New Delhi has requested Turkmenistan to give equity in the exploration and production blocks to Gail

India wants a share in gas fields in Turkmenistan from where the proposed $9-billion transnational gas pipeline will cross terrorist-infested regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan to deliver gas across the Punjab border. “India is keen on stakes in Turkmenistan’s upstream assets. If it can offer stakes to China, it can also make exception for us,” said a senior government officials involved in implementation of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project. Chinese firm CNPC is developing natural gas resources at Turkmenistan’s South Yolotan gas fields and has an agreement with state-run Turkmengaz to import natural gas.

Complains to ministry about co not co-operating with auditors due to differences over scope of the audit

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) audit of the controversial KG-D6 gas fields operated by Reliance Industries (RIL) has again cast a shadow on pending approvals for the block’s budget and investment plans. The Director General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) has refused to issue approval letters for the block’s work plans and budget since 2010-11. A letter written by CAG to the oil ministry on January 17 said that Reliance was not co-operating with the auditors due to differences over the scope of the audit, official sources said.

India’s northeastern state Nagaland has declared independence from the Union oil ministry and invited bids for 11 exploration blocks in the state without involving the petroleum ministry, which has rushed to the home ministry in protest.

The centre was caught napping, when Nagaland invited “expressions of interest” from oil companies after setting up a ministerial group on petroleum, officials in the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, technical arm of the oil ministry, told ET.
“It appears that this action of the state government of Nagaland is ultra vires of the Constitution,” director general of hydrocarbons RN Choubey said in a letter to the oil ministry.

The oil ministry has moved two separate cabinet notes - one to raise cap on supply of subsidised cooking gas cylinders and the other to increase fuel prices, particularly diesel, by less than a rupee per month to pair it with market rates and eventually deregulate it in next 15 months.

The ministry has also proposed to reduce one-third subsidy on kerosene by 2014-15 and on cooking gas by a quarter in this year, government officials said. According to oil ministry's recent data, state oil firms are losing Rs 9 a litre on diesel, Rs 30.60 on kerosene and Rs 490 per cylinder on cooking gas.
The proposals will substantially reduce government's subsidy burden on diesel, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), officials said. The estimated fuel subsidy for 2012-13 is about Rs 166,000 crore, out of which the finance ministry has sanctioned Rs 30,000 crore and released the first installment of Rs 10,000 crore to state oil marketing firms this week.

Timelines Soon as Ministries Fail to Act on Reforms
Only three ministries set targets for implementing recommendations of the Ashok Chawla Committee on Allocation of Natural Resources

Experts feel common infrastructure practical solution as defence min forbids construction of permanent structures
RAJEEV JAYASWAL NEW DELHI

The oil ministry has forwarded the contentious issue of pricing methane gas produced from coal seams by Essar Oil and Reliance Industries to an empowered panel of secretaries after raising objectio

Plan to revise prices every fortnight to recover . 5k cr of revenue losses.