A day after Petroleum Minister Murli Deora hinted that issuance of more oil bonds may be in the offing, Oil Secretary R S Pandey today said the remaining bonds will be issued in the first quarter of next fiscal.
"Oil bonds will have to be given for the whole year. Once the total under-recoveries of oil PSUs are calculated, the remaining part of the oil bonds will be given in the first quarter of next fiscal," Pandey told reporters here.
The government compensates downstream oil companies like Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum for losses they incur on sale of subsidised fuel.
A part of the subsidy comes from oil bonds issued by the Finance Ministry, while upstream firms like ONGC, OIL and GAIL contribute to the rest.
The government has already approved issue of oil bonds worth Rs 60,967 crore. "The upstream oil companies will be contributing Rs 32,000 crore," Pandey said, adding that they may not have to shell out anymore in subsidy this year.
"Under recoveries for the current year are expected to be over 1,00,000-crore," he said.
Oil Minister Murli Deora said there are a few issues regarding further issuance of oil bonds. "We are working on it with the Finance Ministry," he said.
In spite of crude prices softening, oil marketing companies (OMCs) incurred under-recoveries of more than Rs 1,06,000 crore during April-December 2008 on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene.
