A source said on Tuesday that 'petroleum ministry is likely to propose deregulation of petrol prices and gradual phasing out of subsidies on diesel to ease burden on public sector oil marketing companies' -- indicating a possible hike of Rs 3 per litre in petrol rates.
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.
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 Ministry Of Petroleum and Natural Gas has ruled out a hike in the prices of petrol and diesel in the near future even as the price of the Indian basket of crude oil continues to remain above $65 a barrel.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora will meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday to work out a package on pricing of petrol and diesel, besides subsidies on kerosene and cooking gas before the month-end.
Disinvestment secretary Sunil Mitra last month wrote to his counterpart in Petroleum ministry R S Pandey seeking comments on 'public offerings from Government's shareholding' in ONGC and IOC. While government has not allowed IOC and other retailers Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to raise petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene price in line with the cost, they have not been given the promised compensation.
The petroleum ministry has put on back burner the proposal to create a national gas highway development authority, following an opposition from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, which currently has the powers to authorise pipelines.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora will meet Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday in an effort to secure energy assets, including UK-listed Imperial Energy Plc.
Undoing Mani Shankar Aiyar's move to exercise greater control on public sector oil firms, the petroleum ministry has restricted the number of government directors on boards of public sector oil companies to just two.
Petroleum retailers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, among other cities, will start supplying Euro-IV compliant auto fuel from April 1.
Concerned over the possibility of terror attacks on the strategic storage reserves of petroleum products, the National Disaster Management Authority plans to mount mock exercises to check their security and work out remedial measures.
Downstream oil sector regulator Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board had been pushing for cancellation of the authorisation given to RGTIL.
Petrol price is to go up by 30 paisa per litre, diesel by 18 paisa as government decides to hike petrol pump dealers commission.
The Delhi government rolled back the hike in value added tax (Vat) on diesel, bringing down the price by Rs 2.50 a litre. Following the reduction in the levy, the price of diesel will be Rs 37.60 with effect from July 20, lower than the Rs 38.10 that prevailed before the recent increase of June 25.the Goa Cabinet also approved a partial roll back of Vat that would reduce prices of a cooking gas cylinder by Rs 15, petrol by 88 paise and diesel by 70 paise.
Clearing the last hurdle, the Union home ministry has given unconditional approval for United Kingdom's BP to buy a 30 per cent stake in Reliance Industries' oil and gas blocks, including the showcase KG-D6 gas fields, for $7.2 billion.
Capital expenditure by 54 large central public sector enterprises and five departmental arms, having a capex minimum target of Rs 100 crore, rose 93 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the April-May period to Rs 1.39 trillion. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Railways have started this financial year's capex cycle on a stronger note. In the first two months of FY24, the 54 CPSEs, along with the departmental arms, achieved 19 per cent of their combined budget target of Rs 7.33 trillion, Business Standard has learnt.
The prohibition has freed up as much as 60 million litres of ethanol
In its latest undercover investigation, codenamed Operation Falcon Claw, Cobrapost has exposed a bunch of parliamentarians willing to not only write recommendation letters but also lobby with the petroleum ministry for a foreign company to help it secure oil exploration and rigging rights in the Northeast.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Minister of State for Petroleum Jitin Prasada took charge on Friday.
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 petroleum ministry has asked for a total compensation of Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) to cover the subsidy portion till the third quarter of the current financial year.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation approached the petroleum ministry on Thursday with an initial proposal for permission to bid for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation as and when the government decides to offer its stake in the PSU.
India's oil import bill has swelled 52 per cent to $44.64 billion in 2005-06 on the back of high global oil prices.
Price of diesel, LPG and kerosene will have to go up.
Ministry may seek to retain control even after underrecovery becomes zero.
The decision was taken at a meeting last month chaired by additional secretary Sudhir Bhargava and attended by representatives of GAIL and the three OMCs - Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.
The demand for diesel cars, which account for 58 per cent of passenger vehicle sales in India every month, has seen a steep rise, as manufacturers continue to introduce variants that have diesel engines.
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