The government’s desperation to raise Rs 40,000 crore from disinvestment this year notwithstanding, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) follow-on issue is nowhere on the horizon.

With yet another petrol price hike looming large, the Petroleum Ministry said on Wednesday that it was up to the oil marketing companies (OMCs) to decide on the issue since the fuel has been deregu

The government is planning to allow companies exploring coal bed methane (CBM) to simultaneously mine coal from the same block.

New Delhi Prices of the fuel have gone up 33% since being decontrolled last year

Easing global crude oil price — $103 a barrel on Monday, down from an average $113 a barrel in the first quarter — has nearly covered the losses that retailers IOC, HPCL and BPCL make on petrol, encouraging the government to indicate a price cut in the auto fuel. Since it was decontrolled in June last year, petrol prices have gone up 33%.

The government is planning to cap sale of subsidised cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders to each household in a phased manner, while putting in a mechanism for direct transfer of subsidy to the intended beneficiaries.

LUCKNOW: The Centre has slammed the Mayawati government for laxity in lowering Value Added Tax (VAT) on petroleum products. The reaction followed the decision taken by the Central Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), who raised prices of diesel, kerosene and domestic Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) recently, owing to rising international oil prices.

SHILLONG, July 1

New Delhi Following divergent views among various government wings and user industries, the Ashok Chawla panel on pricing and use of natural resources is likely to drop its proposal for a designated natural gas trading agency to buy the clean fuel from gas producers at contracted prices and sell it to customers at market rates.

SALE OF 30% STAKE IN OIL, GAS BLOCKS
Clearing the last hurdle, the Home Ministry has given unconditional approval for UK's BP to buy a 30 per cent stake in Reliance Industries' oil and gas blocks, including the showcase KG-D6 gas fields, for $7.2 billion.

The Ministry of Home Affairs wrote a one-page letter to the Petroleum Ministry on June 1 giving security clearance and a no-objection certif

With an eye to reduce deforestation, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has come out strongly in favour providing alternative cooking fuels to villagers living in and around forests. At present, villagers depend on firewood, which they collect from the forests.
Ramesh has argued for targeted subsidising of cooking gas for 1,72,000 villages that depend on forest wood for cooking.