Oil Ministry has sought Rs 13,381 crore from the Finance Ministry to make up for the revenue lost by public sector retailers on selling fuel below cost for the quarter ended June 30, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) together lost Rs 20,072 crore revenues on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost in the April-June quarter, he informed the Lok Sahba here today.
Of this, one-third - Rs 6,690.68 crore - was borne by upstream firms Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India and GAIL India.
The Finance Ministry has been requested to meet the rest by way of cash dole-outs, he said.
IOC, BPCL and HPCL had reported net losses in April-June quarter, as the government support for selling fuel below cost did not come before accounts for the quarter were closed.
In Q1, ONGC paid Rs 5,515.54 crore towards fuel subsidies, Oil India Rs 729.66 crore and GAIL Rs 445.48 crore.
ONGC, state gas utility GAIL and OIL give discounts to the three retailers on the crude oil and LPG they buy to partly make up for the losses.
For the full fiscal, IOC, BPCL and HPCL are projected to lose less than Rs 57,000 crore.
The government freed petrol prices last month on June 25 and there will be no under-recovery on this motor fuel in the remaining part of the year. The three retailers currently sell diesel at a loss of Rs 2.76 a litre, kerosene at a discount of Rs 15.41 per litre and domestic LPG at a loss of Rs 170.57 per cylinder.
The Union government paid about Rs 26,000 crore in fuel subsidies in the 2009-10 fiscal, Deora said.
