An inter-ministerial panel has been set up to find a solution to the dispute between the Ministries of Coal and Petroleum on simultaneous extraction of gas and coal.

The panel, headed by Member Planning Commission, Mr B. K. Chaturvedi, is expected to meet on May 16. Official sources said that the Petroleum Ministry wanted coal mine methane (CMM) extraction to be done on the lines of coal bed methane (CBM).
Extraction process

The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has said no new gas-based power plants will be set up in the country till 2015-16, as the natural gas output is expected to fall considerably.

The CEA in a letter to states indicated that as per Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas reports India's natural gas production is likely to fall by 35 per cent to 27.64 million metric standard cubic metre per day (mmscmd) in the next fiscal and may further dip by another 12 per cent to 24.22 mmscmd in 2013-14.

To look into grant of work permits for foreign nationals

Seeking to remove the unreasonable roadblocks and to win the confidence of international investors in the oil and gas exploration operations, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has stepped in and set up a high-powered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) to examine all issues of the petroleum sector and give its recommendations for grant of smooth clearances in future, including working conditions for foreign nationals of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday ordered issue of notices to the Central and State governments in connection with a petition seeking allocation of a gas agency to the coastal pilgrimage and tourist town of Gokarna.

The petitioners, Shankar J Markhande and two others, had moved the High Court seeking directions to the Union government to allocate a gas agency so that the scarcity of cooking gas in the temple town is overcome.

Empowered Committee of Secretaries clears 14 blocks to the first ranked/single bidder

A total of ten blocks offered under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) IX face the axe as the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) has recommended not to award them due to lower profit petroleum to the government. The ECS has also cleared 14 blocks to the first ranked/single bidder, even as some blocks continued to face Defence hurdles and legal complications.

With the production from the once prolific Krishna Godavari basin D6 block of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) projected to decline to 27 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) by April this year, the Government is exploring all legal options to take “penal action” against RIL for the ‘drastic fall' in production.

Meeting notice seeks details about ENI operated block

With the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry's spat with the Defence Ministry and the Department of Space remaining unresolved, a worried Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has convened an urgent meeting on February 27 on the delay in carrying out exploration activities in blocks under New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and also delay in announcing NELP-IX round.

New Delhi With the government preparing to rationalise gas distribution from RIL’s KG-D6 block in the wake of a drop in production, Lanco and GMR plants in Andhra Pradesh are a worried lot.

Lanco’s Kondapalli power plant expansion and GMR Tanir Bawi power plants in Andhra Pradesh, which are earning a fortune by selling power in the free market, are facing cancellation of gas allocation from RIL’s KG-D6 block.

The Union government was contemplating action against Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for not keeping its promise of producing 70 MMSCMD of gas (million metric standard cubic meters a day) from its D6 block in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas S. Jaipal Reddy indicated here on Sunday.

Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy today ruled out deregulation of diesel prices and said he had demanded that the government compensate state-owned oil firms for the losses they made on not raising prices of petrol.

"Deregulation of diesel in entirety is very difficult proposition but at appropriate time we may look at reducing subsidy on diesel. But that time hasn't come," he said here.