What are oil reserves?

After Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Bijoy Krishna Handique, it was the turn of Chairman-Cum- Managing-Director (CMD) of Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Dr UD Choubey today, to allay apprehension over Assam Gas Cracker Project, assuring that it would be completed within the scheduled time. The project is moving very smoothly as per schedule and is expected to be completed within the stipulated time, said Dr Choubey, addressing a press conference here today.

The petroleum and gas workers of the State have demanded expansion of the existing four refineries of Assam and recruitment against the 5,000 vacant posts in the oil sector of the north-eastern region

On Monday morning, crude prices touched $111 a barrel in Asian markets. It was only last week that they reached an all-time high of $110.

The Centre has denied that the Gas Cracker Project has suffered delays claiming that the Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymers Limited (BCPL) would start production according to schedule by 2012.

The proposed gas allocation policy, which will override the government's commitment to allow sale and purchase of gas on the basis of market diktats, has cast a shadow over the country's emerging

As crude oil prices set new records, the government-owned oil companies are working on a multi-pronged strategy to cut costs and stave off an impending crises.

The basket of crude oil that Indian refiners buy hit a new high of $96 per barrel on Wednesday, the latest day for which data are available. The basket, which comprises Oman-Dubai sour (high sulphur) grade crude oil and Brent dated sweet (low sulphur) crude oil in a 61.4:38.6 ratio, has averaged $91.91 per barrel this month compared with $89.52 per barrel in January and $87.92 in December. The price of the Indian basket of crude oil has been reflecting the soaring futures price of oil in the New York Mercantile Exchange, which hit an all-time high of $102.08 per barrel on Wednesday, before falling to below $100 per barrel at the end of the day. CRUDE GAINS Price of Indian crude oil basket (in $/bbl) Feb avg (so far) 91.91 Jan avg 89.52 Dec avg 87.92 Highest price (Feb 27, 08) 96.00 Previous highest (Feb 20, 08) 94.96 US light sweet oil for April delivery was trading at just over $99 per barrel in New York on Thursday. The price of Brent crude oil, the global benchmark primarily produced from the North Sea, has also been trading at over $99 per barrel in London.

The production of crude oil from the country's sedimentary basins fell marginally by 0.3 per cent to 2.89 million tonne (mt) in January this year compared with 2.90 mt in January 2007. The output was, however, marginally higher than the 2.88 mt in December, data released by the petroleum ministry showed. The output of natural gas in January was also down by 2.53 per cent to 2.69 billion cubic metres (bcm) compared with the 2.76 bcm in January 2007. Compared with the 2.85 bcm gas produced in December 2007, the fall in January this year was higher at 5.61 per cent. The decline in crude oil and gas production in January was due to a two-week shutdown of a production platform at Bombay High, the country's largest oil producing field. In the April-January period of the current financial year, crude oil production was 0.28 per cent higher at 28.46 mt compared with 28.38 mt in the same period of the last financial year. Natural gas production was up by 1.7 per cent to 26.89 bcm from 26.44 bcm in April-January 2006-07. In January this year, the country's oil refineries processed 13.67 mt crude oil, 5.31 per cent higher than the 12.98 mt in the year-ago month. The rise in refinery production is primarily due to private refiner Essar Oil. The quantity of oil processed at the company's refinery rose almost 161 per cent in January after the full 10.5-million-tonne-per-annum capacity was commissioned in the later part of the month. The refineries, on an average, utilised 108.4 per cent of their capacity in January 2008, against 106.9 per cent in the year-ago month. In December 2007, the capacity utilisation was 103.5 per cent. In the April-January period of the current financial year, refinery output increased 7.30 per cent to 129.78 mt, compared with 120.94 mt in the same period of the last fiscal. Average refinery capacity utilisation during the period was, however, lower at 104.2 per cent compared with 106.7 per cent in the year-ago period.

An empowered committee of secretaries (ECS) has cleared Cairn India's proposal to recover the cost of the $700-million pipeline from its Rajasthan fields to the Gujarat coast through sale of crude oil from the field. "The ECS has allowed the pipeline cost to be included in the field development cost of the Rajasthan field,' said a senior government official. The ECS decision is likely to go to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for final clearance. Cairn is laying a pre-heated 585-km pipeline to transport its "waxy' crude oil from Barmer in Rajasthan to Salaya in Gujarat from where it will be transported to various refineries. The government allows a company to recover the investment in developing an oil or a gas field through oil sales. Once the company has recovered the costs, the government starts taking a share of the profits from oil sales. The field extends to the point of delivery of oil. The ECS decision will shift the point of delivery from Rajasthan to the Gujarat coast. A Cairn executive said they had not received the final word from the government. He added that all major contracts for laying the pipeline and developing the field had been awarded. "We remain committed to producing oil from Rajasthan in the second half of 2009,' the official said. The pre-heated pipeline became necessary after . Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), the official buyer of the crude, said it could take only around 1 million tonne (mt) out of the projected 7.5 mt output. The oil has to be transported through a heated pipeline as this "waxy' oil coagulates at normal temperatures.