Decks cleared for oil regulator bill

The Supreme Court judgment upholding the Centre's sole authority to legislate in matters concerning natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) has cleared the decks for the government to seek parliamentary approval for the long-delayed Petroleum Regulatory Board Bill.

Though the Bill was to be introduced in the last session of Parliament, it was  withheld following protests by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Modi had even met Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani in this regard.

A delegation of members of Parliament from Gujarat had also met Petroleum Minister Ram Naik. They wanted the introduction of the Bill to be postponed till the Supreme Court had decided on the presidential reference made to it regarding powers to legislate in matters related to natural gas and LNG.

Now that the Supreme Court has given its ruling, it is expected that the Bill will be taken up for consideration at the earliest, once a new government is installed at the Centre.

Earlier, Parliament had postponed consideration of the Bill and it was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum.

The standing committee had recommended 49 amendments to the Bill, of which the Cabinet approved 47.

One of the recommendations of the committee rejected by the petroleum ministry concerned the inclusion of connected facilities like storage, marketing and import terminals under the definition of a 'common carrier'. 
The petroleum ministry was of the view that the definition of 'common carrier', as per international standards, did not generally include storage facilities.

The other recommendation turned down by the Cabinet concerned the declaration of storage, hydrant systems at airports, marketing and import terminals as common carriers. The Cabinet felt this was not in line with international standards too.

Only pipelines fall under the ambit of a common carrier, where all entities have the right to hire the infrastructure for a fee.

The Bill provides for "a regulatory mechanism that will facilitate uninterrupted and adequate supply of petroleum and petroleum products in all parts of the country, including remote areas at fair prices, and promote competitive markets and access to monopolistic infrastructure in the nature of common carrier on a non-discriminatory basis by all entities".