Could get $8.4 per mmBtu from April 2014 by furnishing bank guarantee that would be encashed if D1, D3 gas hoarding proved
The shifting of S Jaipal Reddy from the petroleum ministry and elevation of Salman Khurshid on Monday kicked up a political storm with parties suspecting the government of coming under corporate pressure and accusing it of promoting those facing corruption charges.
Minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Jitin Prasada in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha said the finance ministry is yet to approve the oil bonds. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum lost Rs 11,853 crore (Rs 118.53 billion) in revenues on not being allowed to raise LPG and kerosene prices in line with the cost during April- September.
RP Singh, managing director of Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd, the special purpose vehicle implementing BPCL Bina refinery, had told Business Standard in August that the company was in talks with strategic investors to sell 15 to 20 per cent stake.
The ministry had recently promised these dealers to increase their commission by Rs 397 per kilolitre (kl) on petrol and Rs 170 per kl on diesel. Dealers now get a commission of Rs 1,230 per kl on petrol and Rs 730 per kl on diesel.
The bonds will help oil marketing companies - IOC, HPCl, Bharat Petroleum and IBP Ltd - to cover their under-recoveries.
Top government officials in New Delhi have started discussions with stakeholders ranging from shipping and container companies to export promotion councils to understand the impact of the Iran-Israel tensions and plan ahead. Inter-ministerial talks are also being lined up amid the crisis situation in West Asia, sources confirmed. While the crude flows are not directly under any threat, elevated oil prices remain a concern, according to officials.
The oil ministry is believed to have turned down Reliance Petroleum Ltd's request to export LPG from its newly commissioned refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat, forcing the only-for-exports unit to sell the cooking fuel locally.
The Petroleum Ministry has asked the oil regulator to look into the marketing margin charged by not just Reliance Industries, but also state-owned GAIL India Ltd on the sale of domestic gas and imported LNG.
Rebuffing petroleum ministry, Siddaramaiah launches Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana-like scheme months before state polls
Unlike the previous visit, where TDP MPs accompanied Naidu to meetings, sources termed the current visit as "low profile", with one-on-one meetings with key Union ministers.
Three fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited -- lost about Rs 26,618 crore (Rs 266.18 billion) in revenues on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost during the first half of the current fiscal, a ministry official said.
The oil industry experienced three upheavals between 1973 and 1991, which seem to be etched in the memory of the industry's decision makers. Naturally, at the sign of a new crisis, the decision makers like to dip into those tumultuous decades to find ways to deal with the new shock, in addition, of course, to expert reports and forecasts. So, the industry bigwigs turned the pages of history to get a peek into the future of oil price movements after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Israel attacked Gaza in 2023, Iran-linked Houthi rebels pounded tankers crossing the Red Sea in support of Palestine the same year, and Iran rained missiles on Israel in 2024.
The draft note proposes raising gas price for ONGC to Rs 3,765 per thousand cubic meters from current Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic metre. For OIL, the gas price has been proposed at Rs 4,205 per thousand cubic metres. The price would change by Rs 55 per thousand cubic metre for every 10 points change in Wholesale Price Index.
Govt approved a formula, not a price; PetroMin says a substantial rise was inevitable.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said the surge in international oil prices is a matter of grave concern and it was for the petroleum ministry to take a call on retail pricing of petroleum products.
India's merchandise exports in April 2024 marginally rose to $34.99 billion from $34.62 billion in the year-ago month, according to government data released on Wednesday. Imports too increased to $54.09 billion from $49.06 billion in April 2023.
Reliance and its partner BP on Tuesday dropped a bombshell, saying KG-D6, the country's biggest gas discovery, might stop production in 2015 if the government did not approve its long-pending investment proposals and revised capital expenditure plans.
The limited availability of flexible (flex)-fuel vehicles in the Indian market and the slow rollout of ethanol-blended petrol by oil-marketing companies (OMCs) remain major obstacles to achieving widespread use of biofuels in the transportation sector in India. Recently, two Union ministers have emphasised India's biofuel potential, arguing that it has the capacity and potential to lead a transition towards widespread biofuel adoption. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari signalled that this transition is well underway and urged car manufacturers to quickly adapt and introduce new biofuel-run vehicles, lest the government resort to taxing diesel vehicles.
The Government may be keen on having a greater say in affairs of Petronet LNG as it is looking at appointing a bureaucrat as director on board of the nation's biggest liquefied natural gas importer.
RPL, a unit of Reliance Industries, had sought nod to export the entire liquefied petroleum gas production in the six months to fully commissioning its 580,000-barrels per day refinery in the Jamnagar special economic zone. RPL, in which US energy major Chevron Corp has 5 per cent stake, is likely to start producing fuel from the unit being set up adjacent to parent firm's existing 660,000 bpd refinery at Jamnagar in the next few weeks.
A day after Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to forestall political attempts to throttle his oil refinery business, the petroleum ministry has come out with a detailed presentation to show that the demand for the windfall profits tax (WPT) on private oil companies is 'short-sighted populism' and 'bad economics.'
Petroleum ministry expects that this would encourage the rich and affluent also to voluntarily give up the subsidised LPG.
#GiveItUp but no matching LPG connections for BPL
The wholesale inflation rose to a 13-month high of 1.26 per cent in April fuelled by rising prices of food articles, especially vegetables, amid expectations of RBI holding interest rates in the policy review next month. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation has been rising for two months in a row.
Full-service carrier Kingfisher Airlines has sought permission from the petroleum ministry to extend the date for paying dues to public sector oil companies for aviation turbine fuel.
Indian Oil Corporation is India's only Fortune 500 company.
Apart from the central ministries, other respondents include oil marketing companies, Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
Union ministries are in the midst of a row because of uncleared IAF bills, which were incurred when Pakistan's ex-minister Jadoon had used an IAF plane, during his visit to India.
Iran may put the $22 billion deal to sell liquefied natural gas to India on the backburner as New Delhi refuses to re-open the contract sealed two years ago, according to an assessment by the petroleum ministry.
The wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation eased in January to 0.27 per cent, mainly due to moderation in prices of food items. WPI inflation was at 0.73 per cent in December 2023. The WPI inflation was in the negative zone from April to October and had turned positive in November at 0.39 per cent.
