India's gas deal with Beijing
Gas Authority of India (Gail) is setting up a joint venture to distribute compressed natural gas (CNG) in Beijing, suggesting that a broad agreement signed by India and China last month to co-operate on oil and gas projects may have more teeth than initially thought.
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India's largest gas distributor has said it will sign a 50-50 partnership agreement in the next few months with Beijing Gas Group Company to build CNG stations that will supply cleaner fuel to the capital's vehicles. China is eager to put in place such an infrastructure ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games.
India's oil and gas sector has considerable expertise in CNG, having successfully brought the less-polluting fuel to Delhi and Mumbai in the past five years. Public transport vehicles have been required to use CNG in these cities, significantly reducing pollution levels.
"India's experience with CNG has been extremely good. Penetration levels are very high," says Neha Misra, an analyst at the Energy Resources Institute, an Indian think-tank. "China does want the expertise."
Gail, which is 57 per cent owned by the Indian government, has also said it might enter into a partnership with Chinese oil refiner Sinopec to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in China. The Indian company has also signed a memorandum of understanding to work with oil producer China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) to develop offshore oil and gas projects in Indonesia and Australia.
Last month, India and China put aside their longstanding competition in the energy sector and agreed to co-operate in securing crude oil reserves overseas. The agreement was aimed at avoiding a fierce bidding war to meet their countries' vast energy requirements.
Observers cynically dismissed the agreement, saying that the two countries were unlikely to carry out the terms of the agreement as Chinese oil companies, with their deeper pockets, usually outbid their Indian counterparts.
Only one of the three deals that GAIL is considering - the offshore exploration project - would help secure India's energy future, but the two other projects indicate the rivals are striving to adopt a new approach to work together in this crucial area.
"The whole idea today is to understand that you will lose if you don't join hands on overseas territories. To bring ties closer together, GAIL will help China to develop a CNG network and LNG terminal," Ms Misra says.
Madhu Nainan, editor of Mumbai-based industry publication PetroWatch, believes the CNG and LNG agreements are more likely to come to fruition than the exploration project. "India needs China but China doesn't need India," he says.
He described the CNG and LNG arrangements as "pure financial deals where India makes an investment and gets a return". Mr Nainan added that an LNG terminal might cost as much as $1bn and Sinopec would benefit from sharing the investment with GAIL.
India is more dependent on oil imports than China. India's import dependency will increase from 70 per cent of consumption this year to about 85 per cent in 15 years. China imports about half of its oil.
印度公司将为北京奥运“打气”
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度天然气公司(Gail)将在北京建立一家分销压缩天然气(CNG)的合资企业。这一进展显示，两国政府最近就油气项目合作而签署的广泛协议，可能比人们最初设想的更有实效。
这家印度最大的天然气分销商表示，将在未来数月内与北京市燃气集团有限责任公司(Beijing Gas Group Company)签订协议，成立一家双方各持50%股份的合资企业，在北京兴建压缩天然气加气站，向北京的车辆供应更清洁燃料。中国政府急于在2008年奥运会前建成这样的基础设施。
印度油气行业在压缩天然气领域拥有大量专长，5年来已成功地将这种污染较小的燃料引入德里和孟买。这些城市要求公交车辆使用压缩天然气作为燃料，此举大幅降低了污染程度。
“印度在压缩天然气应用领域十分成功。普及率非常高，”印度智库能源资源研究所(Energy Resources Institute)分析师内尔?米斯拉(Neha Misra)表示，“中国确实想要这些专长。”
由印度政府持有57%股份的印度天然气公司还表示，可能与中国炼油商中石化(Sinopec)展开合作，在中国建立液化天然气(LNG)终端。这家印度公司还与中国石油生产商中海油(CNOOC)签署了谅解备忘录，合作开发印尼和澳大利亚的海上油气项目。
最近，中印两国搁置了长期以来在能源领域的竞争，同意合作获取海外原油资源。双方签订协议，旨在避免两国为了满足各自的巨大能源需求而恶性竞购。
观察人士对这一协议颇为不屑，称中印两国不太可能履行协议条款，因为中国石油企业的钱包更鼓，在竞购中开价往往高于印度同行。
在印度天然气公司考虑的三项交易中，只有“海上勘探项目”有助于保障印度未来的能源供应，而其它两个项目则显示出，在能源这个关键领域，中印竞争对手们正在努力采取一种新型合作方式。
米斯拉女士表示：“我们在今天需要明白的是，如果不合作开发海外资源，那么，你将失去机会。为了进一步加强合作，印度天然气公司将协助中国发展压缩天然气供应网络和液化天然气终端。”
总部设在孟买的行业刊物《石油观察》(PetroWatch)主编马杜?奈南(Madhu Nainan)认为，中印双方签署的压缩天然气和液化天然气协议，比勘探项目更容易取得成果。他说：“印度需要中国，但中国不需要印度。”
奈南将这些压缩天然气和液化天然气协议描述为“单纯的经济协议――印度进行投资并获取回报”。他还补充说，一个液化天然气终端的建设成本可能高达10亿美元，而印度天然气公司参与投资，将令中石化受益。
印度比中国更依赖石油进口。印度今年消耗的石油中，有70%依靠进口，这一比例在15年后将升至85%左右。而中国的石油进口依存度约为50%。
