Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said a revision in fuel prices was under consideration and a decision will be taken in due course. "Revision does not necessarily mean a cut in prices. We will have to wait and see on which products a reduction will be effected, by how much and when. The government will have to take a comprehensive view... What government will decide we cannot anticipate today."
The continuation of the tax holiday will come as a relief to oil and gas companies, which have already invested huge money in exploration of hydrocarbons. It will also help the petroleum ministry, which has been promising the tax holiday while marketing the auction of oil and gas block under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy.
The basket of crude oil India imports averaged $99 a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest level since April 2, a petroleum ministry official said. It had averaged $96.52 a barrel on April 1 and crossed the $100 mark on April 7.
The petroleum ministry has prepared a draft Cabinet note for raising prices of natural gas produced by ONGC from fields given to it on nomination basis to Rs 3,765 per thousand cubic metres (or $1.98 per million British thermal unit) from current Rs 3,200 per thousand cubic meter ($1.68 per mmBtu). For OIL, the gas price has been proposed at Rs 4,205 per thousand cubic meters, a senior ministry official said.
Government may impose a 25 per cent cess on big diesel cars and charge bulk users other than railways and state transport corporations Rs 22 a litre more for diesel as part of a dual fuel pricing policy.
The blaze at the Oil India Ltd's oil well is so massive that it can be seen from a distance of more than two kilometres, eyewitnesses said.
On instructions from the Prime Minister's Office for a more uniform distribution of the natural resource, the petroleum ministry had in December 2007 scrapped all contracts for sale of gas produced from PMT fields and nominated GAIL for selling it to 'fuel-starved' fertiliser plants outside Gujarat. But after protests, the ministry agreed to partly restore 3.6 million standard cubic meters per day of gas out of 5.1 mmscmd consumed by RIL's petrochemical plants.
The government allows the oil companies to sell only a quarter of the total quantum of bonds they hold at any time during a quarter, so as to ensure that the market is not flooded with oil bonds. It has not yet decided on how the subsidy burden will be shared across stakeholders, how much of the subsidy from the government account will be given in cash and how much in the form of bonds, says an official.
The nuclear-deal-in-the-making with the US has forced the government into a firefighting mode not only domestically, but also internationally, where it is working overtime to avoid straining relations with the key long-time ally -- Russia.
Monday's meeting of the empowered group of ministers on pricing of gas from Reliance Industries' D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari basin has proved inconclusive.
Petroleum ministry rejects conclusions of two reports ahead of EGoM.
Petroleum Ministry has sought help from Law Ministry in resolving the Ambani demerger issue over the production of gas from KG fields.
Officials said the oil marketing companies had provided data to the Income Tax department.
The petroleum ministry has rapped Reliance Industries for failing to meet its obligations of opening and operating 10 per cent of its petrol and diesel retail outlets in remote and low-service areas.
The oil ministry is in fact of the view that the government should bear the entire burden of the revenue losses incurred by the oil marketing companies, after the increase in prices is effected.
India's crude oil production rose by 3.2 per cent in May on back of better performance by state- owned oil major Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), while refinery output remained unchanged.
Officers of public sector oil companies have threatened to go on an indefinite strike from August 21 if their demand for higher salaries was not met.
The proposed price increase, the first in 18 months, is likely to be in the range of Rs 2 per litre for petrol and Re 1 per litre for diesel, senior petroleum ministry officials said.
Government websites -- including those of the Prime Minister's Office, home and petroleum ministries, and the department of telecommunications -- were out of service for many hours on Monday. An official attributed the cause to firewall problems.
Low-to-negative margins on sale of petroleum products have forced some companies to scrap their retail expansion plan, while others have chosen to go slow.
The petroleum ministry has sought a Rs 10 per litre increase in petrol and Rs 5 a litre hike in diesel prices, along with a cut in customs and excise duties, to offset the impact of surge in crude oil prices that have touched $135 per barrel.
The petroleum ministry has recommended a hike in the foreign direct investment cap in government-owned refineries to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent.
The directive from 'above' has come to the petroleum ministry on the eve of the departure of the Indian delegation to Tehran for a decisive last round of the trilateral negotiations scheduled to be held there later this week.
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 letter approving a price of $4.20 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) for first five years of production from KG-D6 was issued by the Petroleum Ministry on Thursday," a source familiar with the development said.
Eight candidates, including Najeeb Jung, former joint secretary (exploration) in the petroleum ministry, are in race for the job of chairman and managing director of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.
The big-ticket transnational gas pipelines that India was planning seem to be in trouble. Although the government maintains that the three pipelines
Government may raise petrol price by Rs 2 a litre and diesel by Re 1 a litre this week, but a duty rejig to minimise impact of high international crude oil prices looks unlikely. The decision on this will be taken by the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Cairn India, which is 69 per cent owned by London-listed Cairn Energy, is very close to securing the vital approval it needs to begin work on the pipeline to transport the oil from its vast Rajasthan oil fields, the Indian government has said.
As many as 12,394 complaints of alleged corruption were received against railway employees.
The shortage of drilling rigs across the world is likely to delay the seventh round of auction of oil and gas blocks, under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy, till October-November this year.
The GoM meet on fuel price hike remained inconclusive. The ministers evaluated various options of fuel hike but failed to arrive on a decision.
The petroleum ministry has agreed to the proposal of the department of industrial policy and promotion and it would be taken to the Cabinet along with the general review of the FDI policy in September.
Government has no role in fixing prices of natural gas produced from areas auctioned under NELP and only approves the pricing formula, petroleum ministry has told a committee of Secretaries appointed to look into the vexed issue.
India, Pakistan agree on gas transport price.
The government is mulling a marginal hike in petrol and diesel price along with an excise duty cut on auto fuels to cut the Rs 7,840 crore (Rs 78.40 billion) loss public sector oil firms are incurring every month on selling fuel below cost.
Faced with opposition from within the ruling coalition, the government has put-off till at least next week a decision on raising fuel prices that have been necessitated due to crude nearing $100 a barrel globally. The petroleum ministry has planned to take to the Cabinet this week a proposal to either marginally raise petrol and diesel prices or cut duties to offset the impact of raising international oil prices but the proposal is not being pursued this week.
Petroleum ministry has suggested extending government subsidy on domestic LPG and kerosene for an indefinite period as the gap between domestic retail price and current international prices was too large to be bridged through a price hike.
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