ED asked to release BPSL assets Crude oil output drops 5.4%

New Delhi, Oct. 14: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday put on hold the Rs 19,700-crore payout by JSW Steel for acquiring debt-ridden firm Bhushan Power and Steel till its further orders.

The appellate tribunal also asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to release the attached properties of Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL) and directed not to attach any further assets without its permission.

An NCLAT bench headed by Chairman Justice S. J. Mukhopadhyaya slammed the ED, saying that Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code would fail if the agency functions like this. He directed the agency and the CBI to file a reply in the next two days.

The ED on Saturday said it has attached assets worth over Rs 4,025 crore of BPSL in connection with its money laundering probe linked to an alleged bank loan fraud.

The central probe agency said it has attached land, building, plant and machinery of the firm located in Odisha under the provision of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

“IBC cannot be annulled in this manner. Money laundering is by an individual,” NCLAT observed.

The tribunal further said the ED has no jurisdiction to attach the property of a corporate debtor, particularly when an appeal is pending with regard to attachment.

The appellate tribunal has directed to list the matter on October 25 for hearing.

The ED's provisional attachment order of October 10 is stayed until the issue is decided by the appellate tribunal, it said.

—PTI India’s crude oil production dropped 5.4 per cent YoY in August. However an equal or marginally higher (5.5 per cent) import volume helped the country meet its consumption requirement. Significantly, India’s dependency on imported natural gas (NG) has increased indicated by stagnant domestic production and increased imports since 2008.

The production volumes of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) in August declined 3.7 per cent YoY and 4.3 per cent YoY respectively, and that of fields under productionsharing contracts decreased 9.5 per cent YoY during the month. Meanwhile, the crude oil import volume in the same month increased 5.5 per cent YoY. India’s crude oil import dependency stood at 84.2 per cent in August 2019.

Going by the September 2019 edition of India Ratings and Research’s credit news digest on India’s oil and gas sector, the average LNG import share was 50 per cent

of the overall domestic NG consumption during AprilAugust 2019 and 46 per cent during FY19, as compared with 25 per cent in FY08.

According to Ind-Ra report, LNG imports increased at a CAGR of 8.7 per cent to 75 million metric standard cubic meter per day (mmscmd) in FY19 from 30 mmscmd in FY18 due to a sustained demand. The increased use of NG in fertilizer and power sectors coupled with growth of city gas distribution networks has driven the domestic NG consumption. On the other hand, domestic NG production