The prices of petrol and diesel have been reduced twice since Raghaw Sharan Pandey took over as secretary in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas. In conversation with Yeshi Seli, he points out that, ideally, the retail prices of petrol and diesel should be linked with the price of crude in the international market

The recent cooling of oil prices to levels of $80 per barrel is perhaps getting oil marketing companies such as BPCL, HPCL and IOC excited. When the government worked out the

NEW DELHI: The five-way alliance of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Indian born steel magnate L. N. Mittal, French energy giant Total, GAIL (India) and Oil India will take a call on the project structure and funding of the 14-15 million tonnes refinery and petrochemical project at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh in November.

Pune, September 07 Glitch at Loni terminal server cuts off supply, repair staff work on holiday
A technical glitch at the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) server at the Loni terminal affected diesel supply to the city, creating a sudden shortage. The glitch happened on Saturday and forced officials at the terminal to work on Sunday as well to restore regular supply.

Palak Shah / Mumbai September 3, 2008, 0:40 IST

Over 100 chemical storage tanks built at the Pirpav jetty near Chembur have been operating without approvals from the ministry of environment and forests for over 18 years. Each of these tanks has an average capacity of 200,000 kilolitres of oil.

Rakteem Katakey / New Delhi August 2, 2008, 5:54 IST

Oil firms see 20% dip in sales since the June 4 increase.

The government's decision to raise fuel prices in June has scuttled the oil companies' plans to reduce their losses from retail fuel sales as consumers are buying less of premium fuels, which is more expensive than normal fuels.

BS Reporter / New Delhi July 24, 2008, 15:24 IST

The oil marketing companies have been overstating the deficit from sale of subsidised petroleum products, according to Planning Commission member B K Chaturvedi. He however declined to share the extent of this over-estimation.

A committee headed by him has been examining the "reported deficit and the real deficit faced by oil marketing companies as a result of price constraints imposed on them."

Rakteem Katakey / New Delhi July 24, 2008, 0:21 IST

The sharp drop in crude oil prices, which fell by more than 13 per cent from the all-time high recorded a fortnight ago, is expected to trim the losses of government-owned oil marketing companies by Rs 15,000 crore in this financial year.

The problems in petroleum pricing stem from a flawed method, and will cause immense harm to the oil companies and endanger energy security. A DEBATE without data would be a meaningless exercise. But a debate with faulty or fudged data would be positively dangerous. The prolonged national "debate' over the need to increase petroleum product prices is exactly that. One of the most important arguments of the government was that the move was urgently needed to stem the bleeding losses of the publicly owned oil companies.

State-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited on Thursday warned that it would be forced to resort to curtailment of supplies to retail outlets if fuel prices were not raised immediately. It said it was running out of cash due to high under-recoveries. Addressing a press conference here, HPCL chairman Arun Balakrishnan said the corporation would meet very soon to carry out a review of import of petrol and diesel, as the present situation was not comfortable at all.