"We are working on a (subsidy) mechanism, as it's very difficult to implement dual pricing of diesel," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said
President Pratibha Patil today embarked on her maiden visit to Russia seeking to consolidate the relations between the "close friends and partners" in the changed global geo-political situation.
Iran on Tuesday indicated that it may be willing to change the delivery point of gas it wants to sell to India through a pipeline passing through Pakistan, but wanted New Delhi and Islamabad to decide quickly on the $7.4 billion project.
The government is exploring various options, including a marginal hike in prices of petrol and diesel, and a possible duty cut to ease burden on state-run oil firms that are increasingly losing revenue due to global crude prices surging close to $100 a barrel. "We will do all that is possible to protect the interests of our PSUs," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said after a brief meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue on Friday.
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is in talks with Reliance Industries and Indian Oil Corporation for investing in refineries and petrochemical plants in the country.
Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines owes state-run oil companies over Rs 950 crore (Rs 9.50 billion0 in unpaid fuel bills while financial crisis-hit NACIL has cleared almost two-thirds of its outstanding.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Tuesday said petrol and diesel prices will not be increased "as of now" even as he began consultations with Finance Minister P Chidambaram on ways of mitigating the spurt in global oil prices.
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.
Responding to a Call Attention Motion in Rajya Sabha on the recent price hike, Deora said the July 2 increase had helped IOC, BPCL and HPCL cut their revenue losses for July from Rs 4,870 crore (Rs 48.7 billion) to around Rs 2,880 crore (Rs 28.8 billion).
Dabhol is part of Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd.
Fuel consumption is projected to grow to 136.61 million tonnes in 2009-10 against 133.4 million tonnes in the previous fiscal, Deora informed the Rajya Sabha. The expansion in demand will be the slowest since 2005-06.
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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted a ministers' group to monitor the government's stand on the Ambani gas dispute in the Supreme Court.
India on Wednesday offered Qatar a 10 per cent stake in Petronet LNG Ltd to get the worlds largest liquefied natural gas exporter to sell 18 more LNG cargoes this year and agree on a long-term supply deal for meeting fuel needs of beleaguered Dabhol power plant.
India hopes to conclude the acquisition of UK-listed Imperial Energy in 4-5 weeks, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Friday. OVL is now awaiting approval of Kremlin to takeover the company, which has assets in Tomsk region of the western Siberia in Russia.
With terrorists using the sea route to unleash the deadliest attack on India in 15 years, an alarm has been sounded on security of oil and gas installations, particularly offshore areas, with companies offering to bear part of the cost of enhanced surveillance and patrolling.
India, Pakistan and Iran will for the first time hold a joint official-level meeting in Tehran from March 13-15 on the proposed over $7 billion tri-nation gas pipeline
Virtually securing the consent of Left parties, the government is likely to decide next week on a price hike of Rs 4 per litre for petrol and Rs 3 a litre for diesel while sparing cooking gas and kerosene.
The government on Wednesday broadly hinted about a hike in petrol and diesel prices, saying although it has kept retail prices unchanged it cannot do so for long given the rise in crude oil rates.
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.
A decision on raising retail fuel prices and partly compensating revenue losses of oil firms will be taken by Saturday (May 31), even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday assessed the problems caused by the spike in crude prices.
The finance ministry had recommended that the government disinvest 10 per cent of its stake in the proposed initial public offer of Oil India, a state-owned upstream company, said Petroleum Minister Murli Deora.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora met Iran's Deputy Minister for International Affairs H Noghrehkar Shirazi on the sidelines of the 12th International Energy Forum here to propose bilateral talks in May.
The government may soon raise prices of natural gas produced by state-owned ONGC and Oil India by as much as 30 per cent, Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan said on Monday.
Taking Indo-Chinese co-operation in the oil sector a step forward, the country's biggest oil refiner and retailer, Indian Oil Corporation, has signed a memorandum of understanding with integrated Chinese national oil company Sinopec.
GAIL has already been appointed as the nodal agency for the pipeline in India.
Cutting across party lines, MPs in Rajya Sabha expressed deep concern over the dispute and said the private contractor should not be allowed to enter into a memorandum of understanding for distribution of gas from a national asset.
Iraq has invited Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest oil refiner, to set up refineries in the war-torn country, and also participate in other downstream projects, a government statement said.
In the midst of a spat between India and China, an official Chinese newspaper on Friday spoke of a possible meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries next week in Thailand.
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.
Talks between the government and striking oil Public Sector Undertakings failed late Thursday night over the officers' insistence on getting an immediate hike in their wages as the agitation threatened a major disruption in supply of petrol across the country. Deora is likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday afternoon on the issue after the meeting of the Union cabinet in the morning.
The Union petroleum minister has assured the petroleum dealers that he would discuss with the Maharashtra government to bring sales tax rates at par with neighbouring states.
Petroleum ministry has rejected Reliance Industries Limited's plan to sell natural gas to Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Natural Resources Ltd at less than half the market price.
Subir Raha, who was last week denied an extension as head of Oil and Natural Gas Corp on the basis of a critical performance appraisal by former petroleum secretary S C Tripathi
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has announced that the cabinet will soon take a decision on fuel price hike.
The fall in international oil prices has resulted in handsome margins for state-owned firms on petrol and diesel sales, but not all of it would be reflected in the cut in the retail selling price, as Finance Ministry wants to take away some of the gain by raising excise duty.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora launched the ninth edition of New Exploration Licensing Policy, offering 34 exploration blocks, almost half of the previous round in 2009.
President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to ink an agreement on the $7.6 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project with the Turkmen and Afghan heads of state at Ashgabat on December 11.
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