Petrol Stop - FinMin ready to give Rs 12,000 cr to oil firms

FinMin ready to give Rs 12,000 cr to oil firms

Saturday, 16 January 2010

16 Jan 2010;business-standard.com:New Delhi: The finance ministry today agreed to give just over Rs 12,000 crore in cash to state-run fuel retailers to cover for their losses in the current year, a far cry from the Rs 29,405 crore they were seeking. The finance ministry sent a letter to the petroleum ministry saying Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp would be paid Rs 12,020 crore in cash to cover their losses on sale of domestic LPG and kerosene in 2009-10. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had on Thursday pleaded with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for keeping his July 2009 promise of making up the entire loss on cooking fuel by way of either oil bonds or cash. It was then agreed that losses on petrol and diesel would be made up by upstream firms like ONGC. Oil ministry sources said they would accept the cash offered as “part-payment” for the losses in 2009-10 and continue to press Mukherjee for more.