A day after deciding to nearly double natural gas prices to $8, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday hinted that power and fertiliser units may get gas at subsidised rates to keep electricity and urea costs down.
Eight candidates, including Najeeb Jung, former joint secretary (exploration) in the petroleum ministry, are in race for the job of chairman and managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
Closely watched by the world for any escalation, the Iran-Israel conflict is already showing early signs of stress for India Inc - longer deliveries, doubling freight rates, extended working capital cycles, and higher costs. For those yet to feel the heat, there is growing apprehension and nervousness over future developments, observed industry executives.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation will hire international lawyers to deal with the matter of acquiring 15 per cent stake in the main production unit of embattled Russian oil firm Yukos.
Capital expenditure (capex) by 54 large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and five departmental arms with an annual capex target of Rs 100 crore and above has reached around 42.5 per cent of their annual target of about Rs 7.33 trillion in this financial year so far, a senior official from the Ministry of Finance told Business Standard. "The Centre is pushing the big public undertakings in the infrastructure and refinery sector to achieve 90 per cent of their target by the end of the third quarter," he said. The capex by this group of CPSEs stands at around Rs 3.1 trillion in the April-August period so far.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp will pay Rs 1025 crore (Rs 10.25 billion) to the state-run oil retailing firms for the losses they suffered during the second quarter for selling LPG and kerosene below the cost.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural gas is likely to reimburse Oil and Natural Gas Corporation almost Rs 850 crore (Rs 8.5 billion) for the cost of exploration and development work in pre-NELP oil fields in the past.
India's largest oil producer Oil and Natural Gas Corp and the country's largest firm Indian Oil Corp may get two chief executives each to manage their mammoth operations.
The government has lost its appeal in the English High Court against a $111 million arbitration award in favour of Reliance Industries Ltd and Shell in a cost recovery dispute in the western offshore Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas fields. High Court judge Ross Cranston on June 9, 2022 ruled that the government should have brought its objections over the arbitration tribunal not meeting the required thresholds, when issuing the 2021 award earlier, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Rejecting the government's arguments, the court said the objections are barred by an English law principle whereby a party cannot raise matters in new proceedings that could have been raised in earlier proceedings.
The release also points out that the prevailing domestic gas prices command a significantly higher price than the proposal of RIL.
Union ministries are in the midst of a row because of uncleared IAF bills, which were incurred when Pakistan's ex-minister Jadoon had used an IAF plane, during his visit to India.
The shifting of S Jaipal Reddy from the petroleum ministry and elevation of Salman Khurshid on Monday kicked up a political storm with parties suspecting the government of coming under corporate pressure and accusing it of promoting those facing corruption charges.
Reaching a consensus might also get tougher, as already seen with issues like inclusion of natural gas in GST and imposition of a sugar cess, both central proposals being resisted.
The likely solution that appears before the AAP government is to seek for a higher quota of domestic natural gas for Delhi, which would bring down auto and cooking gas prices.
The country may propose pipeline via China when Putin visits this year.
The ministry has asked the oil marketing companies to further step up their efforts to curb adulteration of petroleum products.
With this, the total penalty on RIL for missing the target in four fiscal years beginning April 1, 2010 now stands at a cumulative $2.376 billion, the Minister informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Jitin Prasada in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha said the finance ministry is yet to approve the oil bonds. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum lost Rs 11,853 crore (Rs 118.53 billion) in revenues on not being allowed to raise LPG and kerosene prices in line with the cost during April- September.
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.
The Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas in its report tabled in Parliament today asked the ministry to strictly monitor implementation of directions issued to RIL for reversing the trend of falling gas output from the Bay of Bengal field.
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.
Jaipal Reddy, who has been given the science and technology ministry, is deeply upset by his transfer from the petroleum and natural gas ministry and did not come to handover charge to new minister Veerappa Moily.
It is rare for Cabinet ministers to tick off state-owned companies publicly, yet that was what then petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan did for ONGC. Speaking at an event on June 29, Pradhan said he has asked India's premier exploration company to find fresh oil acreages fast. "Do it yourself through some joint venture (or) through a new business model. But the government cannot permit you to hold resources for an indefinite time." The reason for this stricture is India's rising dependence on imported oil and gas. Or, to put it another way, falling domestic production (see chart: "Crude truth"), especially from ONGC, which faces a simple problem.
The Petroleum Ministry has asked for Rs 26,000 crore (Rs 260 billion) as fuel subsidy for the third quarter of this financial year, but the finance ministry is inclined to provide only Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) cash support.
A parliamentary panel has asked the government to restrict imports of all petroleum products especially transportation fuels (petrol and diesel) by private firms in view of the excess refining capacity in the country.
Food inflation, at almost 17 per cent, along with the rise in fuel prices will be a bitter pill for consumers.
Ministry returns guarantee saying new price has not been notified and RIL would have to submit surety as and when it is announced.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation may face delisting from stock exchanges as a petroleum ministry directive appointing additional government directors on company board has violated its listing agreement.
The petroleum ministry has projected a strong year for the oil marketing companies though the largest exploration company, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, is projected to post a moderate gain in its bottomline.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation will pay Rs 852 crore (Rs 8.52 billion) for subsidising petrol and diesel during January-March quarter but state gas utility GAIL India has been spared from the subsidy burden.
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