A Parliamentary Panel has "deplored" the government for capping the supply of subsidized LPG to 6 cylinders per households, saying that such restrictions should not be placed on people having income below a threshold.
The ministry of petroleum and natural gas is evaluating a threshold at which the subsidy on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or cooking gas) will be reinstated. According to a senior government official in the know, a survey is currently being conducted to determine the price at which maximum consumers will keep buying domestic cylinders. One of the options also being considered is to limit any subsidy disbursal only to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries.
'Individual beneficiary desirous of availing the benefits under the scheme (PMUY) is hereby required to furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo Aadhaar authentication,' said a gazette notification issued by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas.
After hike in rates of petrol, diesel and LPG, the prices of CNG and cooking gas piped to household kitchens (PNG) in the national capital were hiked on Thursday by Re 1. CNG price in NCT of Delhi has been increased to Rs 59.01 per kg from Rs 58.01, according to the information posted on the website of Indraprastha Gas Ltd - the firm which retails CNG and piped cooking gas in the national capital. This is the third increase in CNG rates this month, which follows a spike in input (natural gas) prices across the globe.
GAIL India's second quarter (Q2FY25) performance met expectations.
A swift recovery in oil demand in India is not only helping the stability of the global market, it is giving huge fiscal headroom to the government in terms of additional excise duty.
Only 48.3 per cent of the rural households used LPG, while the figures were much higher in urban areas at 86.6 per cent, according to a NSO report.
IndianOil Corp Ltd, for instance, saw a growth of around 22 per cent in volumes and nearly two per cent in its market share. It traded nearly 10,517 million tonnes (mt) of auto gas in December against 8,593 mt of auto gas in September.
US strikes on Iran's three main nuclear facilities have once again raised concerns that Tehran might shut down the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world's most critical chokepoints, through which a fifth of global oil and gas supply flows.
Government gives 3 months, starting June, for the 20 districts to be covered under its direct benefits transfer scheme.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will add about Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) to its profits annually from near doubling of natural gas prices from next fiscal.
CNG price in the national capital on Friday was hiked by 80 paise per kg, while piped cooking gas rates were increased by a steep Rs 5 per cubic metre on the back of the government raising input natural gas prices to record levels. CNG price in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi has been increased to Rs 60.81 per kg from Rs 60.01, according to information posted on the website of Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) -- the firm which retails CNG and piped cooking gas in the national capital. This is the sixth increase in CNG prices in the last month.
After HPCL, the government headhunter struggled to find a suitable candidate for the top job at Bharat Petroleum, as most applicants were narrow specialists lacking multidisciplinary experience needed to run a large organisation. The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) last month interviewed a dozen candidates including BPCL director (finance) Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta and its director (refineries) S Khanna but found none suitable for the job of chairman and managing director of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), according to a PESB order.
Govt looks to take cooking gas to tiger reserves, Naxal-hit areas
"There is no immediate plan to decontrol diesel or LPG as they have cascading effect (on general prices)," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas R P N Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
Concerns on lower natural gas transmission, LPG rate cut & APM gas price hike might be priced in but no positive triggers
Re-instatement of 5% custom duty on crude imports will help.
The government wants to bring down the subsidies on kerosene, LPG and diesel in a way that does not impact the people in a major manner and takes away subsidies from people who do not deserve them.
The government on Thursday more than doubled the price of natural gas that is used to produce electricity, make fertilisers, turned into CNG and piped to household kitchens for cooking, on the back of a spike in global energy prices. The price of gas produced from old regulated fields, such as the nation's largest gas field of Bassein of ONGC, will rise to a record high of $6.10 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) from the current $2.90 per mmBtu, according to the oil ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC). The new price, which is likely to result in a hike in CNG and piped cooking gas rates, will be for six months beginning April 1.
"(The) government has conveyed approval to public sector oil marketing companies to formulate a scheme for surrendering (of the) LPG connection by a customer who is being supplied piped natural gas," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said. Alternately, the customer can also choose to keep the connection in safe custody. Thus, if he changes residence to an area not covered by PNG, he can avail a new LPG connection at the surrendered security deposit rate on a priority basis.
Food inflation, at almost 17 per cent, along with the rise in fuel prices will be a bitter pill for consumers.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corp has asked the government to review the scheme of sharing of liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene subsidy with upstream firms and said the scheme should not be extended beyond March 2004.
Petrol and diesel prices were cut by Rs 2 per litre each as state-owned oil companies ended a nearly two-year-long hiatus in rate revision, just hours before the general election schedule was announced.
Reliance Industries, the country's largest LPG producer, will be spared from footing the Rs 7,200 crore (Rs 72 billion) bill for the one year freeze in LPG and kerosene prices, despite rising cost.
ONGC is likely to pay Rs 17,000 cr to subsidise products by the end of this fiscal.
The government is likely to allow Reliance Industries Ltd to sell domestic cooking gas directly to bulk consumers in the country to overcome the problem of glut in LPG during lean season.
The union government is planning to release about 5.5 crore new LPG connections over the next five years, petroleum and natural gas minister Murli Deora said.
The government will phase out subsidies on LPG and kerosene by March 2007, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Sumitra Mahajan said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.\n\n\n\n
The government will allow exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Gas Authority of India to market domestic LPG to increase penetration of cooking fuel to 75 per cent of the population.
The government will provide five crore LPG connections on concessional rates in the name of women from below poverty line.
Gail India subsidiary Mahanagar Gas (MGL) on Friday announced a steep reduction in the retail price of compressed natural gas (CNG) by Rs 8/kg and domestic PNG (piped natural gas) by Rs 5/SCM across its licenced area. The move comes on the heels of the Centre revising the pricing methodology of domestically-produced natural gas on Thursday as proposed by the Kirit Parikh committee and following it with the new price announcement earlier in the day. In February, the city gas distributor reduced its CNG price by Rs 2.5/kg but prices are still around 80 per cent more than those in April last.
The seeding of LPG database with Aadhar numbers is above 55 per cent and overall Aadhar penetration is 90 per cent in these districts.
Taking suo moto cognisance of reports of the Centre's move -- ahead of Gujarat assembly polls -- to increase the cap on subsidised LPG cylinders, the Election Commission has directed it to stop the same forthwith. The Commission held an emergency meeting soon after the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas M Veerappa Moily said the government will raise the cap on the supply of subsidised cooking gas to nine cylinders per household a year from six at present.
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Adani-Total Gas Ltd and Shell were among the 29 companies that bid and bought natural gas to be produced from the deepest field in the KG-D6 block of Reliance Industries Ltd and bp, sources said. IOC walked away with almost half of the 6 million standard cubic meters per day of gas sold in an e-auction on Wednesday while state-owned gas utility GAIL bought 0.7 mmscmd, Adani-Total Gas Ltd 0.4 mmscmd, Shell 0.5 mmscmd, GSPC 0.25 mmscmd and IGS another 0.5 mmscmd, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Reliance-bp on Wednesday held an e-auction for sale of gas from the MJ field in their eastern offshore KG-D6 block after incorporating the government's new marketing rules to give CNG-selling city gas companies first priority over supplies.
The government said on Tuesday that oil marketing companies are considering price revision of domestic LPG due to increase in international prices.\n\n\n\n
The government also withdrew the five per cent VAT on compressed natural gas besides bringing back the VAT for tea, coffee and cocoa to five per cent from the proposed 12.5 per cent.
The government has directed state-run fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to clear the wait list for domestic LPG connection within the next two months.
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