These fuel price hikes just keep coming. There seems to be no let off from what has become a bi-monthly affair. Oil companies are now proposing yet another petrol price hike once again sighting the reason of mounting losses. It was back in the month of September that the private oil companies hiked the price of petrol by Rs 5 per litre. Now, they are proposing to increase the cost of petrol by Rs 1.82 per litre.
Thew public sector oil retailers are have started incurring losses due to the weakening rupee and the subsequent rise in the global crude oil prices. Here is what Mr B. Mukherjee, Director of Finance, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd had to say, “We are at present losing Rs 1.50 a litre on petrol. To make up for this loss a desired increase in retail price should be at least Rs 1.82 a litre.”
The price of crude oil is around USD 108 per barrel in the international market at the moment. The recent conflict in Libya too has been partly responsible for the rise price of crude oil even though the north African country’s production amounts to just 2 percent of the global produce. The rupee has depreciated from Rs 46.50 a dollar to over Rs 49 per dollar in the last three months thus, increasing the cost of oil imports. ”We are in discussion with other oil companies on raising prices. Let’s say, we are toying with the idea,” he added.
Still, the oil companies have not decided as to when the new prices will come into force. This will be decided only after discussing the matter with the central government. However, there seems to be a new petrol price hike looming and we could get the news from the petroleum ministry soon. Stay tuned for more updates on this story.
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