Page 5 - AsianOil Week 43

AsianOil ASIA-PACIFIC AsianOil
this month, with the two sides discussing joint exploration opportunities. Russia’s Ambassador tothePhilippinesIgorKhovaevtoldreporterson October 22 that the Russian developer was “very interested” in establishing a partnership with the Philippines.
Duterte met Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin in Moscow on October 2 and asked the oil execu- tive to apply for a service contract with the Phil- ippines’ Department of Energy (DOE).
Khovaev then revealed on October 26 that Russian President Vladimir Putin had accepted
Duterte’s invitation to visit the Philippines. “We’ll do our best to arrange this visit as soon
aspossible,”theambassadortoldreporters. Retired Philippine ambassador Lauro Baja told the South China Morning Post that no Rus- sian president had visited the country in more
than 40 years.
“The Philippines then was almost a nonen-
tity as far as Russia was concerned, [but] maybe now Russia recognises the strategic importance of the Philippines [in terms of ] regional politics,” he was quoted as saying.™
SOUTH ASIA
BPCL privatisation draws fire
POLICY
THE Indian government’s plan to privatise its 53.29% stake in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has attracted opposition from both state-level lawmakers as well as company unions.
Kerala State Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called on the central government to drop the plan, arguing that the sale puts the future of 30,000 jobs at risk.
“The state government has always evinced interest in continuing the BPCL in the public sector. The state government had also played a key role in setting up the Kochi refinery as a subsidiary of BPCL,” the official said on October 29. Highlighting the state government’s com- mitment to the company, Vijayan said that it had opted to keep its 5% stake in the refinery follow- ing its takeover by BPCL.
The 15.5mn tonne per year (310,000 barrel per day) Kochi facility is a core component of BPCL’s downstream portfolio, which includes 38.3mn tonnes (770,000 bpd) of refining capacity.
The official argued that the move to priva- tise the company would not “benefit the [pub- lic sector undertaking] PSU in anyway and hence the centre should immediately with- draw this decision.”
The government’s plans have also drawn criticism from trade unions and independent associations, which have decided to hold a
one-day strike on November 28. They will be joined by unions from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), which are worried that BPCL’s privatisation could lead to a simi- lar move at HPCL.
Indian media have been reporting for months that state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has struggled to integrate HPCL after purchasing the government’s 51.11% stake in January 2018. After almost two years of majority ownership, ONGC has only been able to appoint one member to HPCL’s board.
The government repealed 187 laws in 2016, including the acts relating BPCL and HPCL’s nationalisation. After a group of secretaries greenlit the government’s plan to sell its stake in BPCL on September 30, the prospect of an HPCL sale appears more than likely.
The trade unions released a statement at the National Convention on October 26 condemn- ing the central government’s “suicidal decision and aggressive move” to privatise strategic state- owned companies.
“[T]he shocking decision of the present government to completely privatise BPCL and HPCL has established that the central govern- ment of the day is totally under the clutch of a few crony private business giants and their foreign collaborators,” it said.™
Week 43 30•October•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P5