Reason behind for the change in his stance: gas price increase.
RIL had drawn 58.67 bcm of gas from four wells.
ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has proposed to buy the entire gas production from Sakhalin-I field in Russia and import the same in the form of LNG to India.
India is preoccupied with analysing the US sanctions, which may cut off India's access to discounted Russian crude and force it to buy at market prices.
'Geopolitically and diplomatically it's a very difficult situation for India.'
About two dozen discoveries of the state-owned ONGC, Reliance Industries and the Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) in KG Basin alone are languishing for want of right price.
The government on Thursday hiked by 62 per cent the price of natural gas that is used to produce electricity, make fertilisers and turned into CNG to use as fuel in automobiles and cooking gas for household kitchens. This is the first increase in rates since April 2019 and comes on back of firming benchmark international prices but does not reflect the spurt in spot or current price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) witnessed during the last couple of weeks. The oil ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) said the rates paid for gas produced from fields given to state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) will be $2.90 per million British thermal unit for the six-month period beginning April 1.
Reliance currently holds 90 per cent interest in KG-D6.
'India did not surrender. That was why he wanted to pressurise India by this 25% tariffs.'
The government on Monday scrapped 30-month old windfall profit tax on domestically-produced crude oil and on export of jet fuel (ATF), diesel and petrol following a decline in international oil prices. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary tabled a notification in Rajya Sabha scrapping the levy on crude oil produced by firms like state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and exports of fuels done by companies like Reliance Industries Ltd.
According to a source close to the development, the government is set to come out with a notification in this regard by the end of this week.
Rebuffing petroleum ministry, Siddaramaiah launches Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana-like scheme months before state polls
The Delhi high court (HC) division Bench on Thursday sought a response from Reliance Industries (RIL) and others regarding the government's appeal against the Mukesh Ambani-owned conglomerate and others for fraudulently and unjustly enriching themselves by draining gas from their deposits, amounting to over $1.5 billion. The Centre had appealed against the single-judge Bench order of the Delhi HC on May 9, which had dismissed its petition. Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani had upheld the international arbitration award of July 24, 2018, in favour of the RIL-led consortium. The consortium includes UK-based BP Plc and Niko Resources of Canada.
ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma on July 30 wrote to Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan seeking immediate hike in price of gas it sells under regulated regime as it was incurring Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) loss on the business.
Government has set $4.20-per million British thermal unit as the selling price for D6 gas, but the Bombay high court last month asked RIL to supply gas to firms run by Anil Ambani Group at $2.34 per mmBtu, 44 per cent lower than the price fixed by the government.
Iran and Pakistan have signed a deal in Turkey paving the way for constructing the much- delayed natural gas pipeline that was originally envisaged to extend up to India.
In a written reply to a question, he said commercial production of oil from Reliance KG-DWN-98/3 block or KG-D6 commenced in September at the rate of 10,000 barrels of oil per day. Reliance and its Canadian partner Niko Resources has established 570 million tons of oil and oil equivalent gas reserves in the block.
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
The complaint states that journalists blocked his way at the guest house, the source said without elaborating.
ONGC has written to the government numerous times saying the state-run banks on getting assured business act in cartel, offering interest rates lower than even that on retail deposits.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam sought response from the Centre and RIL on a PIL filed by Communist Party of India Member of Parliament Gurudas Dasgupta who alleged that no due diligence was done by the government while increasing the price of natural gas.
The trade war between the US and China is expected to benefit Indian exporters in increasing their shipments to the American market, sources said. They said the country was the fourth-largest gainer when the US imposed higher duties on Chinese goods during US President Donald Trump's first tenure.
The Petroleum Ministry in an order on Wednesday said it has revised guidelines for allocation/supply of domestic natural gas to city gas distribution entities for CNG and piped cooking gas sector.
'Trump does have a master plan in mind to put pressure on India with the additional tariff of 25 per cent to get Modi to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to freeze the Ukraine war.' 'It has not worked so far. By end-September only we'll know for sure the future trajectory of India's oil purchases from Russia,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The asset it owned by Venugopal Dhoot and a US oil and gas explorer.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, scheduled to meet on June 22, could take a call on ending uncertainty on taxing foreign airlines and shippers as regards certain services, a senior official in the know told Business Standard. He said the Council was expected to decide on exempting the services in question from GST - aircraft lease rentals, maintenance, crew salaries, etc. These services are provided by foreign airlines to their Indian operations.
"India offers attractive opportunities for foreign investors in petroleum sector under the seventh round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said on Thursday, while inaugurating a Road Show in Calgary .
The government is giving top priority to making available 581 MMSCMD of gas required by power projects in the country, Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Modi govt is committed to extend the piped gas networks in the country to 30,000 kms in the next 15 years as against the 15,000 kms network today
Vedanta's Cairn Oil & Gas on Thursday announced the appointment of Nick Walker as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. In a statement, the company said the appointment is effective January 5. "Before this appointment, Walker was president and chief executive officer at Lundin Energy, one of the leading European independent E&P companies," it said.
Modi said the push towards a gas-based economy where the share of environment-friendly fuel in the energy basket will be increased from 6.2 per cent to 15 per cent by 2030, will create lakhs of jobs and help meet India's COP-21 commitment of cutting emission intensity by 33-35 per cent.
China has pipped India to sign a 30-year agreement to import natural gas from fields lying in Myanmar offshore where India's state-owned companies have 25 per cent stake.
Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co Ltd (RasGas) of Qatar has pulled out of state-run National Thermal Power Corporation's tender for supply of 3 million tonnes of LNG for its power plants.
Of the 17.99 mmcmd gas allocated to the power sector, gas supply pacts of only 2.67 mmcmd allocated to NTPC remained to be signed. NTPC's opposition has also delayed the GSPA for a separate 2.7 mmcmd allocated to the Dabhol power plant and the same is now slated to be signed next week.
The consortium of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Reliance Industries and BG Group of UK will continue selling gas from Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields to state-run gas firm GAIL
On instructions from the Prime Minister's Office for a more uniform distribution of the natural resource, the petroleum ministry had in December 2007 scrapped all contracts for sale of gas produced from PMT fields and nominated GAIL for selling it to 'fuel-starved' fertiliser plants outside Gujarat. But after protests, the ministry agreed to partly restore 3.6 million standard cubic meters per day of gas out of 5.1 mmscmd consumed by RIL's petrochemical plants.
Earlier this week, the ministry had come out with a clarification, saying domestic gas producers had to stick to the earlier price of $4.2 a unit until a further notification from the new government.
The scheme will cost the state exchequer altogether Rs 1,650 crore.
Arun Kumar Singh, former chairman of oil refining and marketing company BPCL, was on Wednesday appointed chairman and managing director of ONGC -- the first instance of a retired person being appointed the head of a Maharatna PSU. "The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal of ministry of petroleum and natural gas for appointment of Arun Kumar Singh, ex-CMD, BPCL as chairman, ONGC for a three-year tenure with effect from the date of his assumption of charge of the post," an official order said. PTI first reported of Singh's appointment on November 17.
