Teheran bargains on OilMin plan for more rupee payment via increased import; wants investment deal on gas block.
In a move that will give cooking gas consumers more choice, state oil marketing companies have started selling mini 5-kg LPG cylinders at subsidised rates.
Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily reviewed the progress on the ambitious 1,680-km project with Turkmenistan Minister for Oil and Gas Mukhammetnur Khalylov, who is in New Delhi to attend the eighth Asia Gas Partnership Summit.
IT shares lost ground tracking a sell-off in tech stocks on Nasdaq on Friday
Pradhan said a team of officials of state-run Indian Oil Corporation had visited Vietnam and explored some business ventures
India has been eyeing deeper energy ties with Iran and has already lined up $20 billion as investment in oil and gas as well as in petrochemical and fertiliser sectors there.
The Department of Disinvestment, which is looking at mopping up Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) from the sale of shares in public sector units this fiscal, has raised about Rs 1,325 crore (Rs 13.25 billion) so far.
.jpg)
State-owned oil firms are likely to announce reduction in rates, made possible because of softening in international oil rates, this evening, government and industry sources said.
.jpg)
India, which is 79 per cent dependent on imports to meet its crude oil needs, is building underground storage at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka.
The cost of CNG, which will be reduced by up to Rs 15 per kg in the next few days following a rejig in natural gas allocation, will go up by Rs 10.6 a kg in April, when domestic gas prices almost double.
Government has put on auction the gas discovery area it snatched from Reliance Industries in KG-D6 block and the field that Cairn India is seeking to regain around its Rajasthan block.
RIL has more than half a dozen undeveloped discoveries.
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.
The government-appointed Kirit Parikh committee suggested an 'immediately' hike prices of diesel by Rs 5 a litre, Rs 4 per litre in kerosene and Rs 250 per cylinder in LPG, reduce annual entitlement of subsidised cooking gas cylinder from six from nine and phase out diesel subsidy in one year to cut a record subsidy burden.
Pradhan said a National Data Repository which will store information on all sedimentary basins of the country is being pursued on top priority.
Launching a fresh broadside at Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily, CPI leader and MP Gurudas Dasgupta on Tuesday said no action has been taken against Reliance Industries for deliberately keeping natural gas output low and is instead being rewarded by a steep hike in prices.
Experts say having an open fire in the kitchen is like burning 400 cigarettes an hour.
Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation are losing Rs 486 crore (Rs 4.86 billion) per day as they are made to sell diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene way below cost to keep inflation under check.
Assocham told Modi policy makers needed to act fast to "bullet proof" India from global jitters.
.jpg)
While the Cabinet has approved doubling of gas price from April 1 next year, Oil Ministry is proposing that old rates of $4.2 per million British thermal unit apply to gas from D1/D3 and MA fields in eastern offshore KG-D6 block till it proved that RIL had proved less than targets only because of geological factors.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday dedicated GAIL India Ltd's 1,000 km Dabhol-Bangalore natural gas pipeline to the nation.
Reliance Industries would repair a third of the wells shut at its main gas field in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block to boost output in the first quarter of 2014.
The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) had recommended to the ministry that RIL be asked to give up 86% of its KG-D6 gas block area
The minister said any declaration made under the law will be protected
Under pressure from his party, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily said the government is considering increasing the quota of subsidised LPG cylinders to 12 per household even as hints were dropped of a one-time hike in diesel and LPG rates
Amidst a storm over proposal to shut petrol pumps during night to taper fuel demand, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Monday said the government had not made any such proposal and the idea had come from public.
At least 8 people have died after a blast ripped through the Gas Authority of India Limited site at Nagaram village in Andhra Pradesh.
State-owned fuel retailers, who control 95 per cent of the petrol pump sales, sell diesel at government-fixed rates, which are way lower than the cost of production.
An important document was found lying on a photo-copier machine.
A decision on raising diesel prices by Rs 3-5 per litre, kerosene by Rs 2 and LPG by up to Rs 50 per cylinder will be taken after UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi returns from US, top government officials said.
Under-recovery or the difference between retail price and its imported cost on diesel was 8 paisa per litre in the first half of September.
Amid tight security, the century's first Nabakalebar Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath was held in Puri on Saturday with fanfare, religious fervour, enthusiasm and a spirit of camaraderie.
.jpg)
The five discoveries -- D4, D7, D8, D16 and D23 - hold 0.805 trillion cubic feet of reserves, or about one-fourth of the restated reserves in the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) fields in KG-D6 block, and are worth $10 billion.
Oil Ministry felt it did not have a clear mandate to reduce rates post the January 2013 decision of the Cabinet to raise prices by 40-50 paisa a litre every month.
India's ONGC has lost the giant Kashagan oilfield to the Chinese after Kazakhstan blocked its $5 billion deal to buy US energy major ConocoPhillips' stake in the Caspian Sea oilfield.
If approved, gas price will rise to $6.775 per million British thermal unit from $4.2 currently.
'Our intentions are clear. If I keep all the acquired land under the ownership of the government, why do you raise questions about my intentions?' 'One achievement of my ministry would be the gas pricing policy. Two, we made a delivery mechanism (for domestic LPG) which is the largest in the world. We are crediting money to the poor directly. It is the biggest structure of direct subsidy transfer.' 'It is very easy to work with Modi. He gives everyone a chance in decision-making. I have become a minister for the very first time, but if we want to raise any issues in the Cabinet, we have full freedom to do so.' The second and final part of Union Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's exclusive interview with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com.
Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily has asked the finance ministry to cut duties on branded petrol and diesel that offer better mileage and help cut fuel consumption.
Moily walked from his residence at 3, Tughlak Lane, to the Race Course Metro Station, where he boarded a Yellow Line train and alighted two stops later at the Central Secretariat station, a short walk from Shastri Bhawan, the seat of the Oil Ministry.
Moily insisted that no proposal has been moved to the Cabinet for raising diesel rates beyond the 40-50 paise a litre monthly increase, which has been implemented since January.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances