Marketing margins of oil companies have come under severe pressure with the government freezing the daily revision of petrol and diesel prices ahead of the Karnataka polls.
The oil and gas sector in Maharashtra is in news these days with Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, signing a pact with Indian Oil Corp Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd to develop a mega refinery in Ratnagiri.
The geopolitical risk premium has taken center stage as one of the key drivers of oil prices in recent months, often trumping fundamentals to send prices soaring on concerns about where the next sudden oil supply disruption would come from.
Vedanta Cairn, operator of the prolific Barmer field in Rajasthan, bid aggressively, while eight other companies, including state-run ONGC, Oil India, Indian Oil and GAIL (India) also put in their bids for the 55 hydrocarbon blocks offered under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP), a critical part of the March 2016-launched Hydrocarbon Exploration Licensing Policy (HELP).
Rising oil prices over the last two years have put the issue of demand destruction back on the agenda, as producers, traders and analysts try to estimate how consumers will respond.
Algeria's state energy firm Sonatrach said on Monday it boosted its gas output by 5 percent to 135 billion cubic metres in 2017, marking the first time the company has used a news conference to disclose production data.
The government is not considering cutting excise duty on petrol and diesel yet as rates have not touched levels that could trigger such an action, said Economic Aff airs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg.
