The Oil Ministry is taking steps to ensure smooth flow of Iranian crude oil after US sanctions were levied on the Islamic country.
“We have requested the Ministry of Shipping to allow Iranian ships to ferry crude oil to Indian shores,” the Oil Secretary, Mr G.C. Chaturvedi, told reporters here on Friday. Till now, Indian ships were transporting crude oil and insurance was offered by companies from Western countries.
The Oil Ministry is also discussing with the Finance Ministry the scope for domestic companies, such as GIC Ltd, to offer insurance to ships carrying oil cargoes from Iran.
“Right now, there are no problems in supply. These steps will be considered if there are any disruptions in the future. Sovereign guarantee would be the last resort,” a senior Oil Ministry official said.
“India has cut down on Iran oil imports,” the official said. At the same time, India has started making rupee payments to Iran for crude oil, with BPCL recently making a payment of about Rs 3,000 crore.
ARBITRATION WITH RIL
The Oil Minister, Mr S Jaipal Reddy, said on Friday, that “the estimates of that particular source (RIL-operated KG D6) are not been firmed up. So the matter has been referred to the arbitrators. That is one process. Second, we will have to take these things as we come to know of the facts. Facts themselves are not known.”
The Oil Ministry has proposed Mr V.N Khare, former Chief Justice of India, as its arbitrator. Canada’s Niko Resources, partner of RIL on KG D6, on Thursday cut the proven and probable gas reserve estimate of the block to 1.93 trillion cubic feet (tcf), against 9 tcf predicted earlier.
LPG TRANSPARENCY PORTAL
The Oil Ministry on Friday launched a ‘transparency LPG portal’ to check black-marketing of domestic gas. Implementation of transparency portal is expected to bring down the diversion of subsidised cooking gas leading to reduction of subsidy burden on the Government.
“In 2011-12, Government paid Rs 30,000 crore for subsidising domestic gas. This year, it is likely to touch Rs 43,000 crore,” Mr Reddy said.
The portal, hosted on the Web sites of IOC, HPCL and BPCL, will feature search options for one’s distributor, the number of cylinders delivered with details of booking and delivery date and how much subsidy each consumer is getting, among others. A consumer can also request for surrender of the connection through the Web site and register complaints against the distributor.