Deora, who met Mukherjee on Monday afternoon to present his ministry's Budget wishlist, also discussed the deregulation of fuel prices.
Congress stalwart Murli Deora passed away on Monday morning after battling a prolonged illness. He was a politician who shared rapport across the political and corporate spectrum.
Parliament was adjourned on Monday morning after condoling the death of 3 sitting members, including former Union minister Murli Deora.
Murli Deora, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, will be leaving for Pakistan on Tuesday. India and Pakistan's relation will get unprecedented boost if talks on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas project proceeds on a fast track, said a high-level source in the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The biggest issue in realising the TAPI pipeline project is the issue of security through Afghanistan.
Petroleum minister Murli Deora discussed the idea of levy of $0.20 per million British thermal unit as cess on natural gas to mop up Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) annually for laying down the gas pipeline network with CEOs of state-run firms. The brainstorming session called to chalk out the 100-day plan for the new government also decided on launching a new Scheme of Rural LPG Distributor (Gramin LPG Vitrak), petroleum secretary R S Pandey said.
Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Murli Deora has welcomed the General Budget for 2010-11 presented by the finance minister on Friday in the Lok Sabha.
Natural gas producers like Reliance Industries will need government approval for the formula used to calculate the price of the fuel, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Tuesday.
Though the international crude prices were going up, the United Progressive Alliance government's approach was that the subsidy on petroleum products should continue as in the case of food and fertilisers.
The proposed Rs 7,000-crore (Rs 70-billion) petrochemical complex of Gas Authority of India at Kochi has been shelved for the time being due to technical issues, according to Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora.
Minster of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora on Monday commissioned the first stretch of the Dahej - Panvel - Dabhol pipeline from Dahej to Surat.
Despite the high oil prices, growth in energy demand will continue globally, but there is need to reorient the approach in meeting the challenge, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora said on Sunday.
Launching a major global initiative for attracting foreign investment in the hydrocarbon sector, India on Monday held a roadshow in London for auctioning 55 oil and gas exploration blocks.
The government on Monday refused to review its decision rejecting the price of natural gas proposed to be sold by Reliance Industries Ltd to an Anil Ambani group firm.
A Group of Ministers will take the decision in June.
India plans to buy more liquefied natural gas from Qatar and will expand the capacity of its Dahej LNG terminal to 10 million tonnes a year from the present five million tonnes.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Tuesday sought a Re 1 per litre cut in excise duty on diesel to contain runaway inflation.
The FIR by the ACB was registered a day after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the agency has been told to probe their alleged collusion over hike in prices of natural gas from KG basin.
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.
Sudan, which had in 2007 defaulted on payment of installments towards the cost of building 741-km pipeline from Khatroum to Port au Sudan, agreed to form a working group to resolve the issue within a month, sources said.
The government on Tuesday clarified that no papers of sensitive nature were ever given to Mukesh Ambani-run RIL or its Canadian partner Niko Resources, and added they were provided only those papers needed to implement the decision on pricing of natural gas from their field.
'The price increases, particularly in respect of cooking gas, that is domestic LPG and PDS kerosene, have been quite minimal.'
Deora's visit assumes importance in view of Musharraf's proposals to China and China's quest for shorter, safer and commercially viable routes for importing gas and oil.
India will make another attempt to salvage the $22-billion deal to import LNG from Iran when Petroleum Minister Murli Deora meets the Islamic country's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Thursday.
ONGC confirmed on discovering natural gas in KG basin off the Andhra Pradesh coast and Mahanadi basin off Orissa coast, but said the find in KG basin posts 'technological challenges' and it was on looking for a strategic partner.
India expects to finalise an agreement on the tri-nation pipeline that will bring natural gas from Iran via Pakistan by the middle of next month, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday.
On the insistence of petroleum minister Murli Deora, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is sending Shmatko to attend the conference of energy ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States that New Delhi is hosting on November 25-26.
Iran on Friday invited India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to Tehran for signing a tri-nation deal on natural gas, supply of which could start from 2011.
The Petroleum Ministry has allocated additional natural gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore gas fields to three power plants to meet electricity deficit in northern states reeling under drought.
India is likely to sign a $145 billion deal by June to import natural gas from Iran through the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline after Tehran lowered the sale price by 30 per cent.
The finance minister as part of his pre-Budget consultations is meeting industry bodies and ministers and has slotted Deora for June 15, a source said. On Deora's agenda will be getting back the seven-year exemption or holiday from payment of income tax for natural gas producers. He may also press for infrastructure status for natural gas.
Amidst the legal battle between Reliance Industries Ltd and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd over gas from Kaveri basin, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has hit out at the Ambani brothers for fighting over a natural resource that belongs to the government and the people of the country.
The government on Wednesday denied any move to hive-off ONGC Videsh Ltd from its parent Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, saying the present arrangement of letting the subsidiary company scout for overseas oil and gas assets was working well.
A friend of Mukesh Ambani should not be petroleum minister
Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources continued its attack on the government for allegedly favouring brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd on the sale price of gas from the Krishna Godavari D6 basin. At $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mBtu), the price fixed, there is a premium of more than 100 per cent over the gas available through the administered pricing mechanism, it said.
The first stretch of Dahej-Panvel-Dabhol pipeline, which will feed natural gas to the beleaguered Dabhol power project in Maharashtra, has been commissioned.
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.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured his support for ONGC Videsh Ltd taking a 20 per cent stake in the project, Deora said on Thursday.
