Petrol rates may hike
NEW DELHI: At least Rs 3 per litre hike in petrol price from April 1 will be expected due to pressure of state-owned oil firms. The firms want to cover part of the spike in cost of raw material. A senior official said, “We are losing Rs 6.43 per litre on petrol and after adding 20% sales tax, the desired increase in rates in Delhi is Rs 7.72 per litre”. “We understand that it will be difficult to raise rates by Rs 7.72 per litre in one go but a Rs 3 or even Rs 4 a litre increase is feasible,” he said.
The fuel prices will be reviewed by fuel companies tomorrow as per their normal practice, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) use 2 weeks average of benchmark oil price and exchange rate to fix the price to be paid to refineries on 1st and 16th of every month. If the changes do not reflect in retail selling price, they become losses in the books of oil firms.
The international price of gasoline increases from $109 a barrel at the time of last revision in December 2011 to $133-134 per barrel. The last revision was done on December 1 when rates were cut by Rs 0.78 per litre. Petrol at IOC pumps in Delhi is currently priced at Rs 65.64 per litre with a slight variation at the pumps of BPCL and HPCL. Though petrol price was freed from government control in June 2010 but even then public sector companies informally consult their parent Oil Ministry before taking any decision. The officials said, “We are holding consultations”. About Rs 4,500 crore were lost by oil firms this year on selling petrol below cost.
