Industry experts, analysts say the proposal is 'impractical'. The country's oil refining companies are hopeful that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will implement a price band for crude oil which they say will bring more certainty to their operations.
The realty companies include Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd and Hyderabad-based Vasundhara Projects, while the oil services company is Hydrocarbon Resources Development.
Profits of the country's oil marketing companies - Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation - fell by as much as 29 per cent in 2007-08 in spite of an up to 56 per cent rise in the oil bonds these companies received during the year compared with 2006-07.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the country's most profitable company, is far behind its global counterparts in terms of revenue earned per barrel. The oil major makes a profit of around $10 a barrel for every barrel of oil it sells, while its global peers earn a profit of over $70 a barrel.
After rationalising flights and routes, major domestic airlines like Kingfisher, Jet Airways and SpiceJet are introducing sharp cutbacks in staff and salaries to cope with slower passenger growth and rising aviation turbine fuel costs. Manpower typically accounts for 10-15 per cent of an airline's total costs.
State governments have raised serious reservations against a plea by the aviation ministry and domestic carriers to reduce sales tax on aviation turbine fuel. Worse still, states like Kerala which had reduced the tax rate from 28.5 per cent to 4 per cent to encourage carriers to buy from the state have decided to take back the benefit alleging that it is not being passed on to the customers as promised.
The under-realisation on fuel sales reported by the country's oil companies is overstated by as much as 15 per cent, according to experts, though this does not mean that the oil companies are making profits on selling subsidised petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene.
Even as domestic carriers are lobbying hard to fly abroad in an effort to utilise capacity better, Mumbai-based full service carrier Jet Airways has deferred the commencement of its Delhi-Hong Kong operations. Sources in the company said that the flights, which were supposed to begin from June, may have been delayed till November.
The Tatas and the Dubai-based Istithmar Group may increase their stake in Delhi-based low-cost carrier SpiceJet, which has a 10 per cent market share in Indian aviation market. While the Tatas, who currently hold 7 per cent stake in the company through Ewart Investment, may hike their shareholding to 15 per cent, Istithmar is likely to raise its stake from 13 to 30 per cent, sources said.
Under-recoveries by state-owned oil marketing companies are set to hit a new record in June with the under-realisation on the sale of diesel, the largest selling fuel and also the most politically sensitive, almost matching the subsidised selling price.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the country's largest oil and gas producer, is planning to sell 30 to 40 per cent each in two blocks in Vietnam to share the risks and drilling costs. ONGC owns 100 per cent in the two deepwater exploration blocks.
A depreciation in the value of the rupee against the dollar, coupled with surging crude oil prices, are likely to push the country's crude oil import bill to over $100 billion in 2008-09, from $77.02 billion in 2007-08, according to industry officials.
Mumbai-based low-cost carrier GoAir has decided to stop its flights to Chennai from the coming week. This is the fourth destination to which the carrier has opted out after Kochi, Coimbatore and Pune.
The domestic supply of diesel has been constrained on rapidly growing demand. The diversion of supplies from Reliance Industries, which was given export-oriented unit status last year, has added to the shortage. Reliance produces 10 million tonnes of diesel from Jamnagar.
Rising export of petroleum products helped Commerce Minister Kamal Nath meet 96 per cent of the targeted $160 billion worth of exports in 2007-08, but it could not contain the country's net oil import bill. The net oil import bill in 2007-08 is likely to rise by around 41 per cent over 2006-07 as the country's refineries consumed 9 per cent more crude oil to meet surging demand even as crude oil prices rose nearly 53 per cent during the year.
After the UK-based Hinduja group, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's proposed Rs 26,500-crore (Rs 265 billion) refinery at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, has found new suitors in Reliance Industries and Essar Oil.
After losing out to Bangalore-based GMR group for the controversial Delhi airport modernisation contract, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group is now set to battle it in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, for which bids are shortly to be invited. Late last week, ADAG company Reliance Airport Developers Private Limited submitted an expression of interest to the Prague airport authorities. the ADAG company is willing to take a 100 per cent stake in the airport.
The value of the stake is not immediately known but ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) -- the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation -- is likely to pay an initial $300 million for drilling operations. Russian company Rosneft, which owns 70 per cent in the project, will be offloading its stake to OVL if the deal goes through. The remaining 30 per cent stake is held by China National Petroleum Corporation.
Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest petroleum product marketer, has already started selling only premium fuels in nearly 25 of the 50 fuel stations it has in Mumbai, and in almost 10 of 50 outlets in Delhi. Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation are also planning to follow IOC's example.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's plans to make India a maintenance, repair and overhaul hub for aircraft in Asia are set to crash. China, once again, has left India way behind. While over 300 MRO companies are in operation in China, only three have set up shops in India - Max Aerospace, Airworks and Indamer.
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