Domestic oil and gas producers seek govt support to mitigate impact of crude price crash

Faced with a steep decline in oil prices, which makes oil and gas exploration and production an unviable business, domestic oil and gas producers are seeking government support to mitigate the impact.

“The government should focus on giving domestic oil and gas producers some relief by waiving off levies on production. The taxes imposed by the State and Centre go up to 50 per cent of the total sale price of domestically produced crude oil. When coupled with profit petroleum, these levies end up being even higher,” said P Elango, Managing Director of Hindustan Oil Exploration Company.

“The correct approach is to keep domestic oil and gas prices linked to the international market. Domestic producers that can survive at the present prices will be able to gain substantially when there is a recovery,” he said.