The Union oil ministry is considering a proposal to adopt differential pricing for diesel, under which industrial users like power utilities, will be charged market prices and retail consumers continue to be subsidised.
Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 oil and gas fields have seen output further dipping to 44.5 million standard cubic metres per day this month.
India's crude oil production rose by 3.2 per cent in May on back of better performance by state- owned oil major Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), while refinery output remained unchanged.
The bonds will help oil marketing companies - IOC, HPCl, Bharat Petroleum and IBP Ltd - to cover their under-recoveries.
Exports in June rose by 23.52 per cent to $40.13 billion while the trade deficit ballooned to a record level of $26.18 billion mainly due to jump in gold and crude oil imports, the government data said on Thursday. The country's export growth in May was 20.55 per cent. Imports expanded by 57.55 per cent to $66.31 billion in June compared to the year-ago month, the data showed.
The petroleum ministry has said that fuel prices should go up by Rs 10.43 a litre and cooking gas price by Rs 114.45 per cylinder, with the Left parties opposing the move.
Speaking at a joint press event with Macron, Modi, who is in Paris on a two-day official visit, said a roadmap to strengthen India-France strategic ties over the next 25 years was being prepared with bold and ambitious goals on the anvil.
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.
A market-based gas pricing regime is to kick-in from next month.
The Oil ministry is set to raise the diesel prices by Rs 10 per litre over the next ten months. Planning Re 1 increase per litre per month for the coming 10 months. This means the wide-gap between diesel and petrol will reduce. Should a car buyer still buy diesel cars or opt for other options?
RIL produced a total of 22.04 mmscmd of gas from Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas fields and MA oil and gas field in the KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block in Bay of Bengal in the week ended December 30, 2012, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons said in a production status report to the Oil Ministry.
Oil marketing companies have approached the government to reduce tariffs since they will continue to lose around Rs 210 crore (Rs 2.10 billion) due to a Rs 1.20 per litre under-recovery on diesel.
In a surprise move, the Ministry had on October 10 moved a note to the Empowered Group of Ministers opposing a hike in price of RIL's KG-D6 gas before April 2014 even though the company itself was not seeking a revision before that date.
The government plans to more than double the price of natural gas produced by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to $4.20 per mmBtu, in a move that will help the state-run firm break even in gas business.
Refusing to be cowed by pressure being brought on him, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Friday said the decision for mining group Vedanta Resources' $9.6 billion buyout of Cairn India will be taken by the Cabinet without "sacrificing" on national interest.
The petroleum ministry has sought a Rs 10 per litre increase in petrol and Rs 5 a litre hike in diesel prices, along with a cut in customs and excise duties, to offset the impact of surge in crude oil prices that have touched $135 per barrel.
Cooking gas price was on Saturday hiked by Rs 11.42 per cylinder following government decision to raise commission paid to the dealers.
The calculation is based on annual usage of eight cylinders per household.
The panel, however, set some conditions for the company, including that Cairn India will have to upload the status of environment compliance, including results of monitored data, on its website and update it periodically.
A top oil ministry official said it will be "suicidal" to even think of raising prices of diesel, LPG or kerosene just before Parliament is to meet.
India is set to offer oil blocks for exploration by the end of the year following a clearance in principle from the ministry of environment and forests for award of blocks under the fifth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy.
Govt plans to stop RIL from selling crude to Jamnagar refinery.
Or Iran may face the risk of losing its biggest client
The wholesale price-based inflation declined to over two-year low of 3.85 per cent in January on easing prices of manufactured items, fuel and power, even though food articles remained expensive. This is the ninth straight month of decline in the rate of wholesale price-index (WPI) based inflation. The WPI inflation was 4.73 per cent in January and 13.43 per cent in February, last year.
Government headhunters Public Enterprise Selection Board selected Srinivasan after interviewing 11 candidates at its office in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram had last week stated that there were demands from 'several chief ministers' for raising the quota of subsidised cylinders and the government 'will look into' them.
The Petroleum Federation of India, the apex body of public and private oil firms, has submitted to the oil ministry a 100-day agenda for the new government. On top of its list is decontrol of petrol and diesel prices. Currently, public sector retailers sell auto fuel at government-dictated rates, which the private sector competition is unable to match in times of high input cost (crude oil prices).
The Petroleum Ministry has asked the oil regulator to look into the marketing margin charged by not just Reliance Industries, but also state-owned GAIL India Ltd on the sale of domestic gas and imported LNG.
Surging global crude oil prices failed to shore up customs revenue substantially as India Inc resorted to advance licence scheme, which allows duty-free imports for value-added exports.
In its first decision, the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) on Wednesday cleared Reliance Industries' producing KG-D6 block and gas discovery area NEC-25 along with 3 other areas where the Defence Ministry had either barred oil and gas activity or put stringent conditions on that.
The ministry had previously wanted to disallow $1.235 billion expenditure that RIL had incurred on putting production facilities at the Bay of Bengal gas fields but in the 7-page notice it sent to the company on May 2, the cost to be disallowed was put at $1.462 billion, sources privy to the development said.
Petroleum Ministry is considering cutting down the number of independent directors on board in an oil PSU to 33%.
Oil demand had plunged 5.9 per cent in January, the most in 13 years, after the shock demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances