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Oil prices climbed this week as tensions in the Middle East escalated. Iran launched missiles at Israel and the Israelis threatened retaliation, raising the possibility of a disruption to the flow of oil from the region. A jump in oil prices automatically spurs fear of a spike in gas prices, but experts see reasons that may not happen. Here's a look at the current situation and the outlook for oil and gas prices: Familiar tensions, different times Oil prices rose than USD 6 per barrel this week and prices at the pump moved higher as well. The average price for a gallon of gas rose 5 cents from last week. Any major escalation of tensions in the Middle East conjures up memories of the oil embargo that followed the start of the Yom Kippur war in 1973, which quadrupled oil prices. However, the global supply of oil has been altered radically since the 1970s, with the US becoming the world's largest oil producer. Months of war between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, two Iranian proxies,
Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd has submitted a representation to the state regulatory commission, seeking a hike in power tariff to bridge its revenue gap, a senior official said on Saturday. There has been no tariff increase in Tripura since 2014, causing a huge loss to the state government-run power corporation, he said. There has been an average 196 per cent increase in natural gas price in the past one year and the introduction of uniform transmission cost has hit the corporation's fiscal position. While the uniform transmission cost appears good for big states like Assam, it harms small states such as Manipur, Tripura and Mizoram, TSECL Managing Director Debasish Sarkar told PTI. The corporation will have a revenue gap of Rs 1,100.60 crore if the tariff remains unchanged for the 2023-24 financial year, he said. Projected revenue stands at Rs 868.04 crore for 2023-24, while TSECL needs to spend Rs 1,968.64 crore for the current fiscal, leading to a gap of Rs 1,100.6
The government's decision to limit prices of domestic natural gas from legacy fields to between USD 4-6.5 per million British Thermal Unit (mmbtu) will support margins for city gas distributors, encourage the use of gas, and reduce cash flow volatility for upstream producers, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday. "We expect a partial pass-through of the lower administered price mechanism (APM) gas prices, at which domestic upstream producers supply gas to city gas distributors, in the prices of compressed natural gas (CNG) and domestic piped natural gas (PNG) to add to the distributors' margins in the near term," it said in a statement. City gas retailers like Indraprastha Gas Ltd and Adani Total Gas Ltd last weekend announced Rs 6-8 cut in CNG and PNG prices, reflecting the cut in input gas prices. The APM price under the new regime was calculated at USD 7.92, but is capped at USD 6.5 for the rest of April, 24 per cent below levels in October 2022-March 2023. "We expect such price cuts
CNG and piped cooking gas prices will be cut by 9-11 per cent after the government revised the formula for pricing of natural gas, but there is no clarity on deregulation of the fuel, analysts said. While the Union Cabinet accepted an expert committee report to price bulk of domestically produced natural gas at 10 per cent of month average import price of crude oil with a floor of USD 4 per million British thermal unit and a cap of USD 6.5, tinkering with the panel's suggestions will help the government avoid prices going up right in the middle of general elections next year. "City gas distributors could reduce prices of compressed natural gas (CNG), used by vehicles, and piped natural gas (PNG), used by homes, by 9-11 per cent, with the government accepting the key recommendations of the Kirit Parikh Committee," Crisil Ratings said. "Had the previous pricing regime continued, prices would have likely risen." But the government has not acted on the panel's recommendation to fully ..