The Orissa government's high-level clearance authority (HLCA), headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, on Tuesday cleared the Petrochemicals & Petroleum Investment Region (PCPIR) project. The PCPIR, one of the five such projects to be developed in the country, will be located in Paradip region covering two districts

Rising oil prices is forcing Gulf states to invest in gas production. Some analysts estimate that the cumulative supply shortfall for the six countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council up to 2015 will reach at least 7,000bn cubic feet. To put the number into perspective, according to BP the UK's entire remaining proven gas reserves total just under 17,000bn cu ft. "There is a Middle East regional gas crisis brewing," says Rajnish Goswami at Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh-based energy consultancy.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has called upon the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Petroleum Minister Murali Deora to formulate a special compensation package for the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) to enable the refinery to tide over the crisis faced by it. In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister also called for restoring 100 percent excise duty relief to the Refinery, which was reduced to 50 per cent in 2002.

A day after the city faced acute Petrol shortage, the crunch somewhat eased on Tuesday with the re-opening of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) depot. The BPCL depot was opened on the directives of the collector, according to official sources. The city was facing fuel shortage since May 23 after the Manmad Municipal Council sealed BPCL depot on Friday last after the public sector oil company failed to pay import-duty of Rs 23 crore. The city was facing fuel shortage since May 23 after the Manmad Municipal Council sealed the BPCL

Equals Rs 6,000 A Year For Every Poor Man

The Rs 18,900-crore Guru Gobind Singh Refineries Ltd (GGSRL) being commissioned at Bathinda by a HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd JV is expected to kick-off by 2011. According to GGSRL managing director B S Sant, the project, which will make Bathinda one of the major petrochemical hubs in Asia, is expected to get operational by 2011.

TIMES NEWS NETWORK New Delhi: The oil ministry has removed the clouds of uncertainty over continuation of Indraprastha Gas Ltd as the city's sole supplier of CNG (compressed natural gas) for automotive and kitchen uses. The ministry has spiked the sectoral regulator's decision de-recognising IGL's projects in the Capital, saying the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board does not have powers to judge entities set up through government orders before it came into existence.

T T RAM MOHAN AT THE beginning of the year, many commentators saw the turmoil in the international financial markets as posing a threat to the growth of the global economy as also the Indian economy. This threat has turned out to be smaller than the pessimists had contended. Growth in the US has slowed down appreciably but there is still no recession, defined as two quarters of negative growth. Growth in China and India has been showing signs of slowing down only slightly

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) will invest Rs. 8,000 crore in the next three years to expand the capacity of its present refinery at Mangalore from 9.69 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes, R. Rajamani, Managing Director, said here on Thursday. Environment clearance Mr. Rajamani said the company had obtained environmental clearance for the expansion and the process for its expansion would begin in right earnest.

The Hinduja group plans to go ahead with Rs 25,600-crore refinery at Kakinada even if its indecisive project partner Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) opts out. "We have given in writing to the Andhra Pradesh chief minister that we are keen to set up the project, with or without ONGC," Hinduja Group chairman G.P. Hinduja said.