(M.C)
India’s top fuel retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL have together lost around $2.25 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) in revenue in March by keeping petrol and diesel prices unchanged despite a sharp rise in crude oil prices, Moody’s Investors Service said on Thursday. “Based on current market prices, the oil marketing companies are currently incurring a revenue loss of around $25 (over Rs 1,900) per barrel and $24 per barrel on sale of petrol and diesel, respectively,” Moody’s said in a report.
If crude oil prices continue to average around $111 a barrel, the three rated entities – IOC, BPCL and HPCL – will incur a combined daily loss of around $65-70 million on the sale of petrol and diesel unless fuel prices are increased to cover the rising crude oil prices, it said. While most state-owned oil and gas companies in India are currently devising strategies to manage carbon transition risks, these are still quite nascent. “Most companies do not have any firm capital allocations to transition to cleaner energy sources and diversify away from traditional fossil fuels,” Moody’s said. “Companies such as ONGC, OIL and IOC have not even announced any tentative time frames to achieve carbon neutrality.”
