‘Or cut excise duty and compensate our loss'

Fed up with the Centre's “indecision” on allowing an increase in fuel prices in the face of rising international crude prices, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Tuesday virtually threatened to increase petrol prices by Rs. 8.04 a litre. They said the government should either cut the excise duty on petrol and give them Rs. 49 crore a day in compensation or face a sharp price hike.

India has offered Qatar stake in some of the major petro projects, including the petrochemicals complex at Dahej in Gujarat, Indian Oil Corporation's (IOC's) LNG project in Ennore, Tamil Nadu, BPCL's petrochemical project in Kochi, petrochemical project in Mangalore and investment opportunity in the Paradip refinery and petrochemical project to further enhance its strategic partnership and ties.

Estimates point to 4-year-high of 4.9% rise in petroleum product sale trend likely to continue, says PPAC

The country’s diesel consumption rose a massive 11.9 per cent in 2011-12, leading to an expected 4.9 per cent growth in the sale of petroleum products in the just-ended financial year. That will mark a four-year-high growth, which is significantly above 2.9 per cent in 2010-11. The government’s projection for FY12 was 4.58 per cent.

India will raise retail prices of subsidised fuels, including diesel, once parliament approves the finance bill for the current fiscal year early next month, a senior government source with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

Parliament is expected to consider the finance bill on May 7 and approve it a couple of days after that.

Power cut-induced surge in demand during the second half of 2011-12 in both retail and bulk consumer segments pushed up diesel sales in the country by eight per cent over the previous fiscal. For the state-owned oil marketing companies, however, there was little to cheer as the growth only added to the mounting under-recoveries. Oil companies put the under-recovery at Rs.14 for every litre sold by them.

In talks with Shell, Petronet LNG to book capacity

Faced with a shortfall in gas production from its KG-D6 field, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is set to make its debut in the marketing of imported natural gas. India Gas Solutions, the equal joint venture between RIL and British Petroleum (BP) set up to source and market natural gas in India, will shortly bring in liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the terminals of Shell India and Petronet LNG.

New Delhi In what could give a reprieve to consumers who have been fearing another hike in petrol price, the government has decided to put the proposal in abeyance.

State-owned oil firms are pushing for at least Rs. 3 per litre hike in petrol price from April 1 to cover part of the spike in cost of raw material.

"We are losing Rs. 6.43 per litre on petrol and after adding 20 per cent sales tax, the desired increase in rates in Delhi is Rs. 7.72 per litre," a senior oil company official said.

New Delhi The Petroleum ministry has sought an additional R40,000 crore in cash subsidies for the current fiscal to compensate fuel retailers for losses incurred on diesel and cooking fuels, even as oil minister S Jaipal Reddy gave no indication of a fuel price revision soon. Oil secretary GC Chaturvedi said state-owned fuel retailers are projected to lose close to R137,524 crore on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene this fiscal.

The government’s plans to reign in petroleum subsidies to plug the fiscal deficit next financial year are in jeopardy, as a whopping Rs 2.13 lakh-crore revenue loss is expected at the current levels of global crude oil prices and domestic retail prices of controlled products.

Non-revision of diesel, LPG and kerosene prices, firm crude oil prices and a weak rupee may combine to foil Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's subsidy-reduction plans.