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Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has increased its stake in shale gas business in North America with another joint venture, this time with Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. Reliance has been on a shale gas acquisition spree since the last few months with joint ventures with Atlas Energy and Pioneer Natural Resources. ‘Shale gas’, through a new US technological breakthrough in extraction has made shale gas extraction feasible and viable. With large deposits of shale gas in the US and elsewhere in the world, the prospect of such gas from shale sources is expected to totally alter the oil and gas scenario.
Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc., a Houston based company, has been actively engaged in the exploration, development,
exploitation and production of oil and natural gas in the US. Under the joint venture with Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc., RIL
will act as a development operator in certain regions, over the coming years.
RIL will pay $392 million for the deal, which comprises $ 340 million in cash and $ 52 million in drilling cost. In the newly formed joint venture between the companies, RIL will own 60% interest while Carrizo will own 40%.
“We are pleased to establish a longterm partnership with Carrizo, which has demonstrated operating expertise in the shale plays”, said Walter Van de Vijver, president, International E&P business, RIL, adding that, “the proposed joint venture will supplement strengths achieved through our recent joint ventures and further expands our footprint in North American shale gas operations”.
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Gas Authority of India Ltd, which operates a gas cracker and 410,000 tpa ldpe/lldpe petrochemical complex at Pata in the Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh has got approval
to set up another 400,000 tpa petrochemical complex. This new complex will include a 450,000 tpa gas cracker, a 20,000 tpa
butene – 1 unit; a 400,000 tpa lldpe/hdpe swing unit; a 20 million standard cubic meter per day gas sweetening unit and a
19.5 million standard cubic meter per day C2 and recovery unit. The total investment required is estimated at $ 1.8 billion.
While new gas cracker and polymer units would be built at the same site at Pata, making operations easier, the remaining
four units and their associated facilities would be set up at Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh. The new complex would require
about 2.5 million standard cubic meters per day of gas. EIL, which prepared the detailed feasibility report, has been appointed
as the EPCM consultant for the Pata project.
Meanwhile, an earlier decision of GAIL to associate with Reliance Industries to jointly put up a mega petrochemicals
complex has been put on the back burner.
In another development GAIL has concluded an agreement with Brahmaputra Cracker & Polymer Ltd (BCPL) for marketing
all petrochemical products produced by BCPL at its plant in Lepetkata, Assam. The BCPL plant is under construction and is
expected to be commissioned by 2012. According to the agreement, once the plant starts production, GAIL will market, 20,000 tonne of hdpe and ldpe along with 60,000 tonne of PP annually. Most of these products are expected to be distributed in the North East. BCPL is a joint venture promoted by GAIL (70% equity), Oil India Ltd, Numaligarh Refineries Ltd and Assam government, each with 10%
equity.
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| Rakesh Kumar Kamra (L), Director (Finance), BCPL and J S Saini (R), GM (Petrochemicals Marketing), GAIL,
exchanging documents of the marketing agreement. |
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After several months of anticipation, Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), one of India’s largest vaccine manufacturers, has
launched its first painless swine flu intra-nasal H1N1 vaccine called Nasovac. SII thus becomes the third manufacturer in the country to market vaccines against swine flu, the other two companies being Zydus Cadila and Sanofi-Aventis.
 The safety and efficacy of the vaccine was assessed through clinical trials on more than 300 human subjects in the country. The vaccine has been approved by the Drug Controller General of India, and can be safely administrated to any individual above three years. Since the vaccine is supposed to mimic the path followed by the virus to enter the body, it promises superior effectiveness in providing resistance to the virus. Each dose contains a dehydrated
powder of the influenza vaccine and a diluent.
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The first batch of over-dimensional cargo (ODC) for the third phase expansion project of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) was recently unloaded from the vessel m.v. Fair Player at the New Mangalore port. The six giant machineries in the first batch – weighing around 900 tonnes – were manufactured at the Hazira plant of L&T.
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Gujarat-based ethylene oxide derivatives manufacturer Laffans Petrochemicals has signed a definitive agreement with the international chemical manufacturing company Huntsman Corporation, under which Huntsman will acquire the chemicals business of Laffans. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2011. The Laffans chemicals business will be integrated into the Performance Products division and is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings.
This acquisition builds on the successful manufacturing alliance between the two companies which was made in December last year, under which the companies announced their intention to develop markets in India and the Asia Pacific region.
Commenting on the transaction, Daniele Ferrari, President of the Performance Products Division, Huntsman, said, “In addition to the recently announced expansion of our polyetheramine facility in Singapore, the acquisition of this business is strategically important as we look to meet the rapid growth in demand for other amines within Asia. A stronger manufacturing presence in India will enable us to better support our customers and their growth specifically within the Indian economy. This acquisition will bring total annual Huntsman Corporation sales in India to approx $260 million or 3% of total sales. The Laffans chemical business is complementary to our existing technology and product offering and introduces exciting potential for additional product development.”
Laffans Petrochemicals intends to utilize the proceeds from the sale of the chemicals business to further develop its logistics, warehousing and agency activities with mutually beneficial partnerships within the Indian chemicals industry, including
the Huntsman group, where it sees valuable opportunities to build on its extensive experience and network.
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| Transgene Biotek Ltd |
Hyderabad-based Transgene Biotek Ltd has entered into an agreement to acquire Marillion Pharmaceuticals Inc, a US Oncology Biopharmaceuticals company based in Exton, Pennsylvania. This acquisition will benefit Transgene to accelerate its business growth and broaden its scope of drug development.
Marillion Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage biopharmaceuticals company, engaged in development and commercialisation of novel therapeutics in oncology, has presence in the US and manufacturing and licensing partners in the UK and Europe.
The merger combines Marillion’s products with Transgene’s own drug pipeline to create a strong oncology platform and products for the new merged company. The new entity will play a role in licensing deals with multinational pharmaceutical companies as also develop and commercialise drugs. Both the companies see significant expansion of drug development right from the early stage and pre-clinical trials to late stage clinical trials. The merged entity will have
a research and business platform and an expanded presence in major markets.
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