Steep hike in oil prices

In a surprise move, the Union government bypassed the Cabinet to raise the price of petrol by Rs 4 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 2 a litre with effect from Wednesday midnight. In the state, the hike was Rs 4.44 for petrol and Rs 2.17 for diesel.

The petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora, told reporters that the hike was necessitated because of rising international crude oil prices which have doubled to $70 a barrel. Mr Deora only consulted party leadership and the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to decide on the hike. The decision was rushed through since the Parliament’s Budget session is to begin on Thursday and the government wanted to act before that. The weekly Cabinet meeting is scheduled for Thursday.

Mr Deora said the government will not raise the domestic LPG and kerosene prices though the public sector oil companies are losing Rs 92.96 per cylinder and Rs 15.26 per litre of kerosene respectively.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/

Petrol cut by Rs 5, diesel Rs 2

The Centre late on Wednesday night slashed the prices of petroleum products, including petrol, diesel and cooking gas, by Rs 5, Rs 2 and Rs 25 respectively.

Oil dealers were working out the new rates for for Hyderabad.

It is not clear how the AP government will deal with the cut in LPG price. It had absorbed the hike of Rs 50 the last time.

Announcing the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs headed by the external affairs minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, the petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora, said, “The government has decided to reduce petrol, diesel and LPG prices to pass on the benefit of softening international oil prices to consumers.”

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com

Reliance Industries Limited gas to cost $25 a barrel

India’s dependence on imported energy will come down by the end of this year as Reliance Industries starts producing natural gas from its KG-D6 block.

In times of high energy costs, the price of $4.2 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) will be music to the ears of consumers. This roughly translates to an equivalent price of $25.2 per barrel of crude oil, Mr Mukesh Ambani told shareholders here on Thursday, a fraction of the international price of crude oil, which is at $135 per barrel.

Till a few years ago, natural gas was far cheaper than crude because of plentiful supply and the fact that it could only be sold where there was a pipeline network. However, the recent years have seen natural gas prices rising in tandem with oil.

Currently, the spot market price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is close to $1920/mmbtu, which is equivalent to $120 per barrel of crude oil.

To read the full article, click here.....
To read the ePaper, visit: http://www.dc-epaper.com/deccanchronicle