Citing the May, 2010, Supreme Court ruling that upheld the government's right to frame gas utilisation policy, the ministry last week wrote to Reliance directing it to first supply natural gas from its KG-D6 fields to priority sectors like fertiliser and power, official sources said.
The petroleum ministry has sought expansion of the legal team that is to argue the government's stand on the gas dispute between the Ambani brothers before the Supreme Court beginning next week.
The decision comes after Australian mining major BHP Billiton said it would not improve the terms of its bid. BHP Billiton, the largest mining company in the world, and new entrant GVK Oil and Gas were the sole bidders for five deepwater blocks and hence the provisional winners after the bidding closed on June 30 this year.
The KG-D6 production is lower than 61.5 mmscmd rate achieved in March, 2010, as a drop in pressure in the wells and increased water ingress has led to a lower per-well gas output.
An ecological disaster is in the making in the Sunderbans, the world's largest mangrove forest spanning across the Indo-Bangla border, after an oil tanker collided with an empty cargo vessel. The incident spilled nearly 350 tonnes of oil into the Sela river, threatening the survival of multiple species of flora and fauna.
A hike in diesel and domestic LPG prices has been deferred for now, but an increase in petrol prices later this week looks imminent.
Ministry wants to abolish 2.5 per cent customer duty on petrol and diesel.
Non-core sponge iron plants, petrochemicals units and oil refineries have cornered as much as 13.13 million cubic metres per day out of the 60.76 mmscmd of KG-D6 gas allocated.
Deora is believed to have explained the oil ministry's position on gas pricing and utilisation.
Reliance Industries is ostensibly seeking a 25 per cent increase in the price of natural gas it produces from the eastern offshore Krishna-Godavari Basin after it wrote to the Oil Ministry saying it has customers willing to pay more than the government-approved price.
India's economy continues to be robust, but downside risks such as rising crude oil prices, adverse weather conditions, and the global banking crisis outweigh the upside potential in gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the current financial year (FY24), the finance ministry said on Tuesday in its Monthly Economic Review for March. "We reiterate that downside risks to our official forecast of 6.5 per cent for real GDP growth in FY24 dominate upside risks," the review said. "Opec's surprise production cut has seen oil prices rise in April, off their lows of low-seventies per barrel in March.
Vedanta had proposed to buy a 51 per cent stake in Cairn India for $9.6 billion in the middle of last year. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is expected to take up the issue next week.
in some sense, it is much worse as the current rise was preceded by an increase in commodity prices
The Indian desire to deepen its ties with Vietnam, especially in the oil sector, besides defence and trade, was conveyed to the top leadership in Hanoi by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Contracting for the third month in a row, India's exports declined by 8.8 per cent to $33.88 billion in February due to slowdown in global demand, even as the trade deficit touched about a year low of $17.43 billion during the month, according to official data released on Wednesday. Imports also declined by 8.21 per cent to $51.31 billion as against $55.9 billion recorded in the corresponding month last year. Cumulatively, however during April-February this fiscal, the country's overall merchandise exports rose by 7.5 per cent to $405.94 billion.
The primary and immediate impact of a depreciating rupee is on the importers who will have to shell out more for the same quantity and price. However, it is a boon for the exporters as they receive more rupees in exchange for dollars. The rupee depreciation has wiped away some of the gains that would have accrued to India from international oil and fuel prices dropping to pre-Ukraine war levels.
Petrol and diesel are among the 90-plus commodities that have been approved by the government for derivatives trading
Oil ministry this week issued written instructions to the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-run firm to make a 'pro-rata' cut in gas supplies to all existing customers if the production from its KG-D6 field cannot support new customers, two sources with direct knowledge of the information have said.
State-owned oil firms have seen their losses on diesel sales widen to over Rs 6 per litre, even as a ministerial panel meeting on raising prices has not yet been scheduled.
As sanctions-hit Russia increasingly relies on consumer products from India, outbound shipments to Russia have started picking up for the second consecutive month in October. This comes after it witnessed contraction for six consecutive months starting March, commerce and industry ministry data showed. During October, India exported goods worth $280 million, up 3.7 per cent as compared to a year ago. It was led by demand for items such as vegetables, tea, coffee, chemicals as well as iron and steel products.
Modi was honoured with the 'Order of Zayed', the UAE's highest civilian award, in 2019 as a mark of appreciation for his efforts to boost bilateral ties between the two nations.
The ministry has attributed the fall in output to non-fulfilment of RIL's commitment to drill 22 wells in the field.
The government had in May last year disallowed $1.005 billion expense of RIL on the flagging KG-D6 gas fields for not implementing the approved field development plan.
A host of factors including the reform measures taken by the government and decline in global oil and commodity prices have led to lower inflation, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.
Continuing its attack on Petroleum Ministry, Anil Ambani group on Thursday criticised it for its failure to attract top global players for oil and gas exploration and production due to lack of sanctity attached to concluded contracts.
The government will next week launch the 9th round of auction under the New Exploration Licensing Policy for the oil and gas sector.
Natural gas output from KG-D6 in the week ended June 24 dropped to 30.82 mscmd from 31.57 mmcmd in the beginning of the month, according to a status report filed by the company with the Oil Ministry.
ONGC sought opinion from the second highest law officer of the country after its partner Cairn Energy Plc stated that the UK firm's sale of majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta Resources will not trigger pre-emption rights of the state- owned firm, a top oil ministry official said.
The government is planning to rationalise multiple prices of natural gas in the country to make fuel costs uniform for all consumers, Oil Secretary S Sundareshan said on Wednesday.
This means lower losses on fuel sales by Indian oil companies and a shrinking oil subsidy bill for the government.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram had, in the Budget for 2008-09, announced end to income tax holidays for refineries commissioning after April 1, 2009. The Budget also mentioned tax breaks under section 80-IB(9) would be available for production of 'mineral oil', which was defined as not to include petroleum and natural gas. This created a lot of confusion among investors and a fear of poor response took Petroleum Minister Murli Deora to Chidambaram earlier this week.
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