation plays with Australia , China and India

August 19, 2011 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has been heading higher over recent months. During the three months to June 2011, headline inflation was recorded at 0.9% in comparison, property values across the combined capital cities fell by -1.5%. Inflation has become a prime concern now for fast growing economies like India, China but also developed economies like AUSTRALIA

Inflation and Australia sectors

There are sev eral ways in which inflation can be measured. The most common is by reference to a consumer price index (CPI) which measures the changes in prices of a basket of goods and services purchased by a representative set of households. The CPI is a narrow measure of inflation and does not measure changes in the prices of other goods and service. A much broader indicator of inflation is provided by the GDP deflator, and this is the much more popular inflation measure used.

Some countries calculate their volume estimates of government consumption by deflating their current price estimates using representative input price indexes, while others weight together output indicators for services provided by hospitals, schools, etc.

In india Government data Tuesday showed July inflation at 9.22% from a year earlier and authorities warn it would hover between 9% and 10% till December. Economists widely predict a further 0.50 percentage point increase by next March as inflation is above the central bank’s comfort level.

The inflation rate in India was last reported at 8.62 percent in June of 2011. From 1969 until 2010, the average inflation rate in India was 7.99 percent reaching an historical high of 34.68 percent in September of 1974 and a record low of -11.31 percent in May of 1976

China and inflation

China’s annual housing inflation quickened in July for the second straight month this year, official data, keeping up pressure on Beijing to rein in the red-hot property sector.Many international and chinese economists have warned that a bursting of a property bubble is the biggest risk facing the world’s second-largest economy in the medium to long term.

In this short term period, rising house prices are driving up China’s consumer inflationdangerously, which accelerated to 6.5% in the year to July from June’s 6.4%. China’s average new home prices rose 4.3% in July from a year earlier, an uptick from an annual rise of 4.2% in June and 4.1% in May

Carbon Tax Reporting from Australia

July 13, 2011 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Like it or not, the carbon tax is here to stay. At least the Australian government is made it much easier for the people to accept the carbon tax with compensating people with tax cuts to make up for the rsie in some expenses due to the carbon tax.

Reform done good is definitely much more acceptable as can be seen by the way the Australian people and economists and analysts have received the new carbon tax. Much more reforms are promised by the Julia Gillard government whereby it will encourage stay at home moms to come take part in the workforce without getting penalized by more taxes.

How the World is reporting out initiative on the New carbon tax

Snippets from different online websites from different countries reporting the new Australian carbon tax

– CBC News – Australia unveils carbon tax

Australia has unveiled a new carbon tax that will force its 500 biggest polluters to pay for emissions — the country’s biggest economic reform in a generation. More..

– Australia carbon tax plans spark protests

Rallies have taken place in Australia in protest at plans by the Labor government to bring in a carbon tax. More..

– www.trust.org – SINGAPORE, – Funny thing, Australians thought they were going to get a carbon tax aimed at reducing emissions, but what they ended up with is a welfare scheme being paid for by polluters and households deemed wealthy. More…

– Australia carbon tax unlikely to impact Indian cos –Australia carbon tax- a green initiative: Australia announced yesterday its carbon tax plan in an effort to help fight climate change. More..

– How mining and media distort Australia’s carbon tax debate. Mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s influence is being felt in Australia’s carbon tax battle through TV and newspapers. More…

TAX-NEWS.COM – Carbon Tax In Australia Starts In July 2012 – The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced this week that the government will be putting a price on Australia’s carbon emissions, starting in July next year. More..

– Australia’shistoricLabor-Greenscarbontaxagreement

You could feel the increased energy in Parliament House yesterday after the historic carbon tax agreement between the Labor Government and the Australian Greens. More..

– Australia sets carbon tax to fight climate change

Australia announced plans on Sunday to tax carbon pollution at Aus$23 (US$24.74) per tonne to help battle climate change, as it moved towards creating the region’s biggest emissions trading scheme. More..

– Australia PM unveils carbon tax targeting biggest 500 polluters – Australia will force its 500 worst polluters to pay AU$23 (US$25) for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit, with the government promising to compensate households hit with higher power bills under a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions unveiled Sunday. More..

What is a carbon tax and why is it being proposed?
The government plans to tax the carbon pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels, including coal and petroleum. A carbon tax puts a price on the carbon released when fossil fuels are burned. It is designed to include in the price of fossil fuel use the cost of the environmental damage it causes.

Info Links

http://www.aph.gov.au/li/economic/carbontax.htm

Gas find In India by Australian company Oilex

September 8, 2010 by Reporter Leave a Comment

Oilex of Australia Finds Gas in Gujarat

Stocks in Mumbai extended gains for the second day. Oilex of Australia strikes large reserves of gas in Gujarat. Indian Oil to expand its refinery production by 25% in North India. UAE based Etisalat may invest in Idea Cellular.

Australia’s Oilex Ltd said on Monday it made huge natural gas discovery in Gujarat that may hold over 1.5 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. Industry estimates put the total resources base in the Cambay basin discoveries near the town of Khambat, 160 kilometers south of Ahmedabad, at between 20 to 30 trillion cubic feet, almost equivalent to the reserves of RIL’s eastern offshore KG D-6 fields.

Oilex: Western Australia

Western Australia. WA-388-P: Carnarvon Basin Offshore Western Australia. As part of a developing gas strategy with our Indian partners, Oilex, …
www.oilex.com.au/

Oilex Ltd. is engaged in the exploration for oil and gas, appraisal and development of oil and gas properties, and production and sale of oil. The Company is primarily involved in the exploration, evaluation, development and production of hydrocarbons. It has operations in India, Australia, Oman, Timor-Leste and Indonesia. As at June 30, 2009, its permits included Cambay Field, Bhandut Field, Sabarmati Field, Block 56, West Kampar Block, Joint Petroleum Development Area between Timor-Leste & Australia (JPDA 06-103) and WA-388-P.

Indian Commodity Exchange, the nation’s third-largest commodity bourse by turnover, signed a pact with Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, to develop iron ore futures, it said in a statement. Indian Oil Corp shut a 120,000 barrel per day crude unit at its northern India Panipat refinery late on Sunday for 45 days to boost capacity 25%, its head of refineries, B.N. Bankapur said Monday.

Oilex Australian In India

The most significant component of the Company’s portfolio with the chance of generating significant revenue in the near term is in the Cambay Basin, Gujarat, India. Oilex has material interests of 40%-45% in three “brownfield” re-development projects (Cambay, Bhandut and Sabarmati fields). These fields are currently all producing small to moderate volumes of oil.

The potential for improving the production rate from the existing wells and the scope for full scale redevelopment of the fields are encouraging given that the reservoir distribution is poorly understood and analogies nearby in the Cambay Basin are a fair basis for optimism. Step-out exploration potential particularly in the Cambay contract area is low risk and high reward with the demand for gas and oil in the main heavy industrial corridor of India remaining substantially in excess of domestic supply.

Location of Cambay Basin Fields in relation to the main heavy industrial corridor in Gujarat

Natural gas production in India will rise by over 25% to 180 million cubic meters a day by 2012-13 after Reliance Industries eastern offshore KG D6 field hits peak output. India’s gas production is currently around 143 mmscmd, of which around 42% comes from RIL’s Krishna-Godavari basin D6 fields, a government official said. The Indian Railways approached Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd for setting up 1,000 megawatt of captive nuclear capacity on its behalf. The proposal put forward by the Indian Railways includes setting up two units of 500 megawatt on railway land. Power generated from the plants will be used by the Railways.

Bhandut and Sabarmati Fields

Oilex acquired 40% in each of Bhandut and Sabarmati Fields onshore Gujarat from Niko early in 2006, subject to the approval of the Government of India. Those approvals were received in January 2007. Each of these fields is producing oil at low rates on an intermittent basis and they are anticipated to be good candidates for re-development. Oilex is the designated Operator of the Sabarmati and Bhandut Fields.

OILEX LTD (OEX) – ASX Listed Company Information Fact Sheet

Exempt Foreign? No. Internet Address, http://www.oilex.com.au/. Registered Office Address, Level 2, 46 – 50 Kings Park Road, WEST PERTH, WA, AUSTRALIA, 6005 …
www.asx.net.au/asx/research/companyInfo.do?by=asxCode

The fields were discovered and developed initially by ONGC of India. Hydrocarbons were found in Oligocene and Eocene sandstones and continued to be produced on an intermittent basis after the fields were acquired by the GSPC and Niko Joint Venture in 1995. Production from the fields has suffered because of sand and water influx and decline in reservoir pressure most likely due to formation damage.

Minor oil production from both fields continues and a forward re-development strategy is being formulated for execution in 2009.

Location Bhandut and Sabarmati Fields, Cambay Basin, Gujarat

[PDF]

Oilex started as an onshore

Indian Oil Group’s Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd has lined up an investment of Rs 20,000 crore over the next five years for capacity expansion, a top company official said Tuesday. “CPCL is planning to set up a 9 million ton refinery project at Manali, near Chennai at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore. This is to replace the aging 2.8 million ton refinery,” IOCL Chairman B.M. Bansal told reporters in Chennai.

Cambay Field

In July 2005, Oilex entered into an agreement with the Cambay Field Joint Venture, comprising Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (“GSPC”) and Niko Resources Ltd (“Niko”) to acquire a 30% participating interest in the Production Sharing Contract (“PSC”) covering the Cambay Field. Oilex acquired an additional 15% equity interest from Niko and now holds a 45% participating interest in the Cambay PSC. The Government of India approved the 30% farmin equity agreement in March 2006 and the approval for the balance of the equity in the PSC was received in January 2007.

Offshore Western Australia

As part of a developing gas strategy with our Indian partners, Oilex, as Operator on behalf of a bidding group with large Indian companies successfully bid for Application Area W05-11 in April 2006. The permit is now designated as WA-388-P. The block lies to the north of the North Rankin, Goodwin and Perseus gas and condensate fields currently being produced for the domestic and LNG gas markets by Northwest Shelf Ventures and to the north of the large gas resources discovered in the Janz/lo area.

Oilex Ltd

PO Box 588, West Perth
WA 6872
Australia

Tel:
61/08 9226 5577

URL:
http://www.oilex.com.au

Formerly known as:

Oilex NL

Primary Symbol & Exchange:

OEX – Ordinary Shares – Australian

Other Symbol & Exchange:

OEX – Dual listed – London

Industry:

Mining