Parliamentary panel to study petro products pricing and marketing

Parliamentary panel to study petro products pricing and marketing

Subject – Economy

Context – Agreeing to the demand of Opposition parties, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas has decided to examine the pricing, marketing and supply of petroleum products, including natural gas

Concept –

• Agreeing to the demand of Opposition parties, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas has decided to examine the pricing, marketing and supply of petroleum products, including natural gas.
  • The panel will also review the Centre’s policy on import of crude oil.
• Some members in the panel are also learnt to have demanded a re-look into the UPA government’s “decontrol” market prices of petrol and diesel based on a report submitted in 2010 by an expert group of Planning Commission headed by Kirit Parikh.
  • The report, A Viable and Sustainable System of Pricing of Petroleum Products, recommended that petrol and diesel prices should be market determined both at the refinery gate and at the retail level.
  • The MPs argued that “decontrol” of the market prices has burdened the people as oil companies are unwilling to reduce the prices even though international price of crude oil is low.
• The panel, chaired by BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri charted the agenda for the one-year term in its meeting. People are agitated over the rising prices of petrol, diesel and LPG. The increase was due to cess and additional taxes imposed by the Centre.
• The panel has selected 17 subjects for its new term. It includes litigations involving oil PSUs, contract management and transparency in procurement procedures in oil PSUs, energy security with specific reference to hydrocarbon resources and electric vehicles, review of performance of oil PSUs with specific reference to financial performance and investments in other sectors, international cooperation in petroleum sector, alternative sources of energy and the policy on import of crude oil.