Other members of the committee are Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations chairperson Isher Judge Ahluwalia, National Council of Applied Economic Research director general Suman K Bery and the secretaries of yje ministries of finance and petroleum.
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.
An Anil Ambani group company has asked the oil ministry to stop Reliance Industries Ltd from charging marketing margin on gas, alleging that the Mukesh Ambani-led firm was not sharing the revenue and 'diverting' crores (billion) of rupees of the government's share.
'I am happy to announce the appointment of R S Pandey as the interlocutor and the representative of the government of India to hold talks with NSCN-IM,' Home Minister P Chidambaram said in a statement.
RIL has been using gas from GAIL during the past three months to test-fire the 1,440-km east-west pipeline, India's longest, from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Bharuch in Gujarat. Only 100 km of the pipeline remains to be test-fired. It will transport gas from the world's largest gas discovery at the Krishna-Godavari basin in the Bay of Bengal to Jamnagar in Gujarat, where it has set up the world's largest petroleum refinery.
The Finance Ministry will give Rs 12,000 crore in cash to Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum to cover for less than half of the losses they incurred on selling LPG and kerosene this fiscal.
Concerned over the fuel shortages and petrol pumps running dry, the government said on Friday it would deploy central forces to ensure supply lines are not dried due to the ongoing strike by oil sector executives. "The government will deploy central forces wherever necessary," petroleum secretary R S Pandey told reporters even as petroleum minister Murli Deora met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to brief him about the strike by officers of oil PSUs.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has decided to sack 64 striking executives. This was stated by the petroleum secretary R S Pandey on Thursday.
Chidambaram met petroleum secretary R S Pandey on Sunday morning to keep himself posted about the issues regarding the indefinite strike call given by oil PSU executives from January 7, sources said. Sources said Chidambaram told Pandey that the group may need three to four meetings to form its view and the first in the series has been scheduled for January 7 evening.
The government has appointed Spanish speciality consultancy firm, Mercados Energy Markets International, to examine possibility of a uniform domestic price of natural gas, which is now sold at rates ranging from $1 to $5.73 per mmBtu depending on source.
Petroleum secretary R S Pandey and heads of oil PSUs on Friday drew a blueprint of a contingency plan to keep refinering running, fuel stations operational and oil and gas flowing in the event of the strike, official sources said. While Hindustan Petroleum was never part of the agitation called by OSOA, executives from Indian Oil, Engineers India and Oil India have since Thursday disassociated from the agitation.
Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey separately pointed out that the airline had defaulted on payment of fuel bills to oil companies and owed them Rs 259 crore (Rs 2.59 billion). The airline, which is battling to survive the downturn in the industry, has handed out the pink slip to 1,900 employees, mostly cabin crew - which it expected to result in savings of $1 million a month.
Government says the ongoing dispute and litigation between Ambani brothers will have no impact on the bidding.
State-run oil firms will supply Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel in 13 big cities and Euro-III complaint petrol in rest of the country from April 1 but supply of the cleaner diesel to rest of the country may be delayed by three to six months.
Under the first six rounds of NELP, a total investment of $8.3 billion in exploration of oil and gas was committed, out of which about $4.5 billion has already been incurred on exploration and $1.4 billion on development of discoveries. A further $1.5 billion exploration spend is budgeted for NELP VII.
RIL will initially start gas production from eight wells, with an initial output likely to be 5 mmscmd (million standard cubic metres) per day. Bombay high court had last week allowed Reliance to sell gas from KG-D6 at $4.20 per million British thermal units in accordance with the government's gas utilisation policy, which gives priority to fertiliser units followed by existing power plants.
Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector oil company that shut down all of its petrol pumps earlier this year because of huge losses, wants to restart selling petrol and diesel after margins on the two fuels turned positive.
"At the moment there is no proposal before us for reducing prices," petroleum secretary R S Pandey told reporters in New Delhi. State-run oil retailers have started making profits on sale of petrol and diesel, but continue to incur hefty losses on domestic LPG and kerosene.
State-run Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are projected to lose Rs 1,28,135 crore (Rs 1,281.35 billion) on fuel sales this fiscal. IOC, BPCL and HPCL lost Rs 92,853 crore (Rs 928.53 billion) on fuel sales (audited figures) in April-September and are projected to lose Rs 35,282 crore (Rs 352.82 billion) in the second half of 2008-09 fiscal.
In an attempt to stop states from levying local sales tax on inter-state transactions, the Centre has told Rajasthan that only Central Sales Tax can be levied on crude oil sold from Cairn India's fields in the state to refiners elsewhere.
The letter comes days after the government made it clear that the empowered Group of Ministers approved price of $4.2 per mmBtu for RIL's KG basin gas.
The Union Cabinet is likely to review prices of petrol and diesel as crude oil price continue to move northward.
The government may levy a cess on domestically produced natural gas to fund construction of gas pipeline network, Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said on Wednesday.
In the past months, we have awarded 44 blocks, which is the highest ever, says Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey.
The government expects fuel consumption to grow six per cent next fiscal while crude oil imports are slated for a rise, despite slowdown in the economy.
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."
OIL's initial offering of 2.64 crore equity shares was to hit the market on November 10, but the reversal of fortunes on the stock markets has led to a re-think on the timing. Government holds 98.13 per cent stake in OIL, which produces close to four million tonnes of crude oil a year.
Former Research and Analysis Wing chief Sanjeev Tripathi on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, following the footsteps of several retired bureaucrats and diplomats finding a career in politics.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances