Petro Min seeks Rs 20,871 cr oil bonds for fuel retailers

Petroleum Ministry has sought oil bonds worth Rs 20,871 crore for state-run fuel retailers to make up for the losses incurred on selling domestic LPG and kerosene below cost during the first three quarters of this fiscal. Three fuel retailers Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) lost about Rs 26,618 crore in revenues on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost during the first half of the current fiscal, a ministry official said. Of this, Rs 20,000 crore is revenue lost on LPG and kerosene, the remaining was on account of petrol and diesel. "We have sought Rs 20,000 crore of oil bonds to cover for under recoveries on LPG and kerosene in the first three quarters," Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Additional Secretary S Sundareshan said. While the Government had committed to meeting the revenue loss arising from its dictate of not increasing prices for domestic LPG and kerosene in step with the cost, non-issuance of oil bonds till now has led HPCL and BPCL report net losses in the July-September quarter. "We are confident of getting the oil bonds (this time)," he said, adding Finance Ministry may seek approval for the oil bonds in the supplementary demands for grants to be presented to Parliament during the current session.