Soon, gas cylinders an SMS away

 
An SMS is all it may take to order an LPG cylinder in the future. Delivery too will depend on the consumer’s convenience, a measure proposed to suit working people.
Setting out an ambitious roadmap for the oil sector, the Union Petroleum Ministry late on Friday finalised its Vision 2015 plan to cover a total of 16 crore LPG consumers in the country.

With 5.5 crore new LPG connections planned, 75 per cent of the population will be covered by 2015, the document finalised by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said. The majority of new connections are being released in rural areas and the government plans to launch the Rural LPG Distributorship Scheme to expand its reach.
Among other innovative measures being proposed is HPCL’s ‘rasoi-ghar’ scheme for setting up common kitchens in villages with a population of 5,000. CSR funds are to be leveraged for this.

Addressing a conclave of CEOs of oil PSUs in South Goa, Deora said the government proposes to distribute domestic LPG and PDS kerosene through biometric smart cards to plug leakages. The subsidy on these products cost the government over Rs 48,000 crore in 2008-09.

Deora said gas production from the Eastern Offshore deep water KG Basin would peak to 80 mmscmd in the next two years, accounting for half the country’s production. Crude oil production from pre-NELP promoted by the consortium of Cairn and ONGC, which is to commence shortly, is likely to increase India’s production by more than 20 per cent.

Under-recoveries on the sale of petroleum products for 2008-09 were Rs 1,03,292 crore. The financial position of oil manufacturing companies “continues to be a matter of concern for the government”, Deora said.

Price hike
The Minister also said that the government was waiting for international crude oil prices to stabilize before taking a decision on a possible fuel price hike. “The Cabinet will take a decision on the matter after some consideration. There is a great deal of volatility in the global crude oil prices at the moment.
We are watching the situation,” he told reporters after the conclave. Deora said his government was particularly concerned that the consumers did not suffer. “We had to resort to a price increase the last time after the prices of crude oil went so high,” he said.