IndianOil cuts oil price
Hyderabad   27-Nov-2008
<b>Branded fuel price comes down by Re 1 </b> Country's largest oil marketing company IndiaOil has cut prices of its branded petrol by Re 1 per litre and branded diesel by 25 paisa per litre. Mr G. C. Daga, IndianOil Director, Marketing, confirmed to this paper that the company has cut prices of its branded products. He said new prices are applicable from Wednesday across the country. HPCL and BPCL are also expected to cut prices of its branded products. The Federation of All India Petroleum Traders general secretary, Mr Ajay Bansal, said that when branded fuel concept was introduced in the country, the price of branded petrol used to be Re 1 more than the un-branded variety and bran-d-ed diesel used to be 25 paise more than the unbranded. "But in July this year, the difference rose to Rs 4 per litre in case of branded petrol and Rs 2.35 per litre in case of branded diesel as oil marketing companies wanted to bridge their under-recoveries made on the sale of unbranded petrol and diesel," said Mr Bansal. He said that the federation is expecting a further cut of Re 1 in branded petrol price. The petroleum secretary, Mr R.S. Pandey, said on Wednesday that the ministry will present a detailed picture of the emerging crude oil scenario to the Cabinet and seek a decision on the fuel price revision next month. Presently, OMCs are losing Rs 21.54 a litre on kerosene and Rs 330.28 per LPG cylinder. Meanwhile, the IndianOil chairman, Mr Sarthak Behuria, said all oil companies have been asked to make contingency plans in case oil PSU officers go on indefinite strike from December 2. He said that the management has appealed to the officers not to go on strike.