Petrol-diesel may become expensive soon: HPCL has lost 10,197 crores

Petrol and diesel prices may increase in the coming days. The reason for this is the loss to the state oil companies of the country. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has incurred a loss of 10,196.94 crores in the first quarter (April-June) of the financial year 2022-2023. This is the highest loss to the company in any quarter.
The company had made a profit of Rs 1,795 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year. At the same time, this figure had reached Rs 1,900.80 crore in the January-March quarter. Earlier, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) also reported a net loss of Rs 1,992.53 crore in April-June, as against Rs 5,941.37 crore in the same period a year ago and Rs 6,021.9 crore in the January-March quarter.
Two big government companies in the country will have to take strict steps to recover from losses of hundreds of crores. It is being speculated that in the coming days, companies may increase the prices of petrol and diesel so that this loss can be compensated.
Crude oil imports in India averaged US$ 109 per barrel in the April-June quarter, but petrol and diesel prices at retail pumps were around $85-86 per barrel. This hurt the companies. IOCL sold petrol and diesel at a loss of Rs 10 and Rs 14 per litre during the April-June quarter.
Crude oil prices remain volatile due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Crude oil has been trading near $100 per barrel for a long time. Due to this, Indian companies are also having to import expensive crude oil. However, India has also bought discounted crude oil from Russia. The information about how much was bought and at what rate has not been revealed yet.
The government has said that oil companies are free to revise retail prices. However, the three state-owned oil companies have not given details about the reasons for freezing the rates.
Till June 2010, the government used to fix the price of petrol and it was changed every 15 days. After 26 June 2010, the government left it to the oil companies to decide the price of petrol. Similarly, till October 2014, the price of diesel was also fixed by the government, but from October 19, 2014, the government handed over this work to the oil companies.
Since then, oil companies fix the price of petrol and diesel daily keeping in mind the price of crude oil in the international market, exchange rate, tax, transportation cost of petrol and diesel and many other things.
Petrol and diesel prices were last increased on 6 April. That is, the prices of petrol and diesel have not increased for 4 months. At the same time, in May, the government cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 and diesel by Rs 6 to give relief to the common people. Due to this, the price of petrol became cheaper by Rs 9.5 and diesel by Rs 7.