The Hindu Business Line : Petro-products pricing: Deora to meet PM, Chidambaram

The Petroleum Minister said the Government was fully alive to the challenge and had devised a multi-pronged strategy to increase gas availability from domestic sources as well as through imports.

New Delhi , Feb. 20

THE Petroleum Minister, Mr Murli Deora, is set to meet the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, some time next week to discuss the contentious issue of petroleum products pricing and tariff changes concerning the sector.

Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of `Asia Gas Partnership Summit - 2006', organised by GAIL (India) Ltd, the Petroleum Minister said that he expected to hold detailed discussions with the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister on the Rangarajan committee recommendations pertaining to petroleum product pricing and other tax issues.

The committee, headed by the Prime Minister's economic advisory committee Chairman, Dr C. Rangarajan, had suggested specific duties for petroleum products and increase in petrol and diesel as well as cooking gas cylinders. "I will be meeting the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister on a whole gamut of issues relating to the prices of petroleum products as suggested by Rangarajan committee, including excise and custom duties," Mr Deora said.

Need to increase gas output

Earlier, in his inaugural address at the conference, Mr Deora stressed on the need to raise domestic natural gas production through vigorous exploration and production efforts, securing new liquefied natural gas sources and creation of the requisite infrastructure so as to bring maturity to the Indian gas market. "The recent discoveries of natural gas reserves in the east coast, coupled with LNG regassification facilities on the west coast would provide investors a plethora of opportunities for developing pipeline infrastructure as well as natural gas markets," he said.

As regards the preparedness of the country for meeting the demand for gas, which is expected to rise substantially, Mr Deora said the Government was fully alive to the challenge and had devised a multi-pronged strategy to increase gas availability from domestic sources as well as through imports. Moreover, a regulator in the petroleum and natural gas sector and a natural gas pipeline policy are likely to be in place in the near future, providing a non-discriminatory and transparent platform, he added.

Transnational gas pipelines: Mr Deora also underlined the need to address the issue relating to security of supplies of natural gas before deciding on transnational gas pipeline projects. The transnational pipelines require large investments for which various international financial institutions and multilateral agencies have to pool resources, he said. However, such investments would require guarantee from the Governments concerned, he said.