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Centre to set up statutory regulator for petroleum and gas

The government will set up a statutory regulator for monitoring the oil and gas industry before dismantling the administered price mechanism scenario by April 1, 2002.

"The regulator will be similar to that of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and I will chart out a path and then make an announcement in this regard during the monsoon session of Parliament," Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Ram Naik said in Bombay on Monday.

At a later stage, the decision would then be placed before the Cabinet for necessary approvals, Naik added.

Without a regulator, both private and public enterprises would concentrate only on urban areas and thus create their own fiefdom, he said.

"We will empower the regulator, roughly to be known as Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority of India, in a systematic way, which will not destabilise the established businesses of the state-owned oil majors," the minister said.

The regulator would determine various factors including the allotment of crucial marketing rights to private players like Reliance Petroleum and Essar Oil so that they could at least set up their retail outlets before April 2002, he added.

Naik said last week that RPL officials had made a detailed presentation to the ministry and sought a level playing field at par with Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and IBP Ltd.

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