The ministry of civil aviation has disagreed with a proposal of the Prime Minister's Office to explore raising the cap on the number of weekly flights from Qatar in exchange for discounts on additional supplies of liquefied natural gas from there.
The quantum of hike had not yet been worked out, but it was likely to be Rs 2 a litre for petrol and Re 1 a litre for diesel.
Indian Oil Corporation may buy the government's 26 per cent stake in oil and gas exploration firm Oil India Ltd for about Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).
Wholesale price-based inflation rose to a record high of 15.88 per cent in May on rising prices of food items and crude oil. The Wholesale Price Index-based inflation was 15.08 per cent in April and 13.11 per cent in May last year. "The high rate of inflation in May, 2022 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, crude petroleum & natural gas, food articles, basic metals, non-food articles, chemicals & chemical products and food products etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.
The plan to merge big PSU oil firms can help India attain oil security and provide strong competition to global majors, who now plan to enter India.
India's crude oil imports jumped by 23.3 per cent in July this year on increased demand for oil products, a senior petroleum ministry official said.
Oil marketing companies have approached the government to reduce tariffs since they will continue to lose around Rs 210 crore (Rs 2.10 billion) due to a Rs 1.20 per litre under-recovery on diesel.
The top five decision makers in the oil ministry collectively have around 20 months of experience in the sector even as India, the third largest consumer of oil in Asia, struggles to keep pace with oil prices, which have doubled in the last one year.
The Congress is yet to form a government at the Centre but it faces the prospect of being credited with a highly unpopular decision of a one-rupee per litre hike in petrol and diesel prices.
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.
RIL said it had launched 'an internal probe' into its staff's detention.
Although the future of Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is uncertain for now, the upcoming vote-on-account is likely to account for about Rs 1,300 crore that was transferred to the bank accounts of customers in the form of subsidy.
Russia has welcomed India's decision to not support the price cap on Russian oil announced by G7 and its allies and offered it cooperation on leasing and building large-capacity ships to overcome the ban on insurance services and tanker chartering in the European Union and Britain to continue buying discounted oil. The offer came as Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak held a meeting with the Indian Ambassador to Moscow, Pavan Kapoor, on Friday. "The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed India's decision not to support the price cap on Russian oil, which was imposed on December 5 by the G7 countries and their allies," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Contracting for the third month in a row, India's exports declined by 8.8 per cent to $33.88 billion in February due to slowdown in global demand, even as the trade deficit touched about a year low of $17.43 billion during the month, according to official data released on Wednesday. Imports also declined by 8.21 per cent to $51.31 billion as against $55.9 billion recorded in the corresponding month last year. Cumulatively, however during April-February this fiscal, the country's overall merchandise exports rose by 7.5 per cent to $405.94 billion.
India's exports rose by 22.36 per cent to $33.81 billion in February on account of healthy growth in sectors like engineering, petroleum and chemicals, even as the trade deficit widened to $21.19 billion, according to preliminary data released by the commerce ministry on Wednesday. Imports during the month too jumped by about 35 per cent to $55 billion, with inbound shipments of petroleum and crude oil surging 66.56 per cent to $15 billion. The trade deficit -- the difference between imports and exports -- stood at $13.12 billion in February 2021.
Petronet LNG Limited is expected to deliver liquefied natural gas from its Dahej terminal at Rs 6,567 per million standard cubic metres (mscm), provided the international price of crude remains at $16 a barrel.\n\n\n\n
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in its latest monthly oil market report projected the world's third-biggest energy consumer to add 0.39 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil demand in 2022. India's oil demand rose from 4.51 million barrels per day in 2020 to 4.76 million bpd in 2021, recording a 5.61 per cent growth.
Royal Dutch/Shell, the world's third largest oil and gas group, has sought waiver of the Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) bank guarantee norm for grant of licence to sell petrol and diesel.
Officials said the oil marketing companies had provided data to the Income Tax department.
Central Reserve Police Force personnel posted at the entrance did not recognise the new petroleum minister.
It calculated that the government should have got an additional profit share of $ 115.263 million.
For every rupee fall against the dollar, the under-recovery will increase by Rs 8,000 crore
India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer, has conveyed to OPEC countries its concern over high oil prices that are threatening to impact the nascent economic recovery after the devastating pandemic. New Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has made phone calls to key OPEC nations to convey the desire for an affordable price for consumers. After calling his counterparts in Qatar and the UAE, he called Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kingpin Saudi Arabia on Thursday evening.
India will kickstart on Tuesday a two-day multi-agency military exercise covering the country's 7,516 km-long coastline and exclusive economic zone with the twin aim of checking the preparedness of various agencies to deal with any eventualities and bolster overall maritime security, officials said.
Inflation rose for the third consecutive week to 5.03 per cent for the week ended May 29 despite cheaper vegetables and fruits, eggs and several edible oils.
Govt diverts Rs 253-crore subsidy savings to the poor.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its partners, such as Russia, collectively termed Opec+, have decided to cut crude oil production by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) from October onwards, at a meeting on Monday. In a step that may increase prices in India, the group has decided to reduce output quotas for October, after a fall in global oil demand outlook. The cut in output is equal to 0.1 per cent of global supply.
The wholesale price-based inflation surged to more than a decade high of 14.23 per cent in November, mainly due to hardening of prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum and natural gas. WPI inflation has remained in double digits for eight consecutive months beginning April. Inflation in October this year was at 12.54 per cent, while in November 2020 it was at 2.29 per cent. "The high rate of inflation in November 2021, is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum & natural gas, chemicals and chemical products, food products etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year," the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.