Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Gail and Oil India will pay Rs 3,246 crore to oil marketing firms to partly cover losses they incurred in April-June on selling petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene below cost.ONGC will pay Rs 2,876 crore, Gail Rs 150 crore and Oil India Rs 220 crore to cover one-third of about Rs 9,800 crore revenue loss Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) suffered on selling fuel in the first quarter of the current fiscal, a senior official said.Of the Rs 3,246 crore contribution by upstream firms, IOC would get around Rs 1,625 crore while BPCL and HPCL would get about Rs 810 crore each."Till last year, upstream firms shared losses only on LPG and kerosene, but this year they have been asked to foot even the under-realisation on petrol and diesel," the official said.ONGC's share in the informal subsidy sharing arrangement has risen more than 300% - from Rs 940 crore in the first quarter of 2004-05 to Rs 2,876 crore this year.ONGC had paid a subsidy of Rs 4,104 crore in FY05 - up 53% from Rs 2,690 crore paid in 2003-04. This had pulled down the net profit of the firm by Rs 2,553.20 crore to Rs 12,983 crore."ONGC has gained from the spiralling crude oil price. It got $51-52 per barrel on crude it produced in April-June this year as against $39 per barrel last year," the official said.
