Though ONGC and OIL are major producers of natural gas, they currently have no presence in its retailing and marketing, a field dominated by GAIL and its joint ventures.
State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Tuesday said it is losing about Rs 3 on the sale of every litre of petrol, but will decide on raising prices at an "appropriate" time.
India should learn to live with high energy prices for rapid economic growth, said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia after two of the state-owned oil companies hiked petrol rates this week.
Clearly, the extra borrowing of Rs 4.2 trillion the government has planned so far will not be enough to meet the shortfall in revenues which could be between Rs 8 trillion and Rs 10 trillion, points out A K Bhattacharya.
State-owned fuel retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL are likely to lose Rs 65,000 crore on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost during the current fiscal, Oil Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries
The company's market valuation stood at Rs 10,972 crore in morning trade.
He still owes hundreds of crores to OMCs.
Estimated to cost $44 billion, the project was expected to be commissioned by 2025.
Justice Markandey Katju recused himself from the matter saying his wife held shares of Reliance Industries.
The company, which has successfully commissioned the 'open access' fuel storage system for the first time in the country at Bangalore International Airport, has submitted its expression of interest for the projects. Currently, IOC, HPCL and BPCL are providing fuel storage services at Mumbai and Delhi airports.
Former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta give out an impeccable performance to beat compatriot and his BPCL team-mate G N Gopal and jumped to joint lead after the seventh round of the Asian continental chess championship in Subic Bay, Philippines on Wednesday.
Sentiment took a dramatic change particularly in the last one hour of trading with the lower opening of the European markets and investors booking profits in broader markets at record levels
The Union oil ministry is considering a proposal to adopt differential pricing for diesel, under which industrial users like power utilities, will be charged market prices and retail consumers continue to be subsidised.
One of the reasons is that the retail prices are not bench-marked to crude but their respective international benchmark prices.
Oil prices have declined by more than 60 per cent since January with benchmark crude falling well below $30 per barrel, driven by an acute oil demand decline caused by the coronavirus and a lack of production cuts by OPEC and other oil producing countries.
Indian Oil Corporation on Tuesday said it may lose over Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) in revenues this fiscal on selling fuel below imported cost.
The domestic deal-making activities were hit by weak corporate governance and a huge liquidity crunch in 2019, while the global deals were also hard to come by due to various factors including uncertainties caused by the US-China trade war, which left many investors in a wait-and-watch mode.
Kingfisher, Jet and state-owned Air owe Rs 4,000 crore to oil companies and airports. Dues to the Airports Authority of India, private airports and oil companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL were to have been cleared by March 31, under the government's mandate. Industry figures show that the three airlines are collectively projected to make operating losses of Rs 5,000 crore.
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.
The government's decision to raise fuel prices in June has scuttled the oil companies' plans to reduce their losses from retail fuel sales as consumers are buying less of premium fuels, which is more expensive than normal fuels.
Responding to a Call Attention Motion in Rajya Sabha on the recent price hike, Deora said the July 2 increase had helped IOC, BPCL and HPCL cut their revenue losses for July from Rs 4,870 crore (Rs 48.7 billion) to around Rs 2,880 crore (Rs 28.8 billion).
Credit card payments to buy fuel at petrol pumps will from October 1 not get a 0.75 per cent discount that State-owned oil companies had introduced more than two-and-a-half years back to promote digital payments.
The government will give state fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Rs 12,000 crore (Rs 120 billion) to partly compensate them for losses on LPG and kerosene by March 31.
Only 48.3 per cent of the rural households used LPG, while the figures were much higher in urban areas at 86.6 per cent, according to a NSO report.
'I have been advising investors since the last couple of months to at least take their capital out.' 'Most of the people have made 50-60 per cent in the market, if not more, they must at least take their capital out.'
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers your queries.
The firms were till last month selling diesel at a profit of 32 paise a litre, which helped them partly neutralise the losses on the sale of petrol, domestic LPG and kerosene. But from Monday, IOC, BPCL and HPCL are at breakeven on diesel while they lose Rs 3.68 a litre on petrol, Rs 69.49 per 14.2-kg LPG cylinder and Rs 12.65 on every litre of kerosene, industry sources said.
Nearly 55,000 officers of 14 public sector oil companies have decided to strike work indefinitely from January 7 to seek higher wages, Association of Scientific & Technical Officer's vice president P K Sharma said in New Delhi on Tuesday
Industry sources said the carrier owed over Rs 620 crore to BPCL and HPCL, besides Rs 160 crore to IOC. However, Kingfisher Airlines is not the only company with oil dues. Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways and state-owned Air India started this financial year with accumulated dues of Rs 4,000 crore to oil companies and airports, sources said. The three airlines are collectively projected to incur operating losses of Rs 5,000 crore, industry estimates suggest.
Ajit Mishra, vice president, Research, Religare Broking, answers queries on how to invest in stocks.
Oil marketing companies on Friday cut petrol price by 32 paise, and diesel by 85 paise a litre with effect from midnight tonight.
Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum to open over 3,000 outlets this year. Even losses of over Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) per day from selling automobile fuels have not stopped government-owned oil marketing companies from expanding their retail network across the country.
'At this time, staying in the game is more important.' 'If we do that, then wealth can be generated.'
The Union government will gain close to Rs 1.6 lakh crore in additional revenues this fiscal from a record hike in excise duty on petrol and diesel that has pushed the total incidence of taxation on auto fuels to 70 per cent of the price. Late on Tuesday evening, the government hiked excise duty on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 13 a litre to mop up gains arising from international oil prices falling to a two-decade low.
The public sector oil refining and marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation are back on the radar of investors as their profit levels reach record highs.
State-run retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL may lose about Rs 45,000 crore (Rs 450 billion) on selling auto and cooking fuels below cost this fiscal, two-third of which will be compensated by the government by issuing bonds.
The retail losses that the country's oil marketing companies incur on sale of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene at subsidised prices have risen by 7.3 per cent to around Rs 440 crore (Rs 4.4 billion) per day in the fortnight ended March 31.IOC lost Rs 17 for every litre of petrol it sold, up from Rs 14.65 a litre on March 15. It lost Rs 316 per 14.2-kg cylinder, compared with Rs 303.65 per cylinder in the previous fortnight.
After GAIL, Indian Oil Corp has expressed interest in buying out Asian Development Bank's 5.2 per cent stake in Petronet LNG Ltd, company chairman Sarthak Behuria said. However, if the state-run promoters of Petronet are not allowed to raise stake in the company for fear of it becoming a public sector unit, Behuria suggested selling ADB's shareholding to the public.
Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said a revision in fuel prices was under consideration and a decision will be taken in due course. "Revision does not necessarily mean a cut in prices. We will have to wait and see on which products a reduction will be effected, by how much and when. The government will have to take a comprehensive view... What government will decide we cannot anticipate today."
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