Oil firms lost ₹74,781cr amid Middle East conflict: Hardeep Puri
What's the story
State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) suffered losses of almost ₹74,781 crore between April and June due to rising global crude oil prices amid the Middle East conflict. Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri disclosed this information at a press conference on Thursday. The losses were incurred on the sale of petrol, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), as OMCs continued selling these fuels below cost despite a sharp rise in input prices.
Financial impact
Total under-recovery touched ₹2.1 lakh crore
Puri further revealed that the total under-recovery, including losses from the previous quarter, had touched ₹2.1 lakh crore. Despite these huge losses, he said the government ensured consumers were insulated from global price fluctuations and uninterrupted fuel supply was maintained. "Why did we do well and come out of the crisis without any closures and dry outs? In the entire period of March, April, May and June, there were no dry-outs," Puri said.
Future plans
Government working on expanding crude storage capacity
Looking to the future, Puri said India is working on expanding its crude storage capacity and strengthening ties with oil-producing countries to avert any supply disruptions. He noted that while global crude prices have come down recently, refiners are still processing expensive crude bought earlier. "This will bring our refining capacity to 300 million metric tons per annum. This is a noteworthy and remarkable figure," he observed.
Regional impact
Petrol prices surged in neighboring countries, Europe
During the same period, petrol prices skyrocketed in several neighboring and European countries. In Pakistan, prices shot up by 39.77%, while Sri Lanka saw a hike of 36.66%. Nepal and Bangladesh also witnessed increases of 20% and 42.69%, respectively. European countries such as France, Germany, and Italy saw petrol price hikes of 17.74%, 19.05% and 18.39% respectively during this time period.