Deora: Clarity call

New Delhi, March 3: Petroleum minister Murli Deora is likely to meet finance minister P. Chidambaram on Monday to discuss the issue of the prices of petroleum products and the reimbursement of subsidies to oil companies.

Deora said, “I am not disappointed by the budget. I welcome it. But as far as the oil sector is concerned, some of the problems have been addressed and some have not. We are going to meet the finance minister to resolve these,” he told journalists on the sidelines of a roadshow organised to attract bids for 10 coal bed methane (CBM) blocks.

One coal bed methane block covering an area of 248 sq km in Bengal’s Birhum coalfield and another stretching across 469 km in Rajmahal coalfield of Jharkhand were among those for which the roadshow was carried out today.

Deora said petroleum ministry officials will meet their counterparts in the finance ministry on Monday and he “may join them when they meet the finance minister”.

Deora said his efforts would be to ensure that PSU oil firms do not lose money on selling petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene while ensuring that common man was not burdened with a price hike.

“We are trying to see that consumers, especially small and vulnerable sections, are not burdened. We always try to avoid price increases but sometimes they become unavoidable,” he said.

Deora, however, refused to explicitly state whether prices would be increased.

It would depend on the finance ministry's response on hiking subsidies on LPG and kerosene and rationalising duties, he said.

Inviting companies both from India and abroad to participate in the current offer, Deora said from the 16 contracts signed for exploration and production of CBM in the country, 6 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of in-place gas reserves has been established so far. The first commercial production is expected in 2007. Against this backdrop, the blocks under the CBM-III hold good prospects for CBM reserves.

Deora assured that the entire bidding process, including bid evaluation, award and contract signing would be completed within four months from receiving bids for blocks offered under this round.

The road show was attended by representatives of 52 companies and organisations. This includes eight foreign companies ? CDX and Mitchel of the US, Shell from the Netherlands, BG and Hardy Oil of the UK, Niko (Canada), Gazprom (Russia), and Geo-petrol (France). Besides the public sector oil companies, the other Indian firms are Reliance, Essar, Tata Petrodyne, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Gammon India.

Road shows for CBM-III will also be held at Houston on March 24 and at Brisbane on March 27 and 28. In order to facilitate investors, data viewing centres for CBM-III will be opened at New Delhi and Houston. The bid closing date for CBM-III is June 30.