Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and IBP will turn financially sick by next year as losses arising from the freeze on fuel prices are set to erode their net worth, according to the estimates of the petroleum ministry.IBP, a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will be the first company to turn sick by September 2005 followed by BPCL, which will take 13 months from now to go to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). "HPCL would be sick in 20 months," petroleum secretary S C Tripathi wrote to the cabinet secretary B K Chaturvedi recently.IOC will be sick in 35 months from now if petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices are not changed in line with the spurt in international oil prices, which touched a record $64 per barrel today.Petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said the cabinet is to decide on raising fuel prices, but did not give any time-frame.According to Tripathi's letter, IOC, which reported its first-ever net loss of Rs 54.02 crore in the April-June quarter, suffered an estimated loss (including depreciation) of Rs 7,440 crore in July. BPCL netted a loss of Rs 400 crore in addition to Rs 4,313 crore loss in Q1. HPCL clocked a loss of Rs 475 crore in July on top of the Rs 507 crore net loss in Q1. IBP, the letter said, had a networth of Rs 324 crore as on June 30, 2005, and reported a loss of Rs 189 crore in July. The standalone fuel retailer, which reported a net loss of Rs 234 crore in April-June, is set to erode its net worth in the next two months, which will take it to BIFR.
