The government is moving closer to dismantling the administered pricing mechanism (APM) in the oil sector with finance minister Yashwant Sinha convening a high-level meeting here on Saturday to discuss the issue.
The meeting, which will be attended by petroleum minister Ram Naik, finance secretary Ajit Kumar, revenue secretary S Narayan, petroleum secretary VN Kaul, additional secretary in the petroleum ministry Naresh Narad and senior officials of both the finance and petroleum ministries, is expected to take stock of the measures implemented so far to facilitate the dismantling of APM in the oil sector by March 31, 2002, and the steps needed to accelerate the process.
The meeting is also expected to give a final shape to the draft roadmap drawn up by the petroleum ministry for the dismantling of APM.
The meeting will also give finishing touches to the draft Bills allowing for the setting up of regulatory authorities both in the upstream and the downstream sectors. The regulatory authorities, according to petroleum ministry officials, have to be in place before APM is dismantled.
The draft Bill for the upstream sector is learnt to be based on the recommendations of the working group set up by the petroleum ministry under the chairmanship of Naresh Narad. The group had suggested setting up of a single, separate regulatory authority for the upstream sector. To be called the upstream hydrocarbon regulatory authority (UHRA), it will encompass all facets of the upstream sector involving exploration, drilling, production and transportation of oil and gas.
While recommending that for the time being UHRA should be empowered through the existing provisions of the Oilfield (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948, and Petroleum and Natural Gas Rules, 1959, the working group has said that the legal statute through which it should be empowered requires further deliberations by interest groups.
The group has recommended that
