The goverment on Wednesday ruled out any increase in petrol and diesel prices despite international crude oil prices touching an all-time high.
The five-member Group of Ministers (GoM) also include Agriculture Minister Sharad Paward, Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Chemical and Fertiliser Minister M K Azhagiri, official sources said.
Besides Mukherjee and Deora, the EGoM would have power minister Sushilkumar Shinde, fertiliser minister M K Alagiri, law minister Veerappa Moily and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Public-sector oil retailers are projected to lose Rs 45,571 crore on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost.
Sources said both Mukherjee and Deora were in favour of Rs 2-3 a litre hike in petrol and diesel prices and Rs 25 per cylinder increase in LPG rates.
Petroleum secretary RS Pandey said the ministry explained the revenue losses that state run companies were incurring on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora launched the ninth edition of New Exploration Licensing Policy, offering 34 exploration blocks, almost half of the previous round in 2009.
"Oil companies are still losing money. . .Please pray that prices come down further so that we can consider reducing fuel prices," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters.
The government advised the warring Ambani brothers several times that they should stop fighting, but failed to bring about a reconciliation, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday.
President Pratibha Patil today embarked on her maiden visit to Russia seeking to consolidate the relations between the "close friends and partners" in the changed global geo-political situation.
Cutting across party lines, MPs in Rajya Sabha expressed deep concern over the dispute and said the private contractor should not be allowed to enter into a memorandum of understanding for distribution of gas from a national asset.
With Opposition parties calling for a nationwide strike against the hike in fuel prices, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday justified the decision, saying the increase translated to less than Re 1 per day on domestic LPG and 26-27 paisa a day on kerosene.
India has put in place a multi-pronged strategy, including faster exploration and acquisition of oil fields abroad, to secure energy at affordable rates, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora met Iran's Deputy Minister for International Affairs H Noghrehkar Shirazi on the sidelines of the 12th International Energy Forum here to propose bilateral talks in May.
President Asif Ali Zardari is scheduled to ink an agreement on the $7.6 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project with the Turkmen and Afghan heads of state at Ashgabat on December 11.
A source said on Tuesday that 'petroleum ministry is likely to propose deregulation of petrol prices and gradual phasing out of subsidies on diesel to ease burden on public sector oil marketing companies' -- indicating a possible hike of Rs 3 per litre in petrol rates.
The prime minister is scheduled to review the financial health of oil PSUs at a meeting with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and petroleum minister Murli Deora on Wednesday evening.
Though the government had earlier this fiscal explicitly decided to compensate Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum for the losses they incur on selling domestic LPG and kerosene through PDS by way of oil bonds, the finance ministry has not issued any bonds for the three quarters.
Talks between the government and striking oil Public Sector Undertakings failed late Thursday night over the officers' insistence on getting an immediate hike in their wages as the agitation threatened a major disruption in supply of petrol across the country. Deora is likely to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday afternoon on the issue after the meeting of the Union cabinet in the morning.
With terrorists using the sea route to unleash the deadliest attack on India in 15 years, an alarm has been sounded on security of oil and gas installations, particularly offshore areas, with companies offering to bear part of the cost of enhanced surveillance and patrolling.
"We are working on a (subsidy) mechanism, as it's very difficult to implement dual pricing of diesel," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said
The Election Commission on Wednesday issued notice to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora for his remarks on effecting a fuel price cut after the conclusion of assembly elections next month. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had approached Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami over the issue contending that the announcement amounted to violation of the Model Code of Conduct enforced by the commission.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora will meet Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday in an effort to secure energy assets, including UK-listed Imperial Energy Plc.
In the midst of a spat between India and China, an official Chinese newspaper on Friday spoke of a possible meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries next week in Thailand.
The dollar devaluation has seen revenue loss incurred by state-run oil firms on fuel sales trimming to about Rs 96 crore per day.
In the midst of a war of words between the two countries, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday expressed his desire to meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.The Chinese leader's remarks come a day after Beijing raked up its claim over Arunachal Pradesh, questioning Prime Minister Singh's visit there on October 3. India hit back on Wednesday, reacting strongly to Chinese plans to get involved in projects in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.
The Energy Co-ordination Committee, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, would meet on Tuesday with gas pricing, gas sourcing and gas allocation as the main topics on the agenda, an official source said.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday dismissed reports of diminishing oil stocks in Mumbai due to non-operation of ports after the oil spill off the coast of the metropolis.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Monday launched the service, which will be initially available in the national capital and would be extended to other metropolitan cities, state capitals and towns.
Had the government intervened at the right time, the controversy over an MoU that provides for dividing a national resource, would not have arisen, he said.
Lok Sabha MP Harsh Vardhan on July 23 wrote to Petroleum Minister Murli Deora asking why the government had kept quiet for all this while on the Ambani family MoU that provides for dividing Krishna-Godavari basin gas between companies run by brothers Mukesh and Anil.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Monday ruled out any rollback in the increased prices of petroleum products, saying the hike has been reasonable and minimum. "The hike is reasonable and minimum ...," Deora told reporters here.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has constituted a ministers' group to monitor the government's stand on the Ambani gas dispute in the Supreme Court.
Deora is believed to have explained the oil ministry's position on gas pricing and utilisation.
Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources continued its attack on the government for allegedly favouring brother Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd on the sale price of gas from the Krishna Godavari D6 basin. At $4.2 per million British thermal unit (mBtu), the price fixed, there is a premium of more than 100 per cent over the gas available through the administered pricing mechanism, it said.
A friend of Mukesh Ambani should not be petroleum minister
Asserting that it had no role in the Ambani family dispute, the government on Monday declared in Parliament that it will do everything to protect its legal right to regulate usage of gas.
Amidst the legal battle between Reliance Industries Ltd and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd over gas from Kaveri basin, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora has hit out at the Ambani brothers for fighting over a natural resource that belongs to the government and the people of the country.
A core group of ministers on Wednesday held inconclusive deliberations on a proposal to raise fuel prices, necessitated by a spike in global crude prices that threatens to spawn an oil import crisis.
"They (prices of petroleum products) should be linked to world prices," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told PTI when asked about the global crude prices now surging to about $70 a barrel.
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