11 MARCH 2015

Ø  ISRO on Thursday successfully put into orbit India’s sixth dedicated navigation satellite, the IRNSS-1F, from here. The satellite was launched on-board India’s workhorse launch vehicle, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The Independent Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India and the region extending up to 1,500 km from the border. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C-32) lifted off at 4.01 p.m. with the payload. The launch was revised by one minute to 4.01 p.m. “for collision avoidance as per the space debris studies,” according to ISRO. The IRNSS-1F carrying two payloads — the navigation payload and ranging payload — was put into orbit 20 minutes after take-off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The satellite had a lift-off mass of 1,425 kg and was powered by two solar panels generating 1660 W and one Lithium-ion battery of 90 Ampere-hour capacity.

Ø  he Union Cabinet on Thursday approved a new pricing formula for gas discoveries made in difficult-to-access areas. The formula will be based on a weighted one-year average of prices of fuel oil, naptha and imported coal. Since the rate is not enough to incentivise exploration, the government approved the new price formula for undeveloped gas discoveries in deep-sea, ultra-deep sea and high-temperature, high-pressure areas using average of landed price of naphtha, fuel oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG). The decision follows Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s comments during his Budget speech about the government’s plans to incentivise gas production from deep-water, ultra deep-water,high-pressure and high-temperature areas. A proposal is under consideration for new discoveries and areas which are yet to commence production, first, to provide calibrated marketing freedom and second, to do so at a pre-determined ceiling price to be discovered on the principle of landed price of alternative fuels. This will definitely be positive for upstream companies since the new pricing will be applicable to existing as well as future discoveries. This will lead to prices rising by about 70-80 per cent of their current levels and will enable companies to begin work on their new discoveries in these difficult areas. The new price will apply to underdeveloped gas discoveries and not currently producing fields. The Cabinet also approved the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP). The highlights of the new policy involve granting explorers a uniform license for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbons. The previous policy required a separate license for each type of hydrocarbon. The new policy also incorporates an open acreage policy wherein exploration and production companies will be allowed to choose the blocks they want to use from the designated area. In addition, the policy moves towards an easier revenue-sharing mechanism from the current profit-sharing mechanism. Under this new policy, the government also extended the terms of production-sharing contracts for 28 small and marginal fields. The new contracts have been extended till the life of the assets. Notably, this decision did not include Cairn India’s fields in Rajasthan for which the company has been asking for a license extension for a while now. The Cabinet approved the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, a scheme announced by Mr. Jaitley in the Budget, wherein free LPG connections will be provided to women from BPL households. “Under the scheme, Rs. 8,000 crore has been earmarked for providing five crore LPG connections to BPL households. The scheme provides a financial support of Rs. 1,600 for each LPG connection to the BPL households. The identification of eligible BPL families will be made in consultation with the state governments and the union territories,” according to the statement. The scheme would be implemented over three years. The Cabinet also decided to award the medium-sized fields of Ratna and R-Series to ONGC. The fields, off the Mumbai coast, were previously awarded to Essar Oil but the contract could not be signed.