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.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has refuted the allegation in the Supreme Court that it is deliberately reducing production of gas in KG basin in anticipation of a higher gas price and said it has taken all steps for arbitration proceedings with Centre to sort out all disputes.
The petroleum and natural gas ministry has asked the Planning Commission to constitute a committee to suggest a mechanism to average out prices of imported and domestic gas--a move expected to make gas prices uniform for consumers.
RIL had drawn 58.67 bcm of gas from four wells.
With the government making a distinction between the privately-run Reliance Natural Resources Ltd and the government-run NTPC Ltd in relation with the gas dispute with Reliance Industries Ltd, the ministry of power is likely to take up NTPC's case with the Empowered Group of Ministers.
Reliance Natural Resources Ltd has questioned oil ministry's right to approve the price at which a producer sells gas to customers, saying its nod was needed only for the formula or basis of pricing of gas for computing government's share.
The Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas in a report tabled in Parliament said the proposed formula is a simple average of two methodologies -- price of imports of LNG into India by different suppliers, and weighted average of prices of natural gas prevailing at Henry Hub in USA, National Balancing Point in London and netback import price at the well head of suppliers into Japan.
The bank guarantee, which will be equivalent to the incremental revenue that RIL will get from the new gas price, will be encashed if it is proved that the company hoarded gas or deliberately suppressed production at the main D1&D3 fields in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block since 2010-11.
The Petroleum Ministry in an order on Wednesday said it has revised guidelines for allocation/supply of domestic natural gas to city gas distribution entities for CNG and piped cooking gas sector.
The government may consider a public-private partnership (PPP) mode for setting up national gas highways to ensure distribution across the country.
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 petroleum ministry has put on back burner the proposal to create a national gas highway development authority, following an opposition from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, which currently has the powers to authorise pipelines.
India is preoccupied with analysing the US sanctions, which may cut off India's access to discounted Russian crude and force it to buy at market prices.
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.
According to a source close to the development, the government is set to come out with a notification in this regard by the end of this week.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam sought response from the Centre and RIL on a PIL filed by Communist Party of India Member of Parliament Gurudas Dasgupta who alleged that no due diligence was done by the government while increasing the price of natural gas.
The government on Monday scrapped 30-month old windfall profit tax on domestically-produced crude oil and on export of jet fuel (ATF), diesel and petrol following a decline in international oil prices. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary tabled a notification in Rajya Sabha scrapping the levy on crude oil produced by firms like state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and exports of fuels done by companies like Reliance Industries Ltd.
The Petroleum Ministry has proposed a 33 per cent hike in the price of natural gas produced by ONGC and Oil India and gradually increase it to $4.20 per mmBtu set for gas from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields.
Earlier this week, the ministry had come out with a clarification, saying domestic gas producers had to stick to the earlier price of $4.2 a unit until a further notification from the new government.
Days after the Cabinet approved doubling of natural gas price from April next year, the Finance Ministry has written to Oil Ministry suggesting setting of a ceiling or an upper limit for the rates.
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.
Projects worth over $20 billion, ranging from the decade-long Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline to various oil and gas exploration and production projects, are being re-considered, said officials in the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Steel manufacturers on Wednesday hit out at 'unilateral' decision of the Oil Ministry to curb natural gas supplies from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields to non-core users, saying only a ministerial panel was empowered to take such decision.
The Oil Industry Safety Directorate, under the Petroleum Ministry, carries out safety audits of oil and gas installations, besides formulating and standardising procedures and guidelines for design, operation and maintenance.
India will begin importing gas in the form of liquefied natural gas from early 2004 to augment deficit in domestic production, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said.
Govt approved a formula, not a price; PetroMin says a substantial rise was inevitable.
The Delhi high court (HC) division Bench on Thursday sought a response from Reliance Industries (RIL) and others regarding the government's appeal against the Mukesh Ambani-owned conglomerate and others for fraudulently and unjustly enriching themselves by draining gas from their deposits, amounting to over $1.5 billion. The Centre had appealed against the single-judge Bench order of the Delhi HC on May 9, which had dismissed its petition. Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani had upheld the international arbitration award of July 24, 2018, in favour of the RIL-led consortium. The consortium includes UK-based BP Plc and Niko Resources of Canada.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, scheduled to meet on June 22, could take a call on ending uncertainty on taxing foreign airlines and shippers as regards certain services, a senior official in the know told Business Standard. He said the Council was expected to decide on exempting the services in question from GST - aircraft lease rentals, maintenance, crew salaries, etc. These services are provided by foreign airlines to their Indian operations.
On instructions from the Prime Minister's Office for a more uniform distribution of the natural resource, the petroleum ministry had in December 2007 scrapped all contracts for sale of gas produced from PMT fields and nominated GAIL for selling it to 'fuel-starved' fertiliser plants outside Gujarat. But after protests, the ministry agreed to partly restore 3.6 million standard cubic meters per day of gas out of 5.1 mmscmd consumed by RIL's petrochemical plants.
India is the third largest consumer of petroleum products, after the US and China.
Reliance Industries Ltd's legal battle over the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to impose 21 per cent value-added tax on gas is holding up supply to NTPC's two power plants and Indian Oil Corporation's Mathura refinery, despite a group of ministers making allocation to them.
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.
Of the 10 coal bed methane blocks on offer, bids were received only for 8. RIL bid for one block. Of the 24 deep water blocks on offer, bids were received only for eight.
The Indian government, said a senior official, wishes to take talks forward on the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.
