This month, Indian Oil will open offices in Bangladesh and Myanmar, with a plan to closely pursue business opportunities in the two countries. "For the neighbouring countries, we are not only looking for business, we are looking for association beyond business.

OMCs want banks to cut the card transaction fees on petrol and diesel purchases by half, Livemint reported while citing four people aware of the development.

IOC and BPCL have separately indicated to the petroleum ministry their interest in taking over GAIL to help add natural gas transportation and marketing business to their kitty, official sources said. GAIL, on the other hand, feels a merger with oil and gas producer ONGC would be more appropriate.

On August 4, the government made it mandatory for retail outlets to pay Central minimum wages to retail outlet attendants.

Early this month, separate tenders were floated by two state-owned oil refiner-marketer companies, IOC and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPC). They want to hire a VLCC (very large crude oil carrier) and a Suezmax tanker, respectively, for a contract period of five years.

What is pushing the state-run refiner to new markets is the rise of renewable energy sources in the country’s energy mix, which cuts down diesel use for power generation, and a possible adoption of electric vehicles by consumers in future.

The country's top refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and other refiners have invested billions of dollars in recent years to install delayed coker units to produce high-valued added products such as gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas.

India's Ministry of Shipping asked the refiners to issue long-term crude import tenders on a pilot basis and include a right of first refusal for Indian shipping lines, a government source familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Venezuela’s economy has collapsed since crude prices plummeted in 2014, forcing it to delay payments for oil services and fuel supplies. Venezuela depends on oil for more than 90% of its export revenues.