Time out

Ask any reporter on the petroleum and natural gas beat about the safest story to write about and the answer will be: Shale gas policy in another 15 days. That, at any rate, has been Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily's promise since January this year. Commenting on Moily's never-ending 15-day deadline, an exasperated executive from a private sector exploration major exclaimed, "Maybe you journalists are following Gregorian calendar and your minister may be talking in terms of light years."