With the price of Indian basket of crude oil nearing a record $102 a barrel, the government said on Thursday it is closely watching the international oil prices and would continue to protect consumer interests.
The price of Indian basket of crude oil touched a record $101.97 per barrel on Wednesday, official sources said.
In Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said: "The government is closely monitoring the international oil prices and will continue to protect the interests of the consumers, particularly the vulnerable sections of society."
Fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum together are losing Rs 360 crore (Rs 3.6 billion) per day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene.
They lose Rs 9.68 on sale of every litre of petrol, Rs 12.21 per litre on diesel, Rs 20.95 per litre on kerosene and Rs 303.66 per 14.5-kg domestic LPG cylinder.
The surge in international oil prices has negated the gains oil companies made from the last month's hike of Rs 2 a litre in petrol price and Re one a litre in diesel price.
Patel said the international prices of crude oil and petroleum products have remained high and volatile since 2004.
"As passing on the entire impact of the increase in the oil prices to the consumers would have resulted in acute hardship to the common man, the retail selling prices of sensitive petroleum products have not been increased in tandem with the international oil prices," he said.
Due to this, the public sector oil marketing companies are incurring under-recoveries, which are estimated at Rs 71,808 crore (Rs 718.08 billion) during the current fiscal.
