Divesment Minister Arun Shourie said on Tuesday he had apprised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about the Attorney General Soli Sorabjee's opinion on privatisation of HPCL, BPCL.
Faulty laws helped oil majors IOC, HPCL and BPCL -- to avoid excise payment of Rs 713 crore (Rs 7.13 billion) to the government during April-December 2002, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has said.
The attorney-general is understood to have said that the government need not go to Parliament prior to privatisation of the oil PSUs.
Attorney General Soli Sorabjee is likely to give by Friday his opinion on legal aspects of divestment of oil PSUs HPCL and BPCL, which were nationalised through Acts of Parliament.
The Cabinet Committee on Divestment failed to take any decision on the divestment of public sector oil companies -- Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation.
Arun Shourie, Union Minister for Divestment, said that the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Divestment would discuss the sell-off modalities of HPCL and BPCL.
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.
Labour unions on Monday threatened to go on a lightning strike the day government invited bids for privatising highly profitable oil public sector units HPCL and BPCL.\n\n\n\n
State-run oil marketing companies on Monday raised the security deposit for new cooking gas (LPG) connections to Rs 1,250 from the existing Rs 850 per cylinder, as also the price of cylinder regulator due to increase in input costs.
Bowing to pressure from the opposition, Divestment Minister Arun Shourie on Tuesday assured the Rajya Sabha that he would seek an opinion from Attorney General Soli Sorabjee on the legality of the sell-off of HPCL and BPCL.
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.
The cut reflects changes in global prices of the two fuels since the last revision.
The divestment ministry would concentrate on "legal option" to resolve the divestment impasse arising out of the Supreme Court verdict on HPCL and BPCL, but would continue with residual stake sale plans in companies like CMC Ltd and VSNL.
Sri Lanka on Monday put off indefinitely a decision to sell off part of the state-run oil company to Bharat Petroleum as trade unions threatened to stop work, triggering panic buying at petrol stations across the country.
India's only private sector oil refiner, Reliance Industries, has sought a two-year extension of its agreement with Indian Oil Corp to sell Jamnagar refinery products through the state-run firm's retail network.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Monday said last week's Supreme Court ruling halting the privatisation of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd was a "setback", but hoped that a solution will emerge soon.
Petrol price on Tuesday breached the Rs 85 a litre mark in the national capital and diesel neared record high after rates were raised for the second consecutive day. Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 25 paise per litre each, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies. This took the petrol price in Delhi to Rs 85.20 per litre and to Rs 91.80 in Mumbai. Diesel rate climbed to Rs 75.38 a litre in the national capital - just shying away from its record high - and to an all-time high of Rs 82.13 in Mumbai, the price data showed.
M A Pathan, former chairman of the Indian Oil Corporation, on Friday resigned as chief of the Petroleum Federation of India, citing his pre-occupation with Tatas and other multinational oil firms.
The official, who did not wish to be identified, said the government will wrap up the stake sale in HPCL by November.\n\n
The sale is key to meeting the government's disinvestment target of Rs 2.1 trillion in the financial year 2020-21. So far, the disinvestment exercise has fetched the government Rs 34,845 crore during the current financial year.
The multinational oil firm, however, is required to furnish a Rs 500 crore bank guarantee to the government.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre on a Public Interest Litigation challenging the legality of the government's decision to privatise public sector oil firms Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation.
Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation have backed out of Gail's Vizag-Secunderabad LPG pipeline.
Shell India, the domestic arm of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, had offered for sale 20 of its 80 operational retail outlets and around 20 sites acquired earlier for setting up such outlets.
The government will complete the sale of cash-rich oil refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation in six to eight months, Divestment Minister Arun Shourie said on Wednesday.
Balmer Lawrie & Company, whose 61.97 per cent stake is slated to be divested by the Centre, is unlikely to be sold off during the current fiscal.
The divestment ministry said on Thursday that the inter-ministerial group on the divestment of Bharat Petroleum Corporation would meet next week to discuss the quantum of shares to be offered in the domestic and global markets.
The divestment ministry is now all set to flag off the process of divestment in Bharat Petroleum Corporation with the Inter-Ministerial Group scheduled to meet on February 13.
Attorney General Soli Sorabjee has said the sale of stakes in two state-run oil refiners does not need parliamentary approval.
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