Mumbai, July 7 -- State?owned oil marketing companies suffered losses of Rs 747.81 bn up to 30 June after selling petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas below cost in the April-June 2026 quarter, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said at a press conference on the West Asia crisis. He put total under?recovery, including the final quarter of fiscal 2026 and the opening quarter of fiscal 2027, at Rs 2.1 tn. He attributed the losses to an earlier spike in global crude prices that raised refiners' input costs.
He said the government's fiscal framework had shielded consumers from the full impact and that fuels continued to be sold domestically below cost. He added that although international crude prices had eased recently, the effects of the earlier surge persisted because refiners were processing cargoes bought at higher levels. Despite financial strain on marketing companies, domestic fuel supply remained steady with no dry?outs, shortages or queues from March through June.
He contrasted India's stability with sharp petrol price rises elsewhere, citing increases of 39.77 per cent in Pakistan, 36.66 per cent in Sri Lanka, 20 per cent in Nepal and 42.69 per cent in Bangladesh, and noting rises of 17.74 per cent in France, 19.05 per cent in Germany and 18.39 per cent in Italy. He said such differentials underscored the importance of policy buffers in protecting consumers.
He outlined measures to prepare for future crude volatility, including expanding storage capacity, intensifying engagement with bilateral partners and stocking up while prices are low. A ministry capital expenditure review confirmed multiple advanced?stage projects to be implemented over the next six to 12 months and planned refinery expansion to 300 million metric tonnes per annum (300 mn tpa). He cited a new nine million metric tonnes per annum project (9 mn tpa) with 2.4 million metric tonnes per annum petrochemical capacity (2.4 mn tpa) as the first greenfield refinery since Paradip in 2016, and said India is emerging as a major refining hub.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.