Centre rules out divestment of ONGC, IOC, Gail

the centre on monday ruled out divestment of its stake in oil and natural gas corporation, indian oil corporation and gas authority of india, saying these flagship companies will continue to be under its control in medium to long term. we have made it clear that government will not dilute its control in these three flagship companies in view of national oil security , union minister for petroleum and natural gas ram naik told reporters after inaugurating the mumbai high south redevelopment programme in mumbai. presently, the government is only working on divestment of ibp and has no other proposals for divesting its stake in other oil companies. recognising the importance of oil security in national self-reliance, the hydrocarbon vision 2025 has explicitly indicated that the government will not dilute its stake in the three companies, said naik. asked about any proposal to divest government equity in hindustan petroleum and bharat petroleum, the minister said though the disinvestment commission had indicated bringing down of centre's stake in these companies, no programme or schedule had been finalised as yet. the time-table and programme for divestment in 2002-03 is yet to be finalised. there is no proposal or note in this regard with my ministry, said the minister. on dismantling the administered price mechanism in april 2002, he said it would be on schedule and issue of subsidies on kerosene and cooking gas would be looked into in the union budget for 2002-03. prices would have to be increased by rs 1.20 per litre for kerosene and rs 100 per cylinder on lpg to bring subsidies to 'residual' level of 33 per cent and 15 per cent respectively, said naik. but doing that in one go may not be practical. this, along with the issue of duty changes, will be dealt in the budget next year, he added. naik said the draft bill for putting in place a regulatory mechanism post-apm was ready and would go for final vetting by law ministry. the bill, envisaging two separate regulators for upstream oil exploration and downstream refining sectors, was likely to be introduced in the budget session of parliament, he said, adding the regulator would ensure supply of petroleum products throughout the country and check undue profiteering. four inter-ministerial sub-groups constituted to suggest solutions to issues like changes in duty structure, liquidation of oil pool deficit, bill for deregulation, regulatory issues post-apm and subsidies on kerosene and lpg, submitted their report last week and these would be discussed in the next meeting on october 31, he added. naik said there was no need for immediate concern as far as oil security for the country was concerned. we have sufficient stocks that will last us for 60 days , he said, adding the on-going us strikes on afghanistan had not affected the oil supply routes for india. naik also hoped that opec would maintain supplies and prices at an acceptable level during in these war times.

Centre rules out divestment of ONGC, IOC, Gail

THE CENTRE on Monday ruled out divestment of its stake in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation and Gas Authority of India, saying these flagship companies will continue to be under its control in medium to long term.

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