The petroleum ministry is mulling filing a defamation suit against an Anil Ambani Group firm for persisting with 'false claims' pertaining to government revenues from Reliance Industries KG-D6 fields.
Low-to-negative margins on sale of petroleum products have forced some companies to scrap their retail expansion plan, while others have chosen to go slow.
Petrol prices may be raised by about Rs 2 per litre and diesel rates cut by Rs 0.30 a litre if a proposal to free auto fuel prices from state control is approved by the incoming cabinet.
The Petroleum Ministry may have watered down its preconditions for approving mining group Vedanta Resources' acquisition of Cairn India, but the $9.6 billion deal will still hinges on no-objection from partner ONGC.
The two firefighters had gone missing after the well caught fire on Tuesday and their bodies were recovered by a National Disaster Relief Force team on Wednesday morning, said Oil India Spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika.
Monday's meeting of the empowered group of ministers on pricing of gas from Reliance Industries' D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin has proved inconclusive.
Not only does there appear to be no meeting ground on the issue of a pricing formula proposed by the committee, the petroleum ministry wants another committee headed by Vijay Kelkar to look into the other major recommendation of moving to the revenue sharing model in exploration and production.
The Government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme, 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan', to "empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens". Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch this scheme on June 20 through video conference in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Petroleum product consumption rose 11.6 million tons in December as against 11.12 million tons a year ago, according to the latest data available from petroleum ministry in New Delhi. Low freight traffic with railways, a major consumer of diesel, and not-so-encouraging agriculture scenario also contributed to the low growth rate.
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.
The petroleum ministry has invited bids from companies willing to share Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd's proposed Rs 1,367 crore Mundra-Delhi product pipeline capacity.
The pipelines will be from Iran to India through Pakistan, from Turkmenistan to India through Afghanistan and Pakistan, and from Myanmar to India through Bangladesh, Mani Shankar Aiyar said.
The Kazakhstan government has assured India that it will consider allowing ONGC Videsh Ltd to acquire a share in the assets of Canadian oil company Petrokazakhstan, a top government official said.
Replacing Iran, which is India's third largest oil supplier behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia, will not be a problem but margins will be hit as Tehran offers the best commercial terms
The Centre could further moderate its divestment target for 2024-25 (FY25), as it does not expect large receipts from asset sales - except some ongoing strategic ones, including IDBI Bank, which could spill over into next financial year. Also, it may drastically reduce its FY24 divestment target of Rs 51,000 crore. "We are still evaluating the Budget estimates for FY25. "New big-ticket asset sales are unlikely.
The entry of a new developer through competitive bidding would delay the development of discoveries by at least 10 years.
Petrol pumps on Monday did business as usual as the day-long strike call given by Federation of All India Petroleum Traders evoked no response from the fuel station owners.\n\n\n\n
Wielding a broom, the prime minister took part in the drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuriya.
The Oil Ministry has approved the sale of 10 per cent Government holding in consultancy firm Engineers India Ltd, and a public offering is expected in the second half of July.
Anil dared the oil ministry to cancel the production sharing contract with RIL if it was really aggrieved and not challenge third party agreements.
The government is reviewing the previous NDA regime's ambitious programme to run automobiles on ethanol-doped petrol, a project which was launched to cut the country's dependence on imported crude oil.
Reliance Industries on Monday said its city gas would be cheaper by almost 33 per cent compared to liquefied petroleum gas being supplied by oil PSUs.
Some of them have ambitious plans to fight the slowdown, while some would seek to revive their image.
Crude oil import surged 15.4 per cent to 51.88 million tonnes as against 44.97 million tonnes in April-August and oil product exports jumped 35.7 per cent to 16.61 million tonnes.
Domestic output is stagnating and the expensive LNG will meet the rising energy demand of the growing economy.
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.
The cap on cylinders would burden the Centre, which will need to compensate the states for the increased cooking fuel cost.
The Union petroleum ministry has proposed a 44 per cent increase in prices of natural gas sold under the administered price mechanism by state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd.
This follows a letter by RIL to the ministry, justifying the increase in capex.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar may soon meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to decide on fuel pricing in the wake of spiraling international oil prices.
The government allows the oil companies to sell only a quarter of the total quantum of bonds they hold at any time during a quarter, so as to ensure that the market is not flooded with oil bonds. It has not yet decided on how the subsidy burden will be shared across stakeholders, how much of the subsidy from the government account will be given in cash and how much in the form of bonds, says an official.
Industrialist Anil Ambani on Tuesday dared the petroleum ministry to take back the ownership of gas fields from Reliance Industries Ltd if it seriously believed that terms of the contract were violated by Mukesh Ambani-led firm, which he alleged was wanting to make a super-profit of Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion).
The power and fertiliser companies should be prepared to pay higher prices of natural gas as the petroleum ministry favours economic pricing of the fuel, an official said on Thursday.
The group of ministers' meeting on Tuesday on raising natural gas price for fertilizer and power units and setting up a regulator for the oil sector remained inconclusive.
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