The government will press ahead with its stalled privatisation programme and sell stakes in two refiners, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said.
"Air India is unable to pay even after a 90-day credit period. They owe us about Rs 300 crore without interest. There is also no bank guarantee from Air India to any of the oil marketing companies. We do not know when will the company honour its dues," said a BPCL official on condition of anonymity.
GAIL (India) Ltd and its partners on Wednesday signed the Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement with government of Oman for Block 56 in Muscat.
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.
Contrary to popular perception of public sector oil firms making huge profits on selling petrol and diesel by gold plating the cost, Indian firms have second lowest refinery and marketing margins - profits - in the world.
Public sector oil firms plan to set up over 4600 petrol stations and 907 LPG sale agencies in the current fiscal, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Thursday.
Attorney General Soli Sorabjee has said the sale of stakes in two state-run oil refiners does not need parliamentary approval.
Divestment Minister Arun Shourie will soon make a statement on stake sales in two state-run oil firms following a consensus reached on the issue by a group of top ministers.
Govt was vary of giving BJP-leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi any kind of advantage on the eve of elections in the state.
With the government giving limited freedom to state-run oil companies to fix auto fuel prices within a narrow price band, petrol prices are set to go up by Rs 0.57 per litre and diesel by Rs 0.92 per litre from August 1.
Indian state-run oil giants HPCL and BPCL reported on Wednesday no supply disruptions as result of a two-day-old strike by workers opposing privatisation of the refiners.
IOC has asked consumers to book LPG refill through IVRS or SMSes so that refills reach genuine users.
A parliamentary panel has rapped the government for bypassing Parliament in deciding to privatise oil refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp
The cut reflects changes in global prices of the two fuels since the last revision.
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.
Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 77.28 per litre from Rs 76.73, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 75.79 a litre from Rs 75.19, according to a price notification from State oil marketing companies. Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.
In nine hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 5 per litre and diesel by Rs 4.87 a litre.
In 13 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 7.11 per litre and diesel by Rs 7.67 a litre.
The official, who did not wish to be identified, said the government will wrap up the stake sale in HPCL by November.\n\n
Public sector oil firms spent over Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) on advertisements during the last three years with Indian Oil Corp topping the list with an expenditure of Rs 275.35 crore.
In 12 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 6.55 per litre and diesel by Rs 7.04 a litre.
In all, petrol price has gone up by Rs 1.74 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.78 a litre in three days.
State-run Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd on Wednesday said it has tied up with Hindustan Lever Ltd and three other kitchenware brands for selling grocery items to its LPG customers through its distributor network.\n\n\n\n
Asian Development Bank and ExxonMobil-promoted RasGas of Qatar have taken 10 per cent equity each in Petronet LNG Ltd, the public sector joint venture firm which will begin importing liquefied natural gas from January next year.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp, said on Monday it had signed an agreement to supply crude oil to refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd for two years ending March 2004.\n\n\n\n
State exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp on Thursday said it will take 26 per cent equity in Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd's upcoming 6 million tonnes refinery at Bina in Madhya Pradesh.
State-run gas utility GAIL India and state refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd have floated a joint venture company to supply piped natural gas for domestic and commercial use
The three oil PSUs have told Air India that if it did not make the monthly lump sum payment, they will stop fuel supply from October 11 at six major domestic airports.
Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, which is expanding its Mumbai refinery to 12 million tonnes, will invest another Rs 1200 crore (Rs 12 billion) to produce auto fuel compliant with Euro-IV emission norms.
Mittal is in talks to take 20 per cent stake in state-run Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd's Rs 9,100 crore (Rs 91 billion), six million tons a year Bina refinery that is to be commissioned by 2010-11, industry sources said.
Petrol and diesel price soared to an all-time high across the country on Friday after rates were hiked again by 25 paise and 30 paise a litre, respectively. The price of petrol in Delhi rose it its highest ever level of Rs 101.89 a litre and to Rs 107.95 in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Diesel rates too touched a record high of Rs 90.17 in Delhi and Rs 97.84 in Mumbai.
Diesel price on Friday was hiked by 20 paise per litre - the first increase in rates in over two months - as international oil prices neared their highest since 2018. Price of diesel was hiked to Rs 88.82 per litre in Delhi and to Rs 96.41 in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. Petrol price was not changed. It costs Rs 101.19 a litre in Delhi and Rs 107.26 in Mumbai.
Oil marketing companies on Friday cut petrol price by 32 paise, and diesel by 85 paise a litre with effect from midnight tonight.
Diesel rates had gone up by Rs 12.55 a litre between June 7, when oil firms resumed revising prices in line with cost, and July 25.
SpiceJet grounded all its aircraft due to payment woes
Petrol price was on Wednesday hiked by a steep Rs 3.38 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.67 a litre, reversing a two-month declining trend.
At the same time, the Cabinet approved reducing government's stake in select PSUs such as IOC to below 51 per cent while continuing to retain management control.
Oil firms will supply fuel to SpiceJet on 'cash and carry basis'.
The three state-owned oil companies have decided to defer snapping fuel supplies to Air India. The airline owes the three firms over Rs 5,000 crore in past fuel bills.
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