State-run Indian Oil Corp is losing Rs 92 crore (Rs 920 million) per day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene as government has not allowed it to revise rates in line with firming international oil prices.
"International crude oil prices are on the rise again and so are our under-recoveries (or revenue loss) on fuel sales," an IOC official said.
The company is currently losing Rs 3.85 per litre on petrol, Rs 3.71 a litre on diesel, Rs 16.34 per litre on kerosene sold through PDS and Rs 201.88 per 14.2 kg domestic LPG cylinder.
"Till last week, we were losing Rs 84 crore (Rs 840 million) per day on the four products. This is now widened to Rs 92 crore a day," he said.
At current rates, IOC may end the fiscal with a revenue loss of Rs 25,440 crore (Rs 254.40 billion).
The revenue loss for the industry (IOC and Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum) is projected at Rs 45,160 crore (Rs 451.60 billion) in 2009-10. "The industry is losing about Rs 163 crore (Rs 1.63 billion) per day," he said.
The official said the government had earlier this year decided to make good all of the revenue loss on sale of domestic LPG and kerosene through issue of oil bonds, while the same on petrol and diesel would be mostly met by upstream firms like OIL and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC).
"But the government is yet to issue oil bonds for the revenue loss in first half," he said.
The non-issuance of the oil bonds led to HPCL and BPCL posting net losses in the July-September quarter, while IOC barely scrapped through.
HPCL reported a net loss of Rs 136.68 crore (Rs 1.366 billion), while BPCL posted a net loss of Rs 158.77 crore (Rs 1.587 billion). IOC was slightly better
off, registering a net profit of Rs 284.36 crore (Rs 2.843 billion).
For April-September, the retailers would have to be issued oil bonds worth Rs 11,853 crore (Rs 118.53 billion) to make up for the losses they incurred on selling domestic LPG and kerosene below cost, the official said.
IOC, BPCL and HPCL lost Rs 15,856 crore (Rs 158.56 billion) revenue on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost during the first half of the current fiscal. Of this, Rs 11,853 crore (Rs 118.53 billion) is revenue lost on LPG and kerosene, the
remaining Rs 4,003 crore (Rs 40.03 billion) was on account of petrol and diesel.
IOC is to get oil bonds worth Rs 7,136 crore (Rs 71.36 billion), HPCL Rs 2,443 crore (Rs 24.43 billion) and BPCL Rs 2,274 crore (Rs 22.74 billion), he said.
The official said for the July-September quarter, IOC, BPCL and HPCL got Rs 3,443 crore (Rs 34.43 billion) from upstream firms like ONGC, Oil India Ltd and GAIL India Ltd by way of discount on crude oil and LPG they sell to the retailers. This made good the losses on automobile fuels.
ONGC shelled out Rs 2,630 crore (Rs 26.30 billion), GAIL Rs 459 crore (Rs 4.59 billion) and OIL Rs 354 crore (Rs 3.54 billion). ONGC had in Q1 contributed Rs 429 crore (Rs 4.29 billion), while GAIL provided Rs 75 crore and OIL Rs 58 crore (Rs 580 million).
The government had last fiscal issued oil bonds worth Rs 71,292 crore (Rs 712.92 billion).
