11 June 2009;economictimes.indiatimes.com:Piyush Pandey:MUMBAI: State-run oil marketing companies like IOC, HPCL and BPCL are looking to the government for a revision in retail fuel prices with the current rally in global crude rates making them lose Rs 120 crore every day. Crude prices are at their peak this year at $71 per barrel, and these firms now lose Rs 3 on every litre of petrol sold and Re 1 on diesel. “We have requested the government to allow us to revise the prices of petrol and diesel,” said a director of a PSU oil firm on condition of anonymity. Retail fuel prices were last revised in January when crude oil prices averaged around $42 per barrel. “We suffer losses on selling petro products if crude prices cross $65 a barrel,” said a director with another oil marketing PSU. Apart from those incurred on the two major fuels, oil firms lose Rs 12 per litre on kerosene and Rs 60 per LPG cylinder, according to these companies. During the January-March quarter, these firms had enjoyed healthy margins with prices of crude oil lower by about 55% on a year-on-year basis. From its peak of $147 a barrel in July last year, crude prices touched a low of $32.40 in December. “Crude oil firming up signals the revival of demand in emerging economies such as India and China. The sharp run-up in crude oil prices in recent weeks could prevent the government from decontrolling the prices of sensitive petroleum products such as petrol and diesel,” said an analyst with an international firm. The margins of private petro-retailers like Reliance Industries (RIL) and Essar Oil have also turned negative. Both RIL and Essar Oil earned healthy margins in selling petrol and diesel in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal. Essar Oil earned revenues of Rs 720 crore from the sale of petrol and diesel in the January-March quarter. “We are losing Rs 2.5 per litre on petrol and Rs 1.5 per litre on the sale of diesel,” said an official at a leading private company.
