December:
8 December: Delhi state elections declared. The Aam Aadmi Party wins 28 seats in the 70 seat assembly and go on to form a 39-day government.
10 December: Report titled ‘Allocation and Pricing of Natural Gas’ of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas presented in Parliament. The report had been finalised in October.
19 December: Union Cabinet approves of higher gas prices to kick-in 1 April 2014 onwards.
21 December: Veerappa Moily to take additional charge of the ministry of environment and forests after Jayanthi Natarajan is removed.
2014:
January:
1 January: Newspapers report that a new ‘non-controversial’ model for the auction of gas blocks, the tenth, has been circulated through a cabinet note to replace the New Exploration Licensing Policy under which the earlier nine auction rounds have taken place.
7 January: The Vijay Kelkar committee appointed by Veerappa Moily in March 2013 submits the first part of its report to the minister.
11 January: The petroleum ministry notifies the ‘Domestic Natural Gas Pricing Guidelines, 2014’ which will be valid for all natural gas produced domestically, conventional, shale and coal-bed methane.
13 January: Prasad, speaking at the petroleum ministry’s annual Petrotech conference, says that RIL cannot drill any more wells in D1 and D3 wells and that workovers were being done in three shut wells.
13 January: At the Petrotech conference, petroleum minister Veerappa Moily profiles 46 blocks of 65 offered for auction under a new policy.
February:
6 February: B.N. Talukdar takes over as DGH.
11 February: Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi orders the lodging of a first information report through the state’s Anti-Corruption Branch against Veerappa Moily, Murli Deora, Mukesh Ambani, RIL, former DGH V.K. Sibal on irregularities in pricing of natural gas on the basis of a complaint filed by former Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian, Admiral Tahiliani, former Navy Chief and eminent lawyer Kamini Jaiswal.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Aiyar, Swaminathan Anklesaria: Eminent journalist Akbar, M.J.: Senior journalist and author
Ambani, Anil: Younger Ambani brother; heads, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
Ambani, Dhirubhai: Founder of the Reliance group; died in July 2002 Ambani, Kokilaben: Widow of Dhirubhai Ambani
Ambani, Mukesh: Head of Reliance Industries Limited and India’s richest man
Ambani, Nita: Wife of Mukesh Ambani
Ames, Mark: Moscow-based expatriate American journalist
Antony, A.K.: Union minister for defence; Indian National Congress
Aramane, Giridhar: Joint secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Auty, Richard M.: Coined the phrase ‘resource curse’
Baalu, T.R.: Former Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Bachchan, Jaya: Member of Parliament, Samajwadi Party; wife of Amitabh Bachchan
Baijal, Pradip: Former chairman of an advisory committee to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, former secretary, disinvestment
Balakrishnan, K.G.: Former chief justice of India
Ballmer, Steve: Former chief executive officer, Microsoft; batchmate of Mukesh Ambani at Stanford
Banerjee, Soma: National economics editor, Economic Times
Bhattacharyya, Anirudh: Indian journalist based in Toronto
Bhattacharya, Ranjan: Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s foster son-in-law
Bhushan, Prashant: Lawyer and founding member, Aam Aadmi Party
Chalasani, J.P.: Former director, Reliance Natural Resources Limited
Chandra, Atul: President (operations), Reliance Industries Limited
Chandrasekhar, K.M.: Former cabinet secretary
Chatterjee, Vinayak: Head, Feedback group
Chaturvedi, Atul: Former secretary, ministry of fertilisers
hidambaram, Palaniappan: Union minister of finance; Indian National Congress
Choubey, R.N.: Former director general, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons
Crook, Clive: Senior journalist, formerly with the Economist, UK
Dalal, Sucheta: Senior journalist, managing editor, MoneyLife
Daly, Mike: Executive vice-president, exploration, British Petroleum
Damodaran, M.: Former chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India
Dasgupta, Gurudas: Member of Parliament, Communist Party of India
Dayal, Atul: Legal adviser, Reliance Industries Limited
Deora, Ashish: Director, IOL Broadband and associate of relatives of the Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union minister, the late Pramod Mahajan
Deora, Murli: Former Union minister for petroleum and natural gas; Indian National Congress
Ganguly, Bibhas Kumar: President and chief operating officer (business operations), Reliance Industries Limited
Garg, Salil: Director, India Ratings and Research of the Fitch group
Goenka, Bharat: Promoter, Tally Solutions; loyalist of Mukesh Ambani
Goenka, Ramnath: Head of the Indian Express chain of newspapers; died in October 1991
Gonsalves, Colin: Senior advocate, Supreme Court of India
Gopalakrishnan, P.: Independent gas reservoir expert
Gurumurthy, Swaminathan.: Chartered accountant, journalist and co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Guruswamy, Mohan: Chairman and founder, Centre for Policy Alternatives and visiting fellow, Observer Research Foundation
Hazare, Anna: Social activist and leader of the ‘India Against Corruption’ agitation
Hesje, Murray: Former chief financial officer and vice president, Niko group of Canada
Iyer, Ramaswamy R.: Former secretary, ministry of water resources
Jagannathan, R.: Senior journalist and editor, firstpost.com
Jain, Anand: Schoolmate and close associate of Mukesh Ambani
Jain, C.P.: Former chairman and managing director, National Thermal Power Corporation
Jaitley, Arun: Member of Parliament, Bharatiya Janata Party; leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha
Jayaprada: former actress; Former Member of Parliament, Samajwadi Party
Jesudasan, Antony (Tony): Senior executive with the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
Jethmalani, Ram: Senior advocate, Supreme Court of India and former Union minister; Bharatiya Janata Party
Jha, Prem Shankar: Senior journalist and author
Jhunjhunwala, Amitabh: Vice-chairman and director, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
Joshi, Murli Manohar: Former Union minister for human resources development; Bharatiya Janata Party
Joshi, Sunjoy: Director, Observer Research Foundation and former joint secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Kamal Nath: Union minister for parliamentary affairs; Indian National Congress
Kamath, K.V.: Former head, ICICI Bank
Katju, Markandey: Former judge, Supreme Court of India; chairman, Press Council of India
Kejriwal, Arvind: former chief minister, Delhi and convenor, Aam Aadmi Party
Kelkar, Vijay: Former secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Khurshid, Salman: Union minister for external affairs; Indian National Congress
Mahajan, Pramod: Former Union minister, Bharatiya Janata Party leader; died in May 2006
Mehra, Kapal: Head, Orkay group
Merchant, L.V.: Former chief financial controller, Reliance Industries Limited
Mishra, Sanjeev: Former joint secretary, exploration, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Mittal, Sudhanshu: Businessman and politician with the Bharatiya Janata Party; close associate of former Union minister, the late Pramod Mahajan
Modi, Manoj: College friend and close associate of of Mukesh Ambani
Modi, Narendra: Chief minister of Gujarat and prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Par
ty
Moily, Harsha: Son of Union minister for petroleum and natural gas M. Veerappa Moily
Moily, M. Veerappa: Union minister of petroleum and natural gas; Indian National Congress
Monga, Neeraj: Executive vice president, Veritas Investment Research, Canada
Mukherjee, Pranab: President of India; former Union minister, Indian National Congress
Mukundan, Sashi: Head, India operations, British Petroleum
Mulford, David C.: Former US ambassador to India
Munim, Tina: Wife of Anil Ambani; former actress
Naidu, M. Venkaiah: Member of Parliament , Bharatiya Janata Party
Nariman, Rohinton F.: Former solicitor general of India
Nayar, Lola: Journalist; assistant editor, Outlook
Pandey, R.S.: Former secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Parasaran, Mohan: Solicitor general of India
Patel, Ahmed: Political secretary to Sonia Gandhi; member of Parliament, Indian National Congress
Patel, Praful: Union minister for heavy industries, Nationalist Congress Party
Prasad, P.M.S.: Head of the oil and gas division of Reliance Industries Limited
Purkayastha, Prabir: Founding member, Delhi Science Forum
Rao, Gangula Krishna: Geologist and professor
Radia, Nira: Former lobbyist for Mukesh Ambani and head of public relations firm, Vaishnavi Communications
Rae, Vivek: Former secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Rai, Vinod: Former Comptroller and Auditor General of India
Raja, A.: Former Union minister for communications and information technology; Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam
Ramakrishna, G.V.: Former petroleum secretary; former chairman, Disinvestment Commission
Ramesh, Jairam: Union minister for rural development, Indian National Congress
Ramdas, L. (Admiral [retired]): Former chief of Naval staff
Rangarajan, Chakravarthy: Chairman, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council
Rao, T.N.R.: Former secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Rao, V. Ramanand: Director, IOL Broadband; the late Pramod Mahajan’s son-in-law
Razdan, Anil: Former secretary, ministry of power
Reddy, B. Sudhershan: Former judge of the Supreme Court of India
Reddy,Sudini Jaipal: Union minister for science and technology; former minister of petroleum and natural gas, Indian National Congress
Reddy, Y.S. Rajasekhara: Former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Indian National Congress; died in September 2009
Rohatgi, Mukul: Senior advocate and counsel to Reliance Natural Resources Limited
Roy, Arundhati: Author and activist
Salve, Harish: Senior advocate, former solicitor general of India; counsel to Reliance Industries Limited
Sarma, E.A.S.: Former secretary, economic affairs in the ministry of finance and secretary, ministry of power
Sastri, T. Patanjali: Head of Environment Centre, Rajahmundhry, Andhra Pradesh
Sen, Tapan: Member of Parliament, Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Sethi, Surya P.: Former principal adviser, energy, Planning Commission
Sharma, Mihir S.: Editor, opinion pages, Business Standard
Sharma, R.S.: Former chairman, National Thermal Power Corporation
Shinde, Sushilkumar: Union minister of home affairs and former minister, power; Indian National Congress
Shourie, Arun: Journalist and former Union minister for disinvestment; Bharatiya Janata Party
Sibal, V.K.: Former director general, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons
Amar Singh: Former general secretary, Samajwadi Party
Singh, P.K.: Joint secretary, international cooperation and gas pricing, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Singh, R.P.N.: Former minister of state for petroleum and natural gas; Indian National Congress
Singhvi, Abhishek Manu: Spokesperson of the Indian National Congress, member of Parliament; counsel for Reliance Industries Limited
Sinha, U.K.: Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India
Sridhar, Madabhushi: Professor of law; Central Information Commissioner
Srinivasan, M.S.: Former secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Srivastava, S.K.: Chairman, Oil India Limited; former director general, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons
Subramaniam, Gopal: Former solicitor general of India
Subramanian, T.S.R.: Former cabinet secretary
Sundareshan, S.: Former secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Talukdar, B.N.: Director general, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons
Tandon, Sandeep: Former officer of the Enforcement Directorate who later became an employee of Reliance Industries Limited; died in March 2010
Tandon, Annu: Widow of Sandeep Tandon; Member of Parliament, Indian National Congress
Tripathi, S.C.: Former secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas
Vahanvati, Goolam E.: Attorney general of India
Vasudeva, Sudhir: Former chairman and managing director, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
Verma, N.K.: Director, exploration, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
Wadia, Nusli: Industrialist; head of the Bombay Dyeing group
Wahi, S.P. (Colonel): Former chairman, Oil and Natural Gas Commission (as ONGC was called)
Yadav, Mulayam Singh: Head, Samajwadi Party
Yadav, Shivpal: Politician of the Samajwadi Party; brother of Mulayam Singh Yadav
Yechury, Sitaram: Member of Parliament, Communist Party of India (Marxist)
ABBREVIATIONS & GLOSSARY
3D Seismic:
A petroleum exploration method that shows the seismic reflectors in three dimensions usually displayed on a computer monitor. The record can be rotated and slices (time or horizontal slices) taken out at various levels.
ADAG:
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
AFP:
Aker Floating Production
AGM:
annual general meeting
AIDP:
Addendum to Initial Development Plan
AJ:
Anand Jain
BALCO:
Bharat Aluminium Company Limited
BEC:
Bid Evaluation Criteria
BJP:
Bharatiya Janata Party
BP:
British Petroleum
BPCL:
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
BSNL:
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
BSP:
Bahujan Samaj Party
CAG:
Comptroller and Auditor General
CapEx:
capital expenditure
Carried Interest:
An agreement where one party (usually the private partner) pays for a portion of the pre-production costs of the other party (usually the National Oil Company).
CBI:
Central Bureau of Investigation
CCD:
Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment
CCEA:
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
CEO:
Chief Executive Officer
CII:
Confederation of Indian Industry
CM:
chief minister
CMD:
Chairman and Managing Director
CMRI:
Central Mining Research Institute
CNG:
compressed natural gas
Condensate:
A hydrocarbon mixture composed primarily of molecules with 5, 6 and 7 carbon atoms. It is liquid under surface conditions but is a gas mixed with natural gas under subsurface reservoir conditions. Condensate is very light in density and is transparent to yellowish in colour. It is almost pure gasoline in composition.
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