EGoM meet on gas allocation policy likely on Feb 24

An empowered group of ministers (EGoM) headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to meet on February 24 to consider changes in the natural gas allocation policy," oil minister S Jaipal Reddy told reporters here. The meeting was originally scheduled for on Tuesday, but postponed. The meeting, the first in 18 months, would consider changes in allocation, owing to a sharp drop in output from Reliance Industries’ eastern offshore KG-D6 block. Reddy also said India would launch its first-ever bid round for exploration of shale gas by December 2013. In another development, Reddy ruled out deregulation of diesel prices and said he had demanded that the government compensate state-owned oil firms for the losses they made on not raising prices of petrol.