Oil companies to effect daily change in diesel, petrol prices from 16 June

Mumbai: State-run oil companies, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), will revise petrol and diesel prices every day in sync with international rates, beginning 16 June, the companies said on Thursday.

The companies have adopted the new pricing model after trying it out since 1 May in five cities, Udaipur, Jamshedpur, Puducherry, Chandigarh and Visakhapatnam.

“After its successful implementation, public sector companies have now decided to start daily revision in retail selling price of petrol and diesel in the entire country with effect from 16 June,” HPCL said in a press statement.

Diesel and petrol prices move in tandem with the price of crude oil in most countries.

OMCs said the decision on a nationwide roll out was taken after a review meeting by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Wednesday.

The daily price revisions , the companies say, will make the retail prices more reflective of the current market conditions.

“Further, it will lead to increased transparency in the system. This will also enable smoother flow of products from refinery/depots to retail outlets. Many developed countries are already revising the prices of petrol and diesel on daily basis,” IOC said in a statement.

On Thursday, shares of Indian Oil fell 1.72% to Rs418.90 each on BSE, Bharat Petroleum, 1.17% to Rs707.80, and Hindustan Petroleum fell 0.25% to Rs538.70 while India’s benchmark Sensex fell 0.19% to 31,213.36 points.

The oil marketing firms are also taking steps to establish an appropriate mechanism to communicate daily prices to consumers, including publishing of the prices in newspapers, prominent displays at the retail outlets, even using phone messages and apps.

“At automated outlets we find it very easy to implement daily pricing. We can ensure the price and monitor at what rate we sold and at what time of the day,” said an executive at one of the oil marketers, on the condition of anonymity.

This person added that the firms were trying to automate all outlets by March 2018, as they have been asked to by the ministry. Currently, he said, 20,000 of the 56,000 outlets in the country are automated.