Commodity Online
MUMBAI: The recent price hike in petrol and diesel seems to have fueled the oil marketing public sector undertakings as the stocks of these companies turned positive on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today.

Considering the sustained increase in the international crude prices the central government had raised the retail fuel prices effective from Wednesday mid-night. The petrol prices were hiked by Rs.4 per litre and diesel prices were hiked by Rs.2 per litre.



Three major public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) including Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) have recorded a rise in the stock prices today. IOC rose by 3.29% at Rs.559, BPCL was up by over 1% at Rs.458.3 and HPCL traded at Rs.317.50 gaining over 2% in the initial trading hour on the BSE today.

The price hike, which is the first in 2009, is expected to reduce the under-recoveries of the state-run OMCs on domestic sale of petrol and diesel at a controlled price. However, oil firms will continue to suffer under-recoveries on sale of kerosene and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) with no change in the prices of these two fuels.

The hike comes on the eve of the budget session of Parliament. However, domestic LPG and kerosene were spared, keeping in mind the interests of the common man.

The decision to hike the prices was taken at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It was attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora.

Before the price hike, oil companies were losing Rs.5.82 per litre on petrol and Rs.3.62 per litre on diesel in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the international crude prices remained low at USD 69.03 per barrel.

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