Arun Kumar Singh, former chairman of oil refining and marketing company BPCL, was on Wednesday appointed chairman and managing director of ONGC -- the first instance of a retired person being appointed the head of a Maharatna PSU. "The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal of ministry of petroleum and natural gas for appointment of Arun Kumar Singh, ex-CMD, BPCL as chairman, ONGC for a three-year tenure with effect from the date of his assumption of charge of the post," an official order said. PTI first reported of Singh's appointment on November 17.
Petrol pumps on Monday did business as usual as the day-long strike call given by Federation of All India Petroleum Traders evoked no response from the fuel station owners.\n\n\n\n
The country's exports edged up 1 per cent to $38.45 billion in December 2023 while the trade deficit narrowed to a three-month low of $19.8 billion, official data released on Monday showed. Imports declined by 4.85 per cent to $58.25 billion in December last year due to a dip in crude oil shipments. The previous low in trade deficit - the difference between imports and exports - was recorded in September at $19.37 billion.
The Oil Ministry has approved the sale of 10 per cent Government holding in consultancy firm Engineers India Ltd, and a public offering is expected in the second half of July.
The entry of a new developer through competitive bidding would delay the development of discoveries by at least 10 years.
Anil dared the oil ministry to cancel the production sharing contract with RIL if it was really aggrieved and not challenge third party agreements.
The government is reviewing the previous NDA regime's ambitious programme to run automobiles on ethanol-doped petrol, a project which was launched to cut the country's dependence on imported crude oil.
Reliance Industries on Monday said its city gas would be cheaper by almost 33 per cent compared to liquefied petroleum gas being supplied by oil PSUs.
Exports declined for the fourth-consecutive month by 10.3 per cent year-on-year to $34.98 billion in May, while the trade deficit widened to a five-month high of $22.12 billion. According to the data released by the commerce ministry on Thursday, key export sectors recording negative growth include petroleum products, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, ready-made garments of all textiles and chemicals. Imports also declined 6.6 per cent, six-month in a row, to $57.1 billion against $61.13 billion in the same month last year, the data showed.
Crude oil import surged 15.4 per cent to 51.88 million tonnes as against 44.97 million tonnes in April-August and oil product exports jumped 35.7 per cent to 16.61 million tonnes.
At a time when crude oil and natural gas prices are sky-high, public sector behemoth ONGC's haphazard planning and mismanagement in developing showpiece deep-sea KG-D5 block is costing the nation over Rs 18,000 crores due to the delayed output of oil and gas, government officials said. ONGC was originally to start gas production from the Cluster-II fields in block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5) in June 2019 and the first oil was to flow in March 2020. But these targets were quietly shifted to end-2021 because of deferments in awarding the fragmented work packages of the project, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity.
The Union petroleum minister has assured the petroleum dealers that he would discuss with the Maharashtra government to bring sales tax rates at par with neighbouring states.
The Delhi high court has rejected a government challenge to an arbitration panel award that had ruled in favour of Reliance Industries Ltd in a dispute over gas migration from fields operated by state-owned ONGC in the KG basin. The government had slapped a provisional penalty of $1.55 billion on Reliance for "unjust enrichment" from gas migrating from the ONGC-operated KG-D5 block to the private firm's adjoining KG-D6 area. It had sought $175 million in additional profit petroleum from Reliance and its UK partner BP Plc.
Some of them have ambitious plans to fight the slowdown, while some would seek to revive their image.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar may soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to decide on fuel pricing in the wake of spiraling international oil prices.
Domestic output is stagnating and the expensive LNG will meet the rising energy demand of the growing economy.
The Union petroleum ministry has proposed a 44 per cent increase in prices of natural gas sold under the administered price mechanism by state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd.
The government allows the oil companies to sell only a quarter of the total quantum of bonds they hold at any time during a quarter, so as to ensure that the market is not flooded with oil bonds. It has not yet decided on how the subsidy burden will be shared across stakeholders, how much of the subsidy from the government account will be given in cash and how much in the form of bonds, says an official.
Replacing Iran, which is India's third largest oil supplier behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia, will not be a problem but margins will be hit as Tehran offers the best commercial terms
This follows a letter by RIL to the ministry, justifying the increase in capex.
The power and fertiliser companies should be prepared to pay higher prices of natural gas as the petroleum ministry favours economic pricing of the fuel, an official said on Thursday.
Industrialist Anil Ambani on Tuesday dared the petroleum ministry to take back the ownership of gas fields from Reliance Industries Ltd if it seriously believed that terms of the contract were violated by Mukesh Ambani-led firm, which he alleged was wanting to make a super-profit of Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion).
The group of ministers' meeting on Tuesday on raising natural gas price for fertilizer and power units and setting up a regulator for the oil sector remained inconclusive.
The cap on cylinders would burden the Centre, which will need to compensate the states for the increased cooking fuel cost.
The release also points out that the prevailing domestic gas prices command a significantly higher price than the proposal of RIL.
The two firefighters had gone missing after the well caught fire on Tuesday and their bodies were recovered by a National Disaster Relief Force team on Wednesday morning, said Oil India Spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika.
A major policy to buy bio-diesel from growers at the rate of Rs 23 per litre was in the offing as the central government would direct oil companies to purchase it through its outlets in the country, a senior officer of Petroleum Conservation Research
India will start exporting diesel and other petroleum products to Myanmar next month from the Numaligarh refinery in the eastern state of Assam, a petroleum ministry official said Wednesday.\n\n\n\n
The Government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme, 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan', to "empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens". Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch this scheme on June 20 through video conference in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Saudi Arabia-based Jazira Enterprises has sought marketing rights to retail petrol and diesel in all major districts in the country.
The ministry of finance is likely to assume crude oil price to remain within $85 per barrel while estimating subsidies for the Interim Budget 2024-25 (FY25), to be presented on February 1. Brent crude prices moved up on Thursday, ending at $78.9 per barrel. Crude oil and cooking gas prices, which move in tandem, impact fertiliser and cooking gas subsidies, constituting 53 per cent of the government's total subsidies.
