With Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum projected to lose Rs 200,000 crore (Rs 2,000 billion) in revenues on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below import cost, industry sources said a hike in the range of Rs 2 to 5 per litre appears on the cards.
Reliance has shut all of its 1,432 petrol pumps in the country after sales dropped to almost nil as it could not match the subsidised price offered by public sector competition. Public sector currently sells petrol at a loss of Rs 13.97 a litre and diesel at a discount of Rs 20.97 per litre. This revenue loss is made up by the Government through issue of oil bonds. Private firms were not entitled for the subsidy and priced fuel from their pumps at Rs 8-10 a litre higher.
Public sector oil firms plan to set up over 4600 petrol stations and 907 LPG sale agencies in the current fiscal, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on Thursday.
The Congress Party on Monday strongly opposed the government's decision to divest stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation saying that hydrocarbon is part and parcel of the strategic sector.
Oman Oil Company has offered to buy a 26 per cent stake in the upcoming refinery at Bina for $250 million (Rs 1,200 crore), reversing an earlier decision not to increase its stake beyond the 2 per cent it currently owns.
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum recorded profit on the sale of petrol and diesel, the first in three years, on the back of falling international oil prices, industry sources said. The three firms are moping up a neat Rs 11.99 per litre margin on petrol and Rs 4.13 a litre on diesel sale.
The government is considering allowing private firms to sell subsidised domestic cooking gas LPG, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday.
In 12 hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 6.55 per litre and diesel by Rs 7.04 a litre.
The government will take home Rs 4,022 crore (Rs 40.22 billion) by way of interim dividend bonanza declared by the state-owned oil companies in the last one week.
The government owned oil companies have proposed to pay interim dividend for the financial year 2006-07
This is the second hike in diesel price this month.
In all, petrol price has gone up by Rs 1.74 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.78 a litre in three days.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd have restarted their Mumbai-based refineries, which were partially shut following incessant rains.
Many residents complained of suspected gas leak from Chembur, Ghatkopar, Powai and Vikhroli areas late on Saturday night, an official of the BMC's disaster management cell said.
Last month, Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum were losing Rs 390 crore (Rs 3.9 billion) per day on sale of petrol, diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG. This month, losses have come down to Rs 352 crore (Rs 3.52 billion) per day, an industry official said.
Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum have seen revenue losses on sale of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene coming down to Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.5 billion) per day from Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) per day, industry sources said. The basket of crude that India buys has averaged $114.37 a barrel this month as against the July average of $132.47 per barrel.
The India story got stronger on the global arena with the country expanding its presence on the elite list of Fortune Global 500 companies, as the PSU banking major State Bank of India has become the sixth domestic firm to feature in the league.
Bond issue oversubscribed 15 times despite gloomy sovereign rating.
IOC has asked consumers to book LPG refill through IVRS or SMSes so that refills reach genuine users.
The under-realisation on fuel sales incurred by the oil marketing companies is projected to rise by 14 per cent to around Rs 760 crore (Rs 7.6 billion) per day in the first fortnight of July from Rs 680 crore (Rs 6.8 billion) per day in the second fortnight of June.
Reliance Industries, the country's largest LPG producer, will be spared from footing the Rs 7,200 crore (Rs 72 billion) bill for the one year freeze in LPG and kerosene prices, despite rising cost.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the group's biggest cash generator, overtook Vedanta to become the highest dividend payer in India in FY23. The IT services major paid Rs 42,090 crore for FY23, up 167.4 per cent from Rs 15,738 crore for FY22. The 10 biggest payers together shelled out Rs 2.06 trillion for FY23, more than double the Rs 98,371 crore for FY22.
Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said the terms and conditions of the strategic sale of HPCL and and public offer in BPCL would be worked out by a core group of secretaries on divestment.
A decision on sale of government equity in HPCL, BPCL could be delayed beyond the Dec 7 deadline with PetroMin Naik stating he has no idea about the next CCD meet.\n\n\n\n
The Oil and Natural Gas Corp has asked the government to review the scheme of sharing of liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene subsidy with upstream firms and said the scheme should not be extended beyond March 2004.
India imports 73 per cent of its crude oil import needs and the cost of imports would spiral after crude inched closer to a record $125 per barrel, while rupee touched its 13-month low, official sources said. The basket of crude oil India imports was at $120.65 per barrel on Thursday, a 91 per cent jump over the last fiscal's lowest price of 62.91 dollars recorded on May 9, 2007, official sources said.
Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Union government and public sector oil majors Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation on a public interest litigation challenging the Centre's decision to privatise.
Concerned over growing resistance from the Opposition and some of the allies of the ruling National Democratic Alliance, the divestment ministry appears to have given up hopes of any big-ticket privatisation.
After the two hikes, the ATF prices had risen to above September levels, the official said. The three oil firms revise jet fuel prices on the first and the 16th day of every month based on the average global oil price in the previous fortnight.
Government had last week issued bonds worth Rs 11,256.92 crore (Rs 112.56 billion) to three PSU oil marketing companies to compensate them for under-recoveries on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene in April-September 2007 period.
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