Two crucial empowered group of ministers in the oil sector have been reconstituted following the cabinet reshuffle. The panel has seen two changes with new petroleum minister S Jaipal Reddy replacing Murli Deora and road transport and highway minister C P Joshi replacing Kamal Nath.
Both the EGoMs are headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and have power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, fertiliser minister M A Alagiri and deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia as its members. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar is also part of the seven-member EGoM on fuel pricing. Pawar and Alagiri represent two crucial allies of the Congress — NCP and DMK — who need to be taken into confidence before any fuel price increase.
Though benchmark Indian crude oil basket is hovering around $110 a barrel, leaving oil marketing companies with huge under-recoveries on sale of auto and cooking fuels, the EGoM is not likely to meet till the end of assembly elections in four states and Union Territory of Pondicherry.
The oil marketing companies are losing a record Rs 12.56 a litre on diesel, Rs 24.74 on kerosene and Rs 297.8 on 14.2 per kg LPG cylinder besides losing around Rs 4 on petrol, which is officially decontrolled.
Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation are cumulatively losing Rs 392 crore in revenue every day. The revenue loss to these companies are expected to touch Rs 77,645 crore in financial year ending March 31, 2011.
A meeting of gas EGoM has also not been scheduled so far, said an official. It, too, has seven members and includes home minister P Chidambaram and law minister Veerappa Moily besides Mukherjee, Reddy, Shinde, Alagiri and Ahluwalia. The reconstitution of the EGoM on gas is mainly on account of change of petroleum minister. It has representation of the law ministry since there were legal disputes involving gas allocation and pricing from Reliance Industries Ltd's D6 block. Ministries representing gas users, power and fertiliser, also found a place in the EGoM.
Though the gas EGoM has nothing much to decide upon with the government having already allocated 60 million standard cubic metre a day of gas from the D6 block on firm basis and another 30 mscmd on fall-back, there is pressure on the ministry of petroleum by power companies, who are seeking gas, to convene a meeting, said the official.