ONGC bats for deregulation of gas market for prosperity of industry
.jpg)
Triggering a debate on the need for revising the current domestic natural gas price regime, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) Chairman Dinesh Kumar Sarraf on Thursday stated that deregulation of gas pricing and marketing rights is necessary in India for the exploration industry to prosper.
He said major challenge that the exploration sector is facing in a low pricing environment would be cost optimisation. With effect from April 1, the government has cut the natural gas price to $2.48 per million British thermal unit (mbtu), which will be effective for six months. Hence, companies had been batting for a cap on pricing of natural gas in India. As per the new gas pricing formula approved in October 2014, gas prices are to be revised every six months.
“One of the major challenges that we are facing in a low-price regime is cost optimisation, for which new technologies need to be implemented. In India deregulation of gas market is needed – this includes both gas prices and marketing rights,” Sarraf said addressing a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) summit in Delhi.
The state-run company accounts to 60 per cent of the country’s overall gas output, coming to around 90 million standard cubic meters per day.
Earlier in the day, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that he understands the sentiments of the industry regarding a low price regime. Since this government took charge, it has given marketing freedom for deepwater blocks and small field auctions. He hinted that the government would look to clear the mess regarding pricing in the next two years.
In October 2014, after the Narendra Modi government took charge, it came up with a new pricing formulae taking a weighted average of rates at Henry Hub in the United States, National Balancing Point in the United Kingdom and rates in Alberta (Canada) and Russia. However, due to drop in international prices, the domestic natural gas prices too tanked to more than half. ONGC had been batting for a cap in minimum price at $4.2 per mmBtu, in order to make most of its fields viable.
While the average cost of production for Krishna Godavari basin is between $4.99 per mmBtu and $7.30 per mmBtu, this comes in between $3.8 a unit to $6.59 per unit for other basins.
Other Latest News
.webp)
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday hit out the BJP, saying that by inducting former Congress leader Ashok Chavan, the ruling party has also become a part of the multi-crore Adarsh Housing Society scam now. Earlier, the BJP used to target Chavan saying the families of martyrs were fooled in the Adarsh scam, but now the same party is involved in fooling them, he alleged.
Thackeray was addressing a press conference at Nanded in Maharashtra, where he arrived to campaign for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate Vasant Chavan from the Nanded Lok Sabha constituency.
.webp)
Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of US banking giant JPMorgan Chase, has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and berated the “liberal press” for criticising him.
Dimon, in a webinar hosted by The Economic Club of New York, praised Modi's government for alleviating poverty and implementing reforms. “Modi has done an unbelievable job in India. I know the liberal press here; they beat the hell out of him. “He has taken 400 million people out of poverty," Dimon was quoted as saying.
.webp)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday released a compiled master direction raising the minimum capital requirement for asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) to begin securitization to Rs 300 crore from Rs 100 crore as on October 11, 2022.
The central bank said that the regulation would be effective from April 24, 2024. ARCs, as on October 11, 2022, have been provided a glide path to achieve the minimum required Net Owned Fund (NOF) of Rs 300 crore.
.webp)
Reliance Jio has become the world's largest mobile operator in data traffic consumption, surpassing China Mobile. According to global analytics firm Tefficient, the Indian telecom operator's total traffic reached 40.9 exabytes in the January-March quarter, compared to China Mobile's 38.
Jio also has the second-largest 5G subscriber base globally, with 108 million users. More than 28 per cent of its total wireless data traffic is now consumed by 5G users, said the company in an analyst presentation.
.webp)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of waiving off loans worth Rs 16 trillion of his billionaire friends, and said the country will never forgive him for this "crime".
In a post in Hindi on X, he said this money could have been used to cure the pain of Indians but was spent on creating hype for the ilk of those like 'Adanis'.
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
