The government might not allow petrol and diesel imports by companies, which had recently been given licences to market these auto fuels through retail outlets, but are selling these to bulk consumers.
It is learnt that the petroleum ministry has decided to probe some such imports, especially by Essar Oil, in the recent past.
"We had allowed them to import these fuels for marketing through retail outlets, but if they are selling to bulk consumers, the matter needs to be examined," sources in the petroleum ministry said.
The matter came to the petroleum ministry's notice when Essar Oil, which had been allowed to import petrol and diesel for the 1,700 petrol stations it planned to set up all over the country, imported 23,000 tonnes of diesel.
It is planning to import another 21,000 tonnes in October for sale to bulk industrial consumers.
Petroleum ministry sources said the "imports are allowed for those who have secured a transport fuel retailing licence. We allowed import as we wanted competition in retailing and so the imported fuel was meant only for marketing through retail outlets".
Essar Oil officials were not available for comment.
Essar Oil has been selling diesel at a discount at coastal locations. This is hurting public sector oil firms which are still following the administered pricing norm of averaging out the freight cost to equalize the selling prices at different locations.
PTI adds: Petrol and diesel will cost less in coastal areas than inland locations if Petroleum Minister Ram Naik approves a differential pricing policy based on the cost of transportation of the fuel from the nearest port to the sale point.
"Competition from private firms on the sale of diesel and petrol to bulk customers at cheaper rates is forcing the government to change the pricing policy," official sources said.
Currently, freight costs are averaged out to equalise the selling prices at different locations.
However, this has made imported fuel cheaper than domestic petrol and diesel in coastal regions, resulting in public sector oil firms losing market to companies like Essar Oil.
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have been demanding implementation of the import parity pricing policy, whereby inland prices are arrived at by including the transport cost to the ex-storage prices at the nearest port refinery.
"The policy has been put up to the petroleum minister for approval," they said.
If cleared, petrol and diesel in coastal cities like Mumbai, Vizag, Chennai and Kochi will be cheaper than Delhi, Lucknow, Bhopal and Nagpur.
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