State-owned oil marketing companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL have posted a second consecutive quarterly loss totalling Rs 2,748.66 crore in the July-September period as a one-time LPG payout by the government could not mask the losses from a petrol and diesel price freeze.
According to stock exchange filings by the three fuel retailers, the losses were due to an erosion in the marketing margin on petrol, diesel and domestic LPG.
The losses would have been higher but for the Rs 22,000 crore one-time government grant paid to make up for losses incurred on selling cooking gas LPG at rates below cost in the last two years.
Losses were despite robust refining margins extending into the second quarter.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), which are supposed to revise petrol and diesel prices daily in line with cost, have not changed rates for record seven months in a row.
IOC on October 29 reported a net loss of Rs 272.35 crore for the July-September quarter, which came on the back of a Rs 1,995.3 crore loss in the previous three months.
On November 3, HPCL reported a loss of Rs 2,172.14 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal, on the back of its highest-ever quarterly loss of Rs 10,196.94 crore in April-June.
BPCL on Monday posted a loss of Rs 304.17 crore in July-September. In the first quarter, it posted a loss of Rs 6,263.05 crore.
The combined loss for the first half now stands at Rs 21,201.18 crore — the highest ever for any six-month period, including the time when petrol and diesel prices were regulated and the government used to give subsidies to the three retailers.
Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri had last week indicated that his ministry will seek assistance from the finance ministry to cover the losses incurred on holding petrol and diesel prices since the Ukraine war to help the government fight inflation.
“OMCs still have under-recoveries on diesel,” he had told reporters on November 2 when asked if there is a price reduction in the offing in line with softening international oil prices.
