KOCHI: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas S Jaipal Reddy on Friday said the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Kochi will be commissioned in 2012. Reddy said the LNG terminal was in an advanced stage of construction under the aegis of Petronet LNG. Stating that the terminal was the biggest in the country and the first one in South India, Reddy said the terminal would have a capacity of 38 MMSCMD a day when completed.Asked if his ministry proposed to do away with subsidy of diesel, he said: "I cannot remove subsidy element from diesel for any particular thing. We do not want to add to the sufferings of the farmers, road transport and railways. What I had said in Delhi was to impose duty on diesel-run passenger vehicles.’’On the allegations that the petrol prices had never gone down in the country with respect to the global crude prices, Reddy said it was not true. On lowering the taxes for bringing down the price of petroleum products, he said the government had recently reduced the taxes. "But there is a limit to reducing the taxes,’’ he said.Refuting the allegation that oil companies spending more on advertisements and other things as one of the reasons for the escalating petro prices, Reddy said it was only a misconception. Around 90 per cent of the cost production was for buying crude oil and only 10 percent was used. Reddy also promised Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was present at the press conference, of taking up the issue of allocation of domestic gas to the state."There is an empowered group of ministers who deal with the issue of allocation of domestic gas. I will present CM’s proposal before them,’’ he said.Chandy said that the government would seriously look into the BPCL’s proposal for deferring of sales tax for 15 years for the proposed petrochemical complex and also for enhancing the capacity."The Chief Secretary has been asked to look into the proposal and we would take a positive approach,’’ he said.
Comments
0 comment