Although unchanged for more than seven months, retail prices of petrol and diesel in India remain sky-high. Meanwhile, PTI reports that oil marketing companies in India are selling gasoline at a profit $10 per liter. However, that does not affect the retail price of motorbike gasoline and does not reduce customers. The report claims that despite making a $Gasoline profit of 10 liters, petroleum marketing business at a loss $6.5 per liter on diesel. OMCs are trying to offset this with the profits they make from gasoline. Therefore, the possibility of a reduction in fuel prices in the coming days is unlikely.
The report claims that the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Oil Corporation (HPCL) have not adjusted petrol and diesel prices in the past 15 months. According to the report, they faced losses when the price was higher and are now making up for it.
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The report adds that in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, from October to December of last year, oil marketing companies registered profit margins of $10 per liter of gasoline. However, this happened after OMCs recorded high losses of $17.4 liters of gasoline and 27.7 liters of diesel last June.
In the international market, fuel prices have continued to fluctuate in recent years. India imports more than 80% of its crude oil needs from the international market. Therefore, the fluctuations in fuel prices in the international market also have a heavy impact on Indian OMCs. The last price adjustment from state-owned oil marketing companies took place last April.
OMCs halted daily price adjustments in early November 2021, when rates across India hit an all-time high, prompting the government to partially rollback the excise tax hike they implemented. during the pandemic to take advantage of low oil prices in the international market. This freeze continued until 2022, but the war between Russia and Ukraine has resulted in high international oil prices, leading to $Gasoline and diesel prices increased by 10 per liter in mid-March last year.
First published date: January 8, 2023, 11:57 am IST
