Petrol prices may rise by Rs 3 next week

New Delhi, Aug 11: State-run oil companies have warned that they would need to hike petrol prices by Rs 3 a litre next week if they were not allowed to raise the prices immediately by Rs 1.37 per litre. They said the rise in global crude oil prices has made it necessary to hike petrol prices.

Companies like Indian Oil, HPL and BPL projected Rs 1,80,000-crore combined loss for the current fiscal if prices of diesel, LPG and kerosene were not hiked with immediate effect. The government informally controls prices of fuel products even though petrol prices have been officially deregulated and are supposed to abide by global price trends.

Top sources in the IOC said the company was witnessing a daily loss of Rs 20 crore on petrol sales, adding that they have requested the government to bring petrol back under regulation if increasing the petrol prices were not possible.

Petrol prices have been increased a number of times in the last one year and the UPA government is set to draw more flaks from its allies if there is yet another round of hike.

OneIndia News