<p>"The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (on fuel price hike) was to meet tomorrow evening. It has been put off," Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy told reporters here.<br /><br />EGoM was to meet tomorrow to consider raising the diesel price by Rs 3-4 a litre and domestic LPG rates by Rs 20-25 per cylinder.<br /><br />"It has been postponed to accommodate some ministers... It could be anytime on (May) 17 or 18," he said.<br /><br />State-owned oil firms, however, are likely to get the go-ahead to raise the price of petrol, which they have not revised since January on informal 'advice' from the government in view of Assembly elections in five states.<br /><br />"Petrol prices may be raised as early as Thursday-Friday night," an official said, adding a steep hike of up to Rs 3 per litre of petrol is on the cards.<br /><br />The government had freed petrol prices from its control last June, but state oil firms continue to be guided by informal advice from the government.<br /><br />The hike needed to take petrol prices to international parity is about Rs 8.50 per litre, but the entire burden will not be passed on to consumers in one go.<br />"Oil companies will be asked to stagger the hike over a couple of months," the official said.<br /><br />Reddy said the day EGoM meets on fuel prices, a separate Group of Ministers (GoM) that is vetting London-listed Vedanta Resources' USD 9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India, may also meet.<br /><br />"I think when the next date is fixed on that day itself we will deal with both questions -- the question of under-recoveries of oil companies and the question of government approval to Cairn-Vedanta deal," he said.<br /><br />State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum currently lose Rs 16.17 a litre on diesel and after adding local sales tax or VAT, the desired increase to make rates at par with international prices is Rs 18.19 a litre.<br /><br />Besides petrol and diesel, the three state oil firms lose Rs 29.69 a litre on kerosene and Rs 329.73 per 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder.<br /><br />Officially on the EGoM's agenda was ways of mitigating the over Rs 180,000 crore revenue loss state-owned oil firms have projected in 2011-12 on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at current rates.<br /><br />The three firms will "at current international crude oil prices lose Rs 180,208 crore in revenues on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below their imported cost in the 2011-12 fiscal," the official said.</p>
<p>"The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee (on fuel price hike) was to meet tomorrow evening. It has been put off," Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy told reporters here.<br /><br />EGoM was to meet tomorrow to consider raising the diesel price by Rs 3-4 a litre and domestic LPG rates by Rs 20-25 per cylinder.<br /><br />"It has been postponed to accommodate some ministers... It could be anytime on (May) 17 or 18," he said.<br /><br />State-owned oil firms, however, are likely to get the go-ahead to raise the price of petrol, which they have not revised since January on informal 'advice' from the government in view of Assembly elections in five states.<br /><br />"Petrol prices may be raised as early as Thursday-Friday night," an official said, adding a steep hike of up to Rs 3 per litre of petrol is on the cards.<br /><br />The government had freed petrol prices from its control last June, but state oil firms continue to be guided by informal advice from the government.<br /><br />The hike needed to take petrol prices to international parity is about Rs 8.50 per litre, but the entire burden will not be passed on to consumers in one go.<br />"Oil companies will be asked to stagger the hike over a couple of months," the official said.<br /><br />Reddy said the day EGoM meets on fuel prices, a separate Group of Ministers (GoM) that is vetting London-listed Vedanta Resources' USD 9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India, may also meet.<br /><br />"I think when the next date is fixed on that day itself we will deal with both questions -- the question of under-recoveries of oil companies and the question of government approval to Cairn-Vedanta deal," he said.<br /><br />State-owned Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum currently lose Rs 16.17 a litre on diesel and after adding local sales tax or VAT, the desired increase to make rates at par with international prices is Rs 18.19 a litre.<br /><br />Besides petrol and diesel, the three state oil firms lose Rs 29.69 a litre on kerosene and Rs 329.73 per 14.2-kg domestic LPG cylinder.<br /><br />Officially on the EGoM's agenda was ways of mitigating the over Rs 180,000 crore revenue loss state-owned oil firms have projected in 2011-12 on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene at current rates.<br /><br />The three firms will "at current international crude oil prices lose Rs 180,208 crore in revenues on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below their imported cost in the 2011-12 fiscal," the official said.</p>