Looking at ways to stop bulk diesel users from securing fuel from retail outlets

With dual pricing for diesel in place, oil marketing companies (OMCs) are looking at ways to stop bulk diesel users from securing the fuel from retail outlets. The three public sector OMCs — Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited — want the government to put in place regulations for this.

Govt has permitted oil companies to increase diesel price by 45 paise a month

Bulk consumers will have to pay market price, to be revised every fortnight; Consumers would get nine subsidised cooking gas cylinders a year, instead of six at present. Unwilling to announce a hike in diesel price, the government on Thursday allowed oil marketing companies to increase the price in small doses periodically and bring it in line with global rates. To begin with, an immediate increase of 45 paise a litre was announced for sales through retail outlets, while bulk consumers, which add Rs 12,907 crore to the subsidy burden, would have to pay market price, to be revised every fortnight.

Diesel, kerosene and cooking gas prices could be raised soon while the government might separately take up a proposal to raise the cap on supply of subsidised LPG cylinders.

The government may take a look at raising the cap on supply of subsidised LPG cylinders to 9 per household in a year from current limit of six along with the Vijay Kelkar Committee recommendations to deregulate diesel prices by next year along with steep hike in cooking fuel rates.

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.

Hike being mulled as govt scrambles to find ways to meet Rs 1,60,000 cr deficit expected this fiscal on selling diesel, LPG and kerosene below production cost

Diesel prices may be hiked by Rs 10 per litre over a 10-month period and kerosene rates increased by same quantum over the next two years if a proposal being mulled in the Oil Ministry is accepted.

The three firms -- IOC, RIL and BPCL -- have retained their last year's respective ranks

State-run Indian Oil Corp is the biggest company in terms of revenue, followed by Reliance Industries, according to the Fortune 500 list of Indian companies for 2012. This year's list of the country's 500 largest corporations, compiled by the business magazine Fortune's Indian edition, features as many as 55 new entities.

Hectic Parleys Begin

Jaisalmer: The habitats of thousands of chinkaras, cobras, desert fox, cats and other beasts are likely to be severely affected if the proposed refinery is set up in Lelana area of Barmer, according to the forest department. The HPCL, which will set up the refinery, will be sending a special team to study the eco system of the area in December and prepare a report for the Centre.

OMCs use new software to track fake connections

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has launched “Project Lakshya” to reduce waiting time for delivery of LPG cylinders and track duplicate connections, by enrolling the assistance of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) through a new software.

IOC, the largest fuel retailer, will receive a government subsidy of about 161 billion rupees

India will pay 300 billion rupees to state-owned fuel retailers forced to sell at cheaper government-set rates in the first half of the year, said three sources who saw the finance ministry's confirmation letter. The government fixes retail prices of liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene and diesel to protect the poor, leading to revenue losses at state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) , Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) .

Mumbai Soaring crude prices and pressure back home to keep rates lower is forcing government-run hydrocarbon firms to diversify into non-oil and gas sectors.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), which supplies crude to oil refiners at a lower price as part of a government subsidy plan, said its board has approved a plan to enter nuclear power and will soon start discussions with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) for partnering their projects.