

Mint Explainer: Why more fuel price hikes are likely around the corner
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Petrol and diesel prices have increased by nearly ₹4 following back-to-back price hikes over the past week. With crude oil prices still above $100 and no end in sight to the conflict in West Asia, at least two independent analysts have said retail fuel prices will have to increase by ₹13-20 per litre to curb the losses of oil companies.Mint explains why more fuel price hikes are probably on the way and what it means for consumers.The simple reason is that oil marketing companies — Indian Oil Corp.
Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp.
Ltd — are still making losses on sale of petrol and diesel as crude prices have shot up above $100 a barrel from around $70 before the conflict began in February — a 39% increase. Retail fuel prices have only increased by around 3% so far.At least two independent analysts, from Kotak Institutional Equities and Bernstein, suggested further price hikes of ₹11-14 were necessary to curb oil marketing companies’ losses.
Government estimates show these three firms have been collectively losing ₹750 crore a day due to price under-recovery. While the extent of the consumer pass-through remains unclear, fuel prices are likely to rise even further.An analysis by Venugopal Garre and Nikhil Arela of Bernstein on 19 May suggested the price hikes undertaken so far are the second-lowest compared to previous hike cycles.During the 2022 energy crisis sparked by the Russia-Ukraine war, fuel prices were hiked by 11%.
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