BL 4/12/08

New Delhi, Dec. 3 The Indian crude basket has hit a fresh low for the current fiscal on Tuesday at $43.17 a barrel. The crude basket, which has fallen 70 per cent since it hit a high of $142.04 a barrel in July, has averaged $102.09 a barrel so far in the fiscal. The last time the basket had been below $50 a barrel was in the financial year 2005.

The public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), which have been incurring revenue loss on sale of petrol and diesel, are making a profit as a result. They, however, continue to incur revenue loss on cooking fuels.

The OMCs – Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation – are now making a profit of Rs 14.89 a litre on petrol and Rs 3.03 a litre on diesel. They, however, continue to incur revenue loss on sale of cooking gas and kerosene. The under-recovery on kerosene sold under the public distribution system stood at Rs 17.26 a litre, while that on domestic LPG was Rs 148.38 a cylinder.