The committee on allocation of natural resources said in its draft report said, "In the ideal scenario, a gas pooling arrangement, with a view to mitigate price volatility is not recommended".
Steel manufacturers on Wednesday hit out at 'unilateral' decision of the Oil Ministry to curb natural gas supplies from Reliance Industries' KG-D6 fields to non-core users, saying only a ministerial panel was empowered to take such decision.
Oil ministry will move Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs once comments from ministries of finance, law, home, environment and corporate affairs are received.
Although the Oil Ministry has the authority to decide on Reliance selling 30 per cent interest to BP in 23 exploration blocks, including the prize eastern offshore KG-D6 gas fields, the ministry on Tuesday decided to refer the deal to the CCEA, sources privy to the development said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the target date for achieving 20 per cent ethanol-blending with petrol has been advanced by five years to 2025 to cut pollution and reduce import dependence.
Though the Prime Minister's Office had earlier this month asked the ministry to decide on giving approvals to the $9.6-billion acquisition on merit, the Oil Ministry has slipped in 11 pre-conditions that are unlikely to be accepted by the London-listed firm.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
With Cairn Energy Plc voluntarily offering to meet government conditions, the Oil Ministry may find it difficult to nix its deal to sell majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta Resources.
UK's Cairn Energy has informed Oil Ministry that it will comply with all contractual obligations in selling majority stake in its Indian arm and that London-listed Vedanta Resources was a fit candidate to take over operations.
CNG prices in Mumbai may have to be hiked by about Rs 16 per kg and piped cooking gas by Rs 10 after government decided to divert some of its cheaper domestic gas to Gujarat.
Petrol pumps across the country will go on strike from September 20, with a petroleum traders' union warning of "no money, no purchase, no sale..." after talks with the Oil Ministry to hike the rate of commission on fuel sales fell through.
Contrary to reports, oil PSUs will not make a counter bid to Vedanta Resources' $9.6 billion offer to buy Cairn India, as the oil ministry is disinclined to a rival bid.
Reliance Industries has refused to give natural gas to new customers by cutting supplies to power and fertiliser plants.
The world's fourth-biggest oil and gas consumer imports nearly three-quarters of its energy requirements
The department believes dividend from CPSUs is a return on investment made by the government.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has written to the Oil Ministry seeking appointment of an international expert to assess if Reliance Industries Ltd was drawing out any of its gas in KG basin.
India has asked refiners that owe about $6.5 billion to Iran for oil imports to build up dollar and euro balances to avoid downward pressure on the rupee if six world powers and Tehran reach a final nuclear deal.
Profit on sale of diesel swelled to Rs 1.90 per litre as oil ministry awaits return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cut rates.
The only fuel that showed growth was LPG as the government dole of free cooking gas cylinders to poor households fired up consumption by 21 per cent during April 1 to 15.
Reliance Industries has made drastic changes in gas supply contracts that will jack up its KG-D6 gas price by 10 per cent over and above the new rate of $8.3 coming into effect from next month.
If approved, gas price will rise to $6.775 per million British thermal unit from $4.2 currently.
A market-based gas pricing regime is to kick-in from next month.
Winner will construct 300,000 barrels per day refinery.
The ministry had sent a draft proposal for the consideration of the Empowered Group of Ministers to price all domestically produced natural gas -- be of state-run ONGC or private sector Reliance Industries - as per the formula suggested by the Rangarajan Committee.
The 5-kg cylinder will be price at market rate.
A week after doubling of natural gas prices was approved, the Oil Ministry on Friday rebutted charges of the move resulting in windfall gains to Reliance Industries, saying new gas production from the company's fields will not start before 2017-18.
The newly formed Cabinet Committee on Investment will soon consider clearing 47 oil & gas blocks, including Reliance Industries' producing KG-D6 gas fields, where defence clearance has either been withdrawn or withheld.
The calculation is based on annual usage of eight cylinders per household.
A massive drone strike on the world's largest crude-processing facility operated by Saudi Arabia's Aramco has driven oil prices to their highest level in nearly four months. The attack has knocked out over half of Saudi Arabia's production as it cut 5.7 million barrels per day or over 5 per cent of the world's supply.
The Ministry in a draft Cabinet note proposed accepting in toto the Rangarajan Committee recommendation of pricing domestically produced natural gas at an average of international hub prices and cost of imported LNG instead of present mechanism of market discovery.
Terming allegations levelled by India Against Corruption as "baseless and frivolous, the oil ministry in a six-page statement said the Congress-led UPA-I and UPA-II governments under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have been "consistently protecting the national interest".
Prices of natural gas, which is used to produce fertiliser and generate electricity and is also converted into CNG for use in automobiles as fuel and cooking gas for households, are set every six months -- on April 1 and October 1 each year.
The ministry refused to buy RGTIL's argument that the government has already allocated all of the projected mmscmd of gas output from the KG-D6 fields to customers in Andhra Pradesh, Maharasthra and other northern states, leaving no gas for transportation through its proposed pipelines from Kakinada to Howrah, Chennai, Tuticorin and Mangalore.
According to Oil Ministry sources, price hike of diesel is being considered as the government scrambles to find ways to meet an unprecedented Rs 160,000 crore (Rs 1,600 billion) deficit expected this fiscal on selling diesel, cooking gas and kerosene below their production cost.
In a note for the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the ministry has proposed raising gas price for state-run firms immediately and that for RIL from April 2014, sources privy to the development said.
The connections will be released on completion of Know Your Customer formalities and de-duplication of the applicants across all the three Oil Companies to ensure that multiple connections are not released.
With the Petroleum Ministry opposing disinvestment of IOC in the market, government is exploring the option of selling its shares to other oil PSUs like ONGC and OIL.
Oil demand had plunged 5.9 per cent in January, the most in 13 years, after the shock demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November
India's policy to subsidise retail prices of fuels such as diesel, which accounts for about 40 per cent of refined fuel consumption, is a major drain on the budget.
The Oil Ministry, which had been sitting on the proposal for over a year, wrote to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons earlier this week saying that it has been decided to permit exploration in already producing oil and gas fields, sources privy to the development said.
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