Disinvestment secretary Sunil Mitra last month wrote to his counterpart in Petroleum ministry R S Pandey seeking comments on 'public offerings from Government's shareholding' in ONGC and IOC. While government has not allowed IOC and other retailers Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to raise petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene price in line with the cost, they have not been given the promised compensation.
As per the current market price, the government is expected to fetch Rs 5,300 crore (Rs 53 billion) by selling 10 per cent equity or 24.27 crore (242.7 million) shares at discounted price to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd.
Delhi may become the first state to move to direct cash pay-outs of subsidies on kerosene sold through the public distribution system (PDS). The petroleum ministry said it has "welcomed" a proposal to this effect from the Planning Commission, which acted on a plan suggested by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
"For 2010-11 and beyond, the Kirit Parikh report will be the benchmark. The report is being studied.These decisions are politically sensitive issues and have to be sustained over a period of time," Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan told Business Standard. "It is impossible to insulate the Indian consumer against the movement in international oil prices."
OMCs are currently incurring daily under-recovery of Rs 230 crore.
In a free-wheeling interview with Jyoti Mukul, Sibal makes a case for his innocence and blames the media campaign by the Anil Ambani group for the current controversy.
Anil Ambani group on Monday said the oil ministry's interference in marketing and pricing dampened investor interest in India's auction of oil and gas blocks and its chairman had warned the Prime Minister about the same.
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.
After natural gas prices, the government looks set to bite the bullet on auto fuel prices, with a panel of ministers scheduled to meet on June 7 to decide on freeing petrol and diesel prices.
Continuing its attack on Petroleum Ministry, Anil Ambani group on Thursday criticised it for its failure to attract top global players for oil and gas exploration and production due to lack of sanctity attached to concluded contracts.
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.
The petroleum ministry has put on back burner the proposal to create a national gas highway development authority, following an opposition from the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, which currently has the powers to authorise pipelines.
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.
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) may have won a large oil block in Venezuela but the Petroleum Ministry wants Reliance Industries to join the project to give stability to the venture.
Cairn India can produce up to 2,40,000 barrels per day from its prolific Rajasthan fields, equivalent to output from the nation's largest oilfield of Mumbai High, the company has informed the government.
Petroleum retailers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, among other cities, will start supplying Euro-IV compliant auto fuel from April 1.
The Delhi government rolled back the hike in value added tax (Vat) on diesel, bringing down the price by Rs 2.50 a litre. Following the reduction in the levy, the price of diesel will be Rs 37.60 with effect from July 20, lower than the Rs 38.10 that prevailed before the recent increase of June 25.the Goa Cabinet also approved a partial roll back of Vat that would reduce prices of a cooking gas cylinder by Rs 15, petrol by 88 paise and diesel by 70 paise.
The petroleum ministry has sought expansion of the legal team that is to argue the government's stand on the gas dispute between the Ambani brothers before the Supreme Court beginning next week.
Automobile manufacturers said Euro-VI grade vehicles will not hit the roads before 2020 but the advancement gives them confidence to make investments in manufacturing such vehicles.
The Petroleum Ministry has allocated additional natural gas from Reliance Industries' eastern offshore gas fields to three power plants to meet electricity deficit in northern states reeling under drought.
Anil dared the oil ministry to cancel the production sharing contract with RIL if it was really aggrieved and not challenge third party agreements.
Forwarding a letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, wherein the younger Ambani had sought a direction to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas 'to cease from overtly and covertly attempting to intervene in our commercial dispute with RIL," the PMO asked the ministry to examine the matter and submit their comments urgently.
RIL president and CEO (Oil and Gas) PMS Prasad, who met petroleum ministry officials to discuss under capacity production from the company's KG basin fields, said: "We have time till July 15 to decide. . . we are still evaluating our options."
Under attack for alleged favours granted to Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, director general of hydrocarbons, VK Sibal has sought protection from the government fearing a threat to his life from Anil Ambani group - a charge denied by ADAG.
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.
The petroleum ministry has said Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is not right in seeking an out-of-turn rise in the price of natural gas produced from the KG-D6 fields and asserted the $4.205 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) rate will prevail unless pricing formula is changed.
IOC, in the annual performance memorandum it signs with the petroleum ministry, stated that the Navratna oil companies should be granted freedom to fix retail selling price of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
State-owned ONGC and Oil India Ltd (OIL) are likely to buy a 10 per cent stake in Indian Oil Corp (IOC) from the government at Rs 220 per share, aggregating about Rs 5,300 crore (Rs 53 billion).
The government may give poor people LPG stoves free of cost as part of its blueprint to expand domestic cooking gas coverage to at least three-fourth of the population.
The Union petroleum ministry has proposed a 44 per cent increase in prices of natural gas sold under the administered price mechanism by state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India Ltd.
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.
This follows a letter by RIL to the ministry, justifying the increase in capex.
Industrialist Anil Ambani on Tuesday dared the petroleum ministry to take back the ownership of gas fields from Reliance Industries Ltd if it seriously believed that terms of the contract were violated by Mukesh Ambani-led firm, which he alleged was wanting to make a super-profit of Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion).
Government's counsel Mohan Parasaran has said he was left out of the details of a special leave petition filed by petroleum ministry in Supreme Court seeking annulment of a family MoU between Mukesh and Anil Ambani group firms on gas supply.
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.
Concerned over the possibility of terror attacks on the strategic storage reserves of petroleum products, the National Disaster Management Authority plans to mount mock exercises to check their security and work out remedial measures.
The first of the promotional roadshows for 70 blocks offered under the eighth edition of New Exploration Licensing Policy and 10 coal-bed methane areas will be held in Mumbai on August 8, a petroleum ministry official said. On April 9, India launched the eighth round of auction to give away blocks for exploration under NELP with August 10 being the last date for bidding. But it was deferred over ambiguity on tax holiday for natural gas.
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.
Jethmalani described the gas row between the Ambani brothers as a saga where the government has kept the public interest at the farthest and huge wealth has been put in private pockets.
Companies such as ONGC and Reliance have not been able to meet their work commitments for the blocks they had won under the New Exploration Licensing Policy rounds because of a crunch in availability of deep-sea drilling rigs. The official said oil ministry is moving a note for the consideration of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for giving a drilling holiday from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2010, for 33 blocks awarded in the fifth round of NELP.
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