New Delhi, Jan 15: The Hydrocarbon Vision for the coming quarter of a century is not the Indian elephant's ambling stroll through reforms, but a horseback trot to a free market, in which new players have easy access and the government remains mostly invisible.Think-tanks working on the policy have called for accelerating price and tariff reforms. They have suggested for instance, that customs duties be reduced immediately and that the complete linking of natural gas prices with global prices of fuel oil be made effective from 1.4. 2001 instead of 1.4. 2002. Consumer prices of natural gas are at the moment 75 per cent of a basket of fuel oil prices.The Vision Paper wants the army of 13 public sector undertakings (PSU) that rule the roost over the petroleum and gas industry at home to wither down to three, through a process of mergers, alliances and disinvestment. It suggests that the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's (ONGC) overseas exploration arm, ONGC Videsh, be privatised and the overseas oil exploration and production (E & P) business be completely deregulated in the coming two decades.The Group of Ministers, headed by Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha, heard a composite presentation on the Hydrocarbon Vision 2025 paper on Thursday, before submitting its report to the Prime Minister. The Vision statement should form the policy framework for the petroleum and gas industry for the first two decades of the new millennium.What the Group of ministers heard on Thursday was a synopsis of the reports of six sub-groups drawn from industry, academia and of course government. The other ministers in the group are Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Ram Naik, external affairs minister Yaswant Singh and the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission KC Pant.The Hydrocarbon Vision paper suggests that Rs 1,35,000 crore of investment was required in marketing infrastructure in the first quarter of the new century, in the form of product pipelines, tankages, retail infrastructure and LPG bottling plants. To encourage new investments infrastructure status should be granted to oil pipelines and ``independent investors'' should be allowed to construct oil pipelines.Think-tanks who presented reports on six sectors to the Group of Ministers on the vision policy, have also recommended retaining only three public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the oil industry, out of the existing 13 companies. In the first year the government should reduce its holding in at least one PSU to less than 51 per cent and should withdraw from the majority ownership of all oil and gas companies before 2005. The Union government should have a majority stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the ONGC and the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) in the first three years to be able to ensure stability of oil and gas prices.
