The Union government is expected to take a decision in two weeks on providing a two-year extension of the date for starting all drilling and seismic activities, according to Petroleum Secretary MS Srinivasan. | |
| "All the major exploration companies, including RIL and ONGC, have sought a two-year extension to undertake activities under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), citing technical hitches, non-availability of drilling and seismic rigs and adverse weather conditions. Based on the combined requests and the data that we collected, we are currently examining the issue. A decision on this is expected to be made within 15 days," Srinivasan said. |
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| He was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a three-day international conference and exposition of the Society of Petroleum Geophysicists (SPG) that kicked off in Hyderabad on Monday. |
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| On the reports of imminent petrol and diesel price hike, Union Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, who inaugurated the conference, said a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) was scheduled to be held in Delhi on January 17, where a decision on the price hike would be taken. |
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| "Until then, I cannot comment on whether the prices will be increased or decreased and to what extent," he added. |
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| Later, inaugurating Southeast Asia's first underground liquid petroleum gas (LPG) storage cavern project in Visakhapatnam, the minister also hinted a likely increase in LPG and kerosene prices. |
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| "There has been no price increase on LPG and kerosene since the last four years," he pointed out. |
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