FuelClub Discount

The lights are dim, the mikes are off, and the television cameras dark in the US House of Representatives. But minority Republicans – sensing traction with voters on the issue of offshore drilling – aren’t giving up the floor.

Nearly 90 GOP lawmakers, about 40 percent of the Republican caucus, have come back to Washington since the House voted to adjourn on Aug. 1 to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s refusal to allow a vote to lift a moratorium on offshore drilling.

“The American people deserve more access to American oil, and Congress should be in session until we vote,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R) of Indiana, speaking to a chamber half-filled with tourists, escorted by GOP lawmakers to break off their tours of the Capitol and take a seat on the floor. He urged the tourists, many of whom seemed astonished to find themselves on the floor of the US House of Representatives, to “call to a Democratic member of Congress from your state” to demand a vote.

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Hospitals, hotels, malls, cinema halls and other commercial establishments will not be able to avail subsidised diesel anymore. They have to buy costlier premium (or branded) diesel. Public sector oil companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL plan to stop supply of subsidised diesel to commercial establishments.

Retail price of branded diesel, which is currently about Rs 2.25/litre higher than normal diesel, is not regulated by the government and its price could be substantially raised, depending on the demand.

Industry in the national capital region (NCR) alone is expected to lose Rs 500 crore per year on account of this. Situation in other places is even worse as the country is facing an acute power shortage and commercial establishments rely on diesel generators. Government officials justify oil companies’ move, stating that subsidised fuel is not meant for commercial establishments.
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The Federal Government has directed the Project Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu to explore ways of converting coal to fuel as part of measures to reduce over-reliance on petroleum products for energy.

Minister of State for Science and Technology, Dr Alhassan Bako Zaku, who gave the directive when he visited the institute as part of his one day facility tour of Federal Parastatals in Enugu State, said the government was uncomfortable with the underutilization of the large coal deposit in the country.

He asked the institute to do everything within its reach to carry out the directive, saying Nigeria’s over reliance on crude oil for the production of fuel in spite of the availability of other natural resources that could generate the product, was unacceptable.
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Reliance Industries’ decision to shut down about two-thirds of its petrol pumps in the country due to continued losses today came up in the Rajya Sabha with some members demanding action against the private firm.

Raising a supplementary on an original question pertaining to capital investment by oil companies in foreign countries, Digvijay Singh (JD-U) said youths were being driven to suicide after closure of petrol pumps by the firm.

Without naming Reliance, he sought to know what action the Government proposed to take against the firm for “depriving” the youths, who had invested Rs two to three crore in the petrol pumps, of their livelihood.
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The government will refund value-added taxes on gasoline and diesel imported by the country’s two largest oil companies in the second quarter, the Ministry of Finance has said.

Value-added taxes on 500,000 tons of gasoline and 1 million tons of diesel imported by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) between April 1 and June 30 this year will be refunded, the ministry said on its website yesterday.

It will also return collected taxes to China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) on imports of 500,000 tons of gasoline and 1.5 million tons of diesel in the same period, the statement said.

Analysts said the 17 percent tax refund is aimed at reducing the refining losses of the oil companies and increasing refined oil products supply in the domestic market to prevent a shortage.
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The federal Government announced its decision to extend the WA scheme nationally, and the only saving grace is that it won’t be introduced until year’s end because, frankly, the scheme is a nonsense with only political benefits.

The Government wants to be seen as doing something about petrol prices, so it unveiled a petrol price commissioner for the ACCC, which is also an anathema, given the ACCC is meant to look after economy-wide benefits, and now the fuel-watch program, which actually stops retailers dropping prices.

The idea of the scheme is retail prices are posted on the internet and not allowed to be touched for 24 hours.

This means that if a retailer finds out the guy next door has lower prices, he can’t change them, and as 70 per cent of a service station’s gross profits are from the convenience store, this can be a disaster.
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