The government is expecting a 'huge' response to its largest ever auction of 55 oil and gas blocks for which bids close on Friday.
The low global crude prices have helped narrow the current account deficit to just 0.2 per cent of GDP in the previous January-March quarter.
At the same time, the Cabinet approved reducing government's stake in select PSUs such as IOC to below 51 per cent while continuing to retain management control.
State-run gas utility GAIL India on Monday said it should be exempted from payment of fuel subsidies as it does not get any upside from rise in crude oil or natural gas price.
ONGC Videsh Ltd, overseas investment arm of the state-run explorer, teamed up with Oil India Ltd and Turkish Petroleum Corporation to bid for the Halfaya oilfield in Iraq's second post-war bid round on Friday.
Costlier oil due to rising conflict in Iraq threatens to hurt the India economy that is already battling price rise and slowing growth.
The government plans to more than double the price of natural gas produced by Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) to $4.20 per mmBtu, in a move that will help the state-run firm break even in gas business.
New Delhi has missed its target for partial privatisations for the past five years
Pradhan said a team of officials of state-run Indian Oil Corporation had visited Vietnam and explored some business ventures
The BSE benchmark Sensex surged about 241 points to end at 35,165.48 and the NSE Nifty gained 84 points to close at 10,688.65.
Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily has suggested pricking the ballooning oil bill with everything from a street theatre campaign encouraging lower fuel use, to shutting fuel stations, to increasing imports from Iran.
India has rejected a request from BP Plc to be allowed to sell jet fuel to the booming aviation market.
Oil firms' borrowings could fall by up to Rs 15,000 cr, govt's subsidy bill by 12% .
State-run gas firm Gas Authority of India Ltd on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement with Mosbacher India and Hindustan Oil Exploration Co Ltd for sale and transportation of gas produced from PY-1 fields in offshore Cauvery basin.
The Indian government does not plan to privatise state-run telecom firms Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd before 2004.
India may see a structural shift in supplies of crude oil with Russia emerging as a key source of fuels, a development that reduces New Delhi's dependence on West Asian oil, gives Indian refiners better bargaining power with price-setter Saudi Arabia, and improves overall energy security. The unexpected surge in supplies of Russian crude in the last few months, unthinkable until the war in Ukraine, may also deliver other unforeseen gains such as boosting exports of refined fuels to Europe, which historically has counted on Russian shipments. India has jumped on to the bandwagon of opportunistic buying of Russian crude but if calibrated carefully, Urals crude can be a long-term asset for India refiners.
The JV was supposed to get at least 45 per cent stake.
The government has allowed Reliance Industries Ltd and Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd to sell kerosene outside the public distribution system, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Thursday.
Reliance Industries Ltd has sought a minimum supply of 3.6 million standard cubic meters per day of gas for its petrochemical plants from the Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields, from which gas has been diverted by the government to state-run GAIL India. Reliance along with state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and BG Group of UK are the operators of the PMT fields lying in Mumbai offshore and till last month marketed gas from the fields in proportion to their shareholding.
Executives from private companies such as Shell and Blackstone are likely to be invited for interviews for the post of chairman and managing director of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
The market breadth in BSE remains healthy with 1,829 shares advancing and 721 shares declining
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Three PSUs, three private firms join bid to acquire 40% stake in Haldia Petrochem.
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.
India's imports from Iran rose to 250,200 barrels per day
The government on Friday gave its nod to ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp, to acquire Royal Dutch/Shell's 33 per cent stake in a deepsea gas field off Egypt.
Power Grid Corp of India Ltd is set to form joint ventures with five more companies, including Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Essar, for setting up transmission lines in the country entailing a total investment of Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).
Eight companies including Reliance Gas Ltd, GAIL Gas and the joint venture of Indian Oil and Adani Energy have bid for the rights to retail CNG in seven cities.
Faced with one setback after another in expanding the scope of mining in the country, almost all the major miners of the world have wound down their operations in India.
OVL, the overseas investment arm of state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, holds 40 per cent stake in the San Cristobal oil project in Venezuela.
OVL, along with Oil India Ltd, had in June agreed to buy Videocon Group's 10 per cent in the same block for $2.48 billion.
Sources said ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state explorer, and GAIL have made a non-biding offer showing interest in acquiring Exxon's stake.
State-run gas utility GAIL India Ltd buys 0.9 million standard cubic meters per day of output from Ravva Satellite fields at $4.30 per mmBtu. The new price sought by the Ravva consortium is 60 per cent more than the maximum price of $4.20 per mmBtu approved for RIL's KG-D6 fields for five years to March 2014.
GAIL executives, 2,200 in number, are part of the Oil Sector Officers Association, which has given an indefinite strike call from Wednesday to protest against a pay increase smaller than what was demanded by the organisation. A strike in the oil sector can cripple the already fragile economy and companies like GAIL had been approaching courts for restraint orders to keep fuel supply lines operating.
The government on Friday cleared disinvestment in two bluechip state-owned companies IOC and Bhel, which would fetch over Rs 7,300 crore (Rs 73 billion) to the exchequer in the current fiscal.
State-run GAIL India Ltd has mooted a multi-billion-dollar CNG corridor in the country to save up to Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) in oil bill and cut carbon emissions from automobiles.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on Wednesday, taking the total increase in rates in 16 days to Rs 10 per litre.
The government will decide in August whether to sell a 5 percent stake in ONGC, a senior oil ministry official said, in a deal that would be worth $2.9 billion at current market prices.
The world's third largest oil firm Royal Dutch/Shell has offered state-run gas firm Gail (India) Ltd a 15 per cent stake in an offshore medium sized gas field in Egypt.
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
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