Fuel retailing for pvt firms unsustainable, says Reliance-BP JV

New Delhi, March 23

RBML — the joint venture of Reliance Industries Ltd and supermajor BP — has told the government that fuel retailing for the private sector in India has become unsustainable after market-controlling public sector firms frequently froze petrol and diesel prices at rates way below the cost, sources said.

Despite a surge in oil prices, state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) first froze petrol and diesel rates for a record 137 days beginning early November 2021 when five states, including Uttar Pradesh, went to the polls, and last month again went into a hiatus that is now 47 days old.

Rs 700-cr loss/month

• Despite a surge in oil prices, state-owned firms froze petrol and diesel rates for a record 137 days in November 2021 and again last month went into a
• hiatus for 47 days
• RBML is scaling down its retail operations to cut some of the Rs 700-crore loss it is incurring every month

“Reliance BP Mobility Ltd has written to the petroleum ministry over the fuel pricing issue,” a highly placed source in the government, who didn’t want to be quoted, told reporters here.

While RBML is scaling down its retail operations to cut some of the Rs 700-crore loss it is incurring every month, Russia’s Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy has raised prices of petrol and diesel by up to Rs 3 a litre over and above the PSU rates, to cover for some losses.

The government over the weekend cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and by Rs 6 a litre on diesel. This reduction was passed on to the consumers and not adjusted against the under-recovery or losses oil firms make on selling petrol and diesel.