Petroleum and oil marketing companies raised the price of commercial liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders by Rs 350.50 per unit and domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 50 per unit with immediate effect from Wednesday.
Though the government had earlier this fiscal explicitly decided to compensate Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum for the losses they incur on selling domestic LPG and kerosene through PDS by way of oil bonds, the finance ministry has not issued any bonds for the three quarters.
Three fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited -- lost about Rs 26,618 crore (Rs 266.18 billion) in revenues on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost during the first half of the current fiscal, a ministry official said.
These firms are expected to incur an under-recovery of over Rs 121,000 crore (Rs 1,210 billion) during this financial year, compared to Rs 78,000 crore (Rs 780 billion) in 2010-11.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum may post a combined loss of Rs 10,700 crore in June quarter on selling petrol and diesel at rates below cost, a report said on Monday. While the raw material (crude oil) prices soared in April-June, petrol and diesel prices were not revised, leading to marketing losses which offset strong refining margins, ICICI Securities said in the report. The three state-owned oil marketing companies -- IOC, BPCL and HPCL -- control 90 per cent of the retail petrol and diesel sales in the country.
Next phase of rise will unlikely be a combined exercise from the three oil marketing companies.
Oil marketing companies IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum together blocked nearly 2.9 million LPG connections belonging to customers having more than one connection across states.
Today, less than six weeks into the 2011-12 financial year, the government used up its entire budgetary provision of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) for petroleum subsidy.
Even as automobile manufacturers are considering increasing the prices of their products, an increase in auto fuel prices is also imminent.
RP Singh, managing director of Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd, the special purpose vehicle implementing BPCL Bina refinery, had told Business Standard in August that the company was in talks with strategic investors to sell 15 to 20 per cent stake.
To help them make up for the revenue lost on selling auto and cooking fuel below cost.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each on Saturday, the fourth increase in five days as oil firms passed on to consumers the spike in cost of raw material. Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 98.61 per litre as against Rs 97.81 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 89.07 per litre to Rs 89.87, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers. All the four increases since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22, have been of 80 paise a litre.
BPCL plans to save Rs 500-800 cr, while HPCL eyes 10% reduction in total costs.
According to data compiled by BS Research Bureau for BSE 100 companies, seven public sector companies -- Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL), Bank of India, Union Bank, Bharat Petroleum (BPCL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) and GAIL -- have reduced their employee costs ranging from one per cent to 21 per cent.
Minister of state for petroleum and natural gas Jitin Prasada in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha said the finance ministry is yet to approve the oil bonds. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum lost Rs 11,853 crore (Rs 118.53 billion) in revenues on not being allowed to raise LPG and kerosene prices in line with the cost during April- September.
With the government preparing to restrict the number of subsidised cooking cylinders, oil marketing companies have launched a 'transparency' portal that allows customers to keep an eye on the number of cylinders sold in their account by the dealer.
In a step towards dual pricing of domestic cooking gas, the government has decided to allow oil-marketing companies to sell the fuel at market prices in distinct fibreglass cylinders. IOC, BPCL and HPCL will sell these cylinders in Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune, which have been identified as test beds for the pilot project. The companies could revise fuel prices for transparent cylinders as LPG for them will not be subsidised. Feasibility of this project is yet to be adjudged.
Notwithstanding the robust turnaround in the financial performance for the June quarter (Q1FY24), stocks of state-run oil marketing companies have been in a downtrend in the last month. The fall comes on a rise in crude oil prices that have surged to a 7-month high of $88 a barrel. A busy political calendar in the months ahead that may see the government keep a lid on auto fuel prices is also a dampener, analysts said. Shares of Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Indian Oil (IOC) have shed 9-11 per cent since their respective earnings announcement between July 26 to August 4.
With general elections on the horizon, the government's privatisation bandwagon has almost but stalled as a government wary of being accused of selling family silver opts for minority stake sales on stock exchanges over outright privatisation. The result -- the divestment target for current fiscal year is again likely to be missed. Big ticket privatisation plans such as that of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and CONCOR are already on the backburner and analysts feel meaningful privatisation can happen only after April/May general elections.
Govt was vary of giving BJP-leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi any kind of advantage on the eve of elections in the state.
Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 77.28 per litre from Rs 76.73, while diesel rates were increased to Rs 75.79 a litre from Rs 75.19, according to a price notification from State oil marketing companies. Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.
The public sector oil companies -- Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum -- may suffer a Rs 25,000 crore revenue loss on fuel sales this fiscal, said S Behuria, chairman and managing director, IOC.IOC, BPCL and HPCL incurred a revenue loss of Rs 1.03 lakh crore on sale of petroleum fuel in 2008-09. The global rise in crude oil prices will increase the under-recoveries for PSUs on sale of fuel at controlled prices.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have raised their stakes in public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the three months ended September 30 - the first quarter after the government decontrolled petrol prices and announced plans to decontrol diesel rates as well.
The Government may be keen on having a greater say in affairs of Petronet LNG as it is looking at appointing a bureaucrat as director on board of the nation's biggest liquefied natural gas importer.
Three petroleum teams -- Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) -- all boasting experienced Indian stars in their ranks, start as favourites in the Development Credit Bank Aga Khan hockey tournament, which commences at the Bombay Gymkhana on Sunday, May 15. The final is on May 21.
The bonds, which will come over and above Rs 61,800 crore (Rs 618 billion) already issued to the three companies, would help them bridge the revenue loss they incurred on sale of petrol, diesel, liquid petroleum gas and kerosene in 2008-09, a petroleum ministry official said.
As much as 8 billion rubles (about Rs 1,000 crore) of dividend income belonging to Indian oil firms is stuck in Russia after the Putin administration clamped down on dollar repatriation, officials said on Friday. Indian state oil firms have invested $5.46 billion in buying stakes in four different assets in Russia. These include a 49.9 per cent stake in Vankorneft oil and gas field and another 29.9 per cent in TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha fields.
The ministry of petroleum has approached the finance ministry to seek permission to give additional bonds worth Rs 10,000 crore to the three public sector oil marketing companies --Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd--to help them close the last fiscal with a profit.
The Finance Ministry will give Rs 12,000 crore in cash to Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum to cover for less than half of the losses they incurred on selling LPG and kerosene this fiscal.
State-run oil marketing companies Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are likely to lose Rs 45,478 crore (Rs 454.78 billion) this fiscal on selling fuel below cost, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.
Full-service carrier Kingfisher Airlines has sought permission from the petroleum ministry to extend the date for paying dues to public sector oil companies for aviation turbine fuel.
IOC urged the government to cut excise duty by Rs 8 (the current revenue loss) to Rs 6.78 per litre. It also demanded a cut in state-level taxes.
The government has issued 6.35 per cent Oil Marketing Companies Government of India Special Bonds, 2024 for Rs 22,000 crore (Rs 220 billion) to three oil marketing companies.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd Employees Union on Friday extended support to the proposed indefinite strike of employees of public sector oil companies against privatisation of HPCL and BPCL.
In a marginal relief to consumers, IndianOil, the biggest oil marketing company, has cut petrol prices by Rs 0.56 per litre with effect from midnight today.
"You will have to wait for that," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told reporters. International crude oil prices are ruling at $74 per barrel on Tuesday.
The government on Thursday decided not to increase petrol and diesel prices, and issue oil bonds worth Rs 23,457 crore (Rs 234.57 billion) to partly compensate public sector oil companies for the losses incurred on fuel sales."We have kept our promise of not raising prices of sensitive petroleum products," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora told PTI after a meeting of the Cabinet.
Losses on sale of diesel at government-controlled rates have hit a record Rs 19.26 a litre, sending state-owned oil companies scrambling for ways to cover the mounting losses.
The government has directed state-run fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum to clear the wait list for domestic LPG connection within the next two months.
The average price of Indian basket of crude oil during 2007-08 (upto August) has increased to $68.34 per barrel as compared to 62.46 dollars a barrel during 2006-07.
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