Petrol

Hardeep Puri, who was interacting with the media on the sidelines of a function commemorating the World LPG Week, in response to a question on Russian oil company Gazprom not supplying liquified natural gas to GAIL, said that this discussion has been going on between GAIL and Gazprom.

No, further order has been issued about continuation of the curbs. Amid spike in air pollution, the Transport Department of Delhi Government had banned these vehicles till Sunday (November 13).

On fuel prices being stable for the past five months in the country, the minister said that though prices of oil and gas have been rising globally, the prices have not risen by that much in India. "With quiet confidence we will navigate the situation," Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said.

On Monday, the cost of petrol in the national capital was Rs 96.72, Rs 106.03 in Kolkata, Rs 106.31 in Mumbai and Rs 102.63 in Chennai. The drop in prices was expected as international crude oil prices dropped and have remained stable for some time. The crude oil price has remained below 95 dollars per barrel for some time now.

Production level of important minerals in August, 2022 were coal at 580 lakh tonnes, lignite at 29 lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilised) at 2,829 million cubic metres, petroleum (crude) at 24 lakh tonnes, bauxite at 1,450 thousand tonnes and chromite at 1,46,000 thousand tonnes, among others.

At present, five million barrels of petroleum is being consumed in our country every day and it is also increasing by three per cent, which is higher than the global average of nearly one per cent, Puri added. The Union Minister shared this with media at the three-day South Asian Geoscience Conference, GeoIndia 2022, which began at JECC, Sitapura in Rajasthan's Jaipur on Friday.

Gopal Rai said that a notification in this regard will also be issued soon. He said that a meeting of officials from environment, transport and traffic departments was convened on September 29 to discuss the implementation and modalities where it was decided to go ahead with the plan from October 25.

The previous low growth of 3.2 per cent was recorded in November 2021. Meanwhile the production growth of eight infrastructure sectors namely coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity was 9.8 per cent during April-August period of this fiscal, compared to 19.4 per cent in the year ago period, according to official data released on Friday.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, while launching the fuel at Hindon air base, said: "We are undergoing a remarkable transformation which is almost revolutionary. We are reducing dependence on imported fuels by promoting biofuel blending, green hydrogen and introduction of electric vehicles."

Inflation in August, however, was much lesser than 16.23 per cent recorded in June 2022. Wholesale inflation, which is measured by wholesale price index (WPI), was contributed by the rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum and natural gas, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, electricity and food products.