With the rising price of crude oil, the gap between the desired selling price and the actual selling price -- referred to as under-recovery -- is up to Rs 190 crore (Rs 1.9 billion) a day. The solution is to raise retail prices, an unpopular move.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is likely to meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram later this week to seek greater compensation for oil companies, who are currently losing about Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.5 billion) a day on fuel sales. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are likely to see doubling of revenue loss on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene to Rs 150,000 crore. The three fuel retailers together lost Rs 77,304.50 cr on fuel sale in 2007-08.
ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has signed a joint venture agreement with Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA) to take 40 per cent stake in the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela. Under the agreement, OVL and PdVSA will develop the field from its current production level of 20,000 barrels per day to 40,000 barrels per day, company officials said. OVL will make a total investment of $ 355.738 million comprising signature.
The Parliamentary Committee on Special Economic Zones on Friday said no further SEZs should be notified unless the law is amended to include changes pertaining to land acquisition.
On Thursday, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had also informed Parliament that the government under instruction from United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is not proposing any fuel price increase despite crude nearing $100 a barrel mark. Crude oil prices have risen by almost 50 per cent since the UPA government assumed office, but only a fifth of that has been passed on to the customers.
India and Libya discussed ways to boost their relationship, particularly in the IT and Oil sector during talks visiting Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli.
Global crude oil prices have nearly doubled in the last one year but government has not raised domestic fuel prices on a direction from United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.
The country is facing no shortage of domestic cooking gas at the moment, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. As on October 1, 2007, OMCs were serving 9.79 crore LPG customers through their 9,355 distributorships. OMCs have released 27.7 lakh new LPG domestic connections in the country during April-September.
Iran on Friday invited India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to Tehran for signing a tri-nation deal on natural gas, supply of which could start from 2011.
The notice for the adjournment motion was sent by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi to the Rajya Sabha secretary general.
The government has no plans to raise fuel prices in the immediate future and will take a decision in this regard at an "appropriate time", Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Tuesday. "An appropriate decision on fuel price will be taken at an appropriate time," Deora said at the Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi.
Reliance plans to shut two-third of its 1,400 petrol pumps in the country by next month as it is unable to match the fuel price offered by state-run retailers, who get compensated by the government for selling fuel below the cost. Reliance and Essar make huge losses on selling petrol and diesel at prices higher than Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. On an average, fuel at private outlets is costlier by Rs 4 to 5 a litre than the PSU pumps.
Debutant medium pacer Murli Prasidh Krishna hogged the limelight on his first-class debut, claiming five wickets for 49 runs, as Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka dismissed star-studded Bangladesh 'A' for a paltry 158 on Tuesday, the opening day of their three-day game in Mysuru.
With the rise of global crude oil prices - currently nudging $100 per barrel - the "losses" of the three government-owned oil marketing companies have gone up to a whopping Rs 240 crore (Rs 2.4 billion) per day.
NDA demands fresh probe into Netaji's disappearance
The thrust of the conclave would be to expose the UPA's failures on price rise and inflation which has hit the the common man adversely.
The government on Thursday decided not to increase petrol and diesel prices, and issue oil bonds worth Rs 23,457 crore (Rs 234.57 billion) to partly compensate public sector oil companies for the losses incurred on fuel sales."We have kept our promise of not raising prices of sensitive petroleum products," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told PTI after a meeting of the Cabinet.
The main accused in the Dinakaran newspaper office attack case 'Attack Pandi' on Tuesday surrendered before the police in Madurai and was produced before a lower court, which remanded him to nine days judicial custody.
Iran may put the $22 billion deal to sell liquefied natural gas to India on the backburner as New Delhi refuses to re-open the contract sealed two years ago, according to an assessment by the petroleum ministry.
Natural gas producers like Reliance Industries will need government approval for the formula used to calculate the price of the fuel, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Tuesday.
Former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi will present the resolution at the executive and will be the point-person of the BJP on the issue.
Australia on Tuesday invited Indian companies to take part in exploration of natural gas but expressed inability to supply LNG to India in the short term.
The north-eastern states are keen to have a proposed gas pipeline from Myanmar routed through the region as they believe the project could bring about a development windfall.
The price of the Indian basket of crude oil touched an all-time high of $75.30 per barrel on Thursday, the latest day for which data are available, sending alarm bells ringing in the government.
'It is my opinion that not releasing the Balakote Battle Damage Assessment immediately post strike was a phenomenal blunder, perception battle wise,' says Group Captain Murli Menon (retd), India's former air adviser in Pakistan.
Murli Deora has expressed optimism over the IPI gas pipeline project, confirming that talks are on with both Iran and Pakistan to finalise the project.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora would visit Pakistan early next month to sort out differences over transit fee for the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
The average price of Indian basket of crude oil during 2007-08 (upto August) has increased to $68.34 per barrel as compared to 62.46 dollars a barrel during 2006-07.
Petrol dealers called off the strike planned for Friday to protest against government not passing off the benefits of drop in prices of petroleum.
The strike had threatened to cripple aviation refuelling and refinery operations, oil and gas production and auto fuel as well as domestic cooking gas supplies.
'Politics is not a post for retired people to enjoy.'
Kazakhstan will give ONGC Videsh Ltd an oil block in the Caspian Sea.\n\n
India expects to attract at least $4 billion of investment in oil and gas hunt in the seventh round of auction of acreage under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) which was launched on Thursday.Petroleum Minister Murli Deora announced the offer of 57 oil and gas blocks - nine in shallow water, 19 in deep-sea and 29 onland, in NELP-VII, bids for which will close on April 11, 2008.
Mittal said his steel plants were getting gas at no less than $6 per million British thermal unit (mBtu), much lower than the $4.33 per mBtu price proposed by RIL.
The Centre is examining proposals for foreign direct investment in the education sector on case by case basis, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday.
India-born billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal will invest Rs 3,200 crore (Rs 32 billion) in taking 49 per cent stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd's $3 billion Bhatinda refinery.
The United Progressive Alliance government on Thursday announced slashing petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2 and Re 1 per litre, respectively, with effect from midnight on Thursday -- as part of measures to tame soaring inflation.
Launching a major global initiative for attracting foreign investment in the hydrocarbon sector, India on Monday held a roadshow in London for auctioning 55 oil and gas exploration blocks.
Joshi courted arrest after he made a speech and was taken away in a police bus.
Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi on Thursday questioned the quality of IITs, saying that large-scale spending on the nation's premier technology schools was not paying back enough dividends.
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