Reliance and its partner BP on Tuesday dropped a bombshell, saying KG-D6, the country's biggest gas discovery, might stop production in 2015 if the government did not approve its long-pending investment proposals and revised capital expenditure plans.
70-year-old Reddy, who was made the petroleum minister in January 2011, was shifted to the Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences in the Cabinet reshuffle on October 28.
Formation of the Rangarajan panel comes after Reddy proposed that the revision issue be placed before the empowered Group of Ministers.
Amid growing street protest and unease in the party over the steep hike in petrol prices, Congress on Thursday hinted at a partial rollback as Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy cut short his Turkeministan visit and met Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel.
With rupee depreciation leading to jump in oil import bill, Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday said there is an immediate need to raise fuel prices, but refused to say when the hike will actually take place.
The government on Tuesday ruled out any further increase in diesel and cooking fuel prices even though the current retail rates are lower than their cost of production.
According to reports, the price of petrol is expected to go up by Rs 5 and diesel by Rs 6.
Finance Minister and Congress trouble-shooter Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday took command of the consultations with Andhra Pradesh leaders to prepare the ground for the creation of Telangana, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided against imposing President's rule in the troubled state after holding talks with Governor E S L Narasimhan. Assisting Mukherjee in the consultations are Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy and members of a core committee.
A strong view is now emerging -- at the top levels of the All India Congress Committee and the United Progressive Alliance government -- over the recent spat between state Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and Union Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy on the Gas pricing issue.
The All Assam Students Union on Friday burnt the effigy of Union Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy in protest against hike in petroleum price and termed the decision of the public sector oil companies to increase the petroleum price grossly anti-people.
With a high-powered ministerial panel on fuel pricing being scrapped, a cabinet committee may consider raising the prices of diesel, LPG and kerosene, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy indicated on Wednesday but refused to say when the issue would be taken up.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is upset with the prime minister's office for not including DMK's M K Alagiri in the Empowered Group of Ministers on drought.
It was agreed at the meeting to recommend to the competent authority on two issues namely the Declaration of Commerciality of certain wells in the NEC 25 and KG D6.
Meeting on Tuesday to decide on letting foreign airlines buy into domestic ones.
As other members of the government have pointed out -- Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu among them -- India cannot afford to delay increasing prices, given the ballooning subsidy bill.
Sharing concerns of the common-man, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said the decision to hike petrol price was taken by the oil companies, but the government is conscious of the 'sense of disturbance' caused by it among the consumers.
Public sector oil marketing companies currently lose Rs 11.65 per litre on diesel.
According to RIL's announcement for the first quarter ended June 30, the KG-D6 field produced 33.1% less gas in the quarter.
The Oil Ministry has been trying since July to get an Empowered Committee of Secretaries to vet the separate price proposals of RIL and Essar but the panel has so far not decided to take up the issue.
Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 gas field has seen output drop to 29 million units a day, against a planned 80 million units, causing acute shortage in power generation, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Tuesday.
The opening ceremony of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, on October 3, will have a spiritual touch. Azaan, Vedic and Buddhist chants will be played in the background as performers, wearing costumes depicting different aspects of the pluralist character of India, present the theme song Swagatan in different Indian languages.
Geo-political reasons are to be blamed for spike in global oil prices, he says.
The seven-member grouping has seen two changes -- S Jaipal Reddy replacing Murli Deora after taking over as the Oil Ministry, while Kamal Nath has given away to the new Road Transport and Highways Minister C P Joshi.
Still battling the fallout of last month's steep Rs 7.54 a litre hike in petrol price, the government on Friday said it is not considering raising rates of diesel, domestic gas (LPG) and kerosene for the moment.
More than six months after a Reserve Bank of India order threw out a mechanism to pay for Iranian oil, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday said India is trying to ensure uninterrupted supplies of crude from the Persian Gulf nation.
The doctor husband of Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy's niece has been arrested by police and booked for murder following her suspicious death. Police said on Wednesday that Chaitanya Reddy allegedly killed 26-year-old Kiran Reddy, also a doctor, in "an inebriated" condition following a heated argument, and that the death four days back was due to "smothering and asphyxiation."
State-owned Indian Oil Corp and GAIL Ltd are looking at picking up an equity stake in LNG projects in Africa to meet growing energy needs of the country, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Friday.
Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Monday rejected senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi's attack on Home Minister P Chidambaram on the issue of CAG indictment of his ministry for alleged favours to private firms, saying such attacks would harm decision making at higher levels.
Attacking rebel Congress Member of Parliament Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, Union Minister and senior party leader from the state S Jaipal Reddy on Saturday said he was violating party discipline and termed his actions as "very undesirable".
The issue of urbanization, if not addressed immediately, might lead to serious repercussions for major Indian cities and potential deterioration in quality of life, strain on resources and reduced investments in India's urban centres, according to a 21-month-long study conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute.
Girish Chandra Chaturvedi (57), a 1977 batch Indian Administrative officer from the UP cadre, took charge as the new petroleum secretary on May 3.
Currently, the gas pipelines have a capacity to transport 230 mmscmd of gas.
A Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukhejree is likely to meet on Monday to vet London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources' $ 9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India.
These firms are expected to incur an under-recovery of over Rs 121,000 crore (Rs 1,210 billion) during this financial year, compared to Rs 78,000 crore (Rs 780 billion) in 2010-11.
A CCEA meeting is scheduled for tomorrow but the approval for the Cairn-Vedanta deal is not listed on its agenda so far.
Sources said government headhunters Public Enterprise Selection Board had on September 29 last year, named Butola as its most preferred choice to head the nation's largest oil firm.
Refusing to be cowed by pressure being brought on him, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Friday said the decision for mining group Vedanta Resources' $9.6 billion buyout of Cairn India will be taken by the Cabinet without "sacrificing" on national interest.
The government has no plans to increase petrol and diesel prices even though international crude rates have touched $100 per barrel, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said in Panipat on Tuesday.
After weeks of delay, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy has agreed to clear appointment of two independent directors on board of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), a requirement that was must for the state-owned firm's public offering next month.
Industrialist Anil Ambani met Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday, seeking natural gas allocation for his group's upcoming power projects.
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