OMCs lose ₹20 per litre on sale of petrol and ₹100 per litre on diesel: govt

New Delhi: Amid high oil prices, state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) are losing ₹20 per litre on the sale of petrol and around ₹100 on diesel sale, said Sujata Sharma, joint secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas.

Denying reports of a likely surge in fuel prices of up to ₹28 per litre after the ongoing assembly elections, Sharma said that although global prices are volatile, steps such as excise duty cut on petrol and diesel have been taken to shield consumers from price hikes.

The statement gains significance as the state assembly elections are set to end on 29 April. While the polls in Assam and Kerala were held on 9 April, polls in Tamil Nadu and the first phase of voting in West Bengal were held on Thursday. The second phase of polls in West Bengal will take place on 29 April.

Addressing the media on the developments in West Asia and fuel stock situation in the country, the senior petroleum ministry official noted that there is a lot of volatility in the international crude oil prices, and despite that, the government has not increased prices of regular fuels.

“If you look at crude basket, the oil we were purchasing for $70 per barrel last year, it has increased to an average of more than $113 per barrel this month…in spite of that the government has not increased the price, and the effort of the government has been to keep the price stable…to absorb volatility, the government…has lowered the excise duty, so that the burden is not transferred to our consumers,” she said.

“Even now, oil marketing companies are having an under-recovery which varies on a day-to-day basis and may be around ₹20 on petrol and around ₹100 on diesel,” Sharma added.

Prices of regular petrol and diesel have largely remained unchanged since March 2024. In the national capital, petrol is priced at ₹94.77 per litre by the state-run oil marketing companies, while diesel is sold for ₹87.67 a litre.

Private refiners and oil marketing companies—Nayara and Shell, which operate a total of around 8,500 out of the above 1 lakh petrol pumps in the country, have already raised fuel prices. Other retailers, so far, have not raised prices of regular petrol and diesel.

State-run OMCs, have increased the prices of premium diesel and petrol, which account for 4% of the total fuel sales, along with the rate of industrial diesel, which is purchased in bulk by industries and the agriculture sector.

Although OMCs are currently facing losses or under-recovery, they also profited when global crude prices were largely subdued in the past couple of years, and retail fuel prices remained largely stagnant.

For most of FY26, crude prices remained subdued in the range of $60-70 per barrel, and retail fuel prices were unchanged, leading to significant profits for these OMCs. Their combined net profit in the first half of FY26 was over ₹34,000 crore in the first half of FY25.

Given that India imports 90% of its oil requirement, a surge in oil prices plays a key role in the current account deficit. An increase of $1 per barrel leads to an annual increase of around ₹16,000 crore in the country's import bill. In FY25, India's oil import bill stood at $137 billion.

The Strait is a critical energy artery for India, generally accounting for about 60% of its crude oil imports, nearly 50% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports, and 90% of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports.

The June contract of Brent on the Intercontinental Exchange was at $102.90 per barrel, 0.93% higher than its previous close, while the May contract of West Texas Intermediate on the NYMEX rose 1.31% to $94.18 a barrel.