Mull price cut, Hardeep Singh Puri to PSU oil companies

VARANASI: Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday “requested” state-run oil companies to consider reducing fuel prices if international crude prices stabilise in the coming days and their losses were gone. “I would request the oil companies (state-run fuel retailers) that in the coming days, if international oil prices remain under control and their under-recoveries were gone they could look at some (fuel) price reduction,” Puri told reporters on Sunday.

But it may be too soon to expect a cut as trade data indicates companies are making a profit of Rs 5 on a litre of petrol but still losing about Rs 13 on diesel.

This is a marked improvement from the time when the losses had risen to Rs 17. 4 on a litre of petrol and Rs 27. 7 on diesel in June last year as oil and product prices spiked above $100 per barrel after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but pump prices remained unchanged.