India’s oil imports from Iran surged to 640,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April, its highest level since October 2016, according to data from shipping and industry sources, as refiners raised purchases ahead of looming U.S. sanctions against Tehran. Overall, India imported 4.51 million bpd in April, 2.5 percent higher than a year ago, the data showed. India’s Iranian imports rose by 49 percent from March and were 20 percent higher than a year ago, the data showed. The country is the Iran’s second-biggest buyer of crude after China.
State refiners have raised their imports after Iran agreed to steep shipping discounts. Iran exported a total 2.6 million bpd of crude in April, a record since the lifting of sanctions in January 2016, according to the news service for the country’s oil ministry. Going forward, however, Iran’s oil exports are expected to fall. U.S. President Donald Trump earlier in May announced the withdrawal from a 2015 agreement between the United States, Iran and other world powers to limit Iran’s nuclear program. The United States intends to renew economic sanctions against Iran, including on the petroleum sector.
India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on May 12 that it is too early to say how the sanctions will impact India.I In the first four months of 2018, India imported 552,000 bpd from Iran, about 2 percent less than a year ago, the data from the sources showed. The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak with media. India’s 2018 Iran ooil supplier to India last month followed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the data showed. Venezuela replaced Nigeria as the fourth-biggest supplier as the South American nation pushed more barrels in India and curtailed supplies to the U.S. India received about 397,200 bpd of oil from Venezuela in April, the highest since September, up about 46.8 percent from a year ago, the data showed.
Budget season is almost here at many organizations and that means learning leaders need to think about how to frame their case for next year’s budget. There are different approaches depending on what senior leaders expect from learning and how rigorous the budget process is.
In most organizations leaders expect (or at least hope) that their investment in learning will contribute to achieving some of their organizational goals. In some cases, learning may be absolutely essential to achieving the organization’s mission (e.g., the military). In most cases, however, organizations would survive (muddle through) without investing much (or anything) in learning. Employees would eventually learn how to do their job and some might even learn how to do it better or at lower cost. So, most organizations don’t “have” to invest in learning, but they do. Why? There are several reasons. First, leaders may believe that the right learning for the right employees can help achieve the organization’s goals more quickly and at lower cost. In other words, learning leads to higher productivity and lower overall costs. For example, sales training programs should equip the sales force to better sell the features and values in their products and services which will result in higher revenue, higher market share and higher profit.
Second, leaders may believe that their investment in learning will improve their competitive position in attracting and retaining the best talent. (Or, they may simply feel compelled to provide a minimum level of learning to attract and retain their existing quality of talent.)
Third, leaders may believe that investing in employee learning and development leads to higher employee engagement, which in turn leads to greater discretionary effort by employees as well as higher retention levels and an advantage in recruiting.
Last, some leaders may believe in investing in their employees simply because it is the right thing to do (whatever that means!).
I would never advise basing your budget request on the last reason, although many L&D groups seem to do exactly this. They assume it is their “right” to have a budget and it should always be bigger. After all, we are talking about investing in people, the organization’s greatest asset, so no business case is needed, right? Just give us the money! Even if your senior leaders believe this and are willing to give you whatever you request, I would strongly suggest an approach based on the assumption that your leaders believe in the first reason provided above, namely that learning will help them achieve the organization’s goals.
To make your case, carefully align learning initiatives to the key organization goals and secure agreement with senior leaders on the expected contribution or impact of learning on those goals. In short, build a business case for your learning investment and incorporate in a business plan for learning. And, if your leaders also believe in the second and third reasons above (talent and engagement), then build that into your business case as well for an even stronger argument. Your business case may be qualitative or quantitative, but at least you will have addressed your leaders’ reasons for investing in learning. At a minimum you will have a great discussion about learning with your leaders and your organization will be much better for it.