Category: Oil & Gas

Top executives of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and bureaucrats within the government have successfully thwarted an attempt by the Niti Aayog to privatise the country’s largest oil and gas producing fields, including those in the famed Bombay High and Vasai East. A high-level committee headed by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar favoured “transferring” […]

The development of a gas pipeline in Bengal — from Kanai Chatta near Digha to Shrirampur in Nadia — could be hit because of lack of clarity on the supply of the fuel from H-Energy Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of real estate firm Hiranandani Group. “The availability of FSRU (floating storage regasification unit) timeline is […]

The US is pressing India to stop buying oil from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, Washington’s top envoy for Venezuela said, as the Trump administration this week threatened more US sanctions to cut off Maduro’s financial lifelines. “We say you should not be helping this regime. You should be on the side of the Venezuelan […]

Odisha has “accorded approval” to an integrated refinery-cum-petrochemical complex of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL), three years after the company had publicly announced a similar plan for Bengal. A committee headed by Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik approved the Rs 28,700-crore project ($4.05 billion), which will involve a refinery to produce paraxylene and purified terephthalic acid […]

India and the US have started negotiations to extend the 180-day waiver by Washington on the purchase of Iranian crude in November. Sources said the Trump administration wanted New Delhi to reduce crude purchase as a condition to continue with the waiver. Crude oil imports from Iran have been on a decline since November last […]

The government is planning to build more underground facilities to store crude oil to ensure assured supply during emergencies. “There have been some discussions on building additional strategic crude reserves in the country. The discussions are in preliminary stages and a final call on capacity and location would be taken after detailed analysis,” oil ministry […]

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil exporter, on Wednesday said it was in talks with Reliance Industries and other Indian firms to invest in petrochemicals and refinery projects in the country. “India is an investment priority for Saudi Aramco. There is a lot of growth potential. We are looking at additional investments in India. We […]

Two years after the government shifted to revenue sharing contracts for oil and gas block auctions, a high-level panel has suggested reverting back to the older system of awarding areas in most basins based on the exploration commitment. The six-member panel, headed by Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar, which was formed on the directions of […]

India’s oil imports from Iran fell 45 per cent in January to 270,500 barrels per day oil (bpd), which is below the estimated 300,000 bpd for the month as some cargoes were delayed. The United States introduced sanctions aimed at crippling Iran’s oil revenue-dependent economy in November but gave a six-month waiver to eight nations, […]

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has signed a deal to buy 3 million tonnes of crude worth $1.5 billion from the United States during the next fiscal. The deal, which is the first ever by an Indian firm, is seen as an attempt to strengthen strategic energy cooperation between the two nations and reduce the trade […]

The oil import bill for the current fiscal is set to jump 27 per cent to $112 billion because of a spike in global crude prices and the depreciation of the rupee, according to the latest estimates. The import bill in the next fiscal could increase further, if the geopolitical situation worsens. “The import bill […]

The domestic natural gas price in the country is likely to be hiked over 10 per cent to $3.7 per million British thermal units (mBtu) from April 1 following a spike in prices in the global gas hubs. The move is likely to boost the earning of producers such as ONGC but hurt the consumers […]