Fuel Price Hike: Are the prices of petrol and diesel going to increase again? BPCL indicated

BPCL Fuel Price Hike: Raj Kumar Dubey, HR Director, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, said that if the current global energy crisis continues, it may be difficult to avoid further increase in retail fuel prices. In view of the continuous fluctuations in the crude oil market, he presented three options to the policy makers. Dubey said that now he has two or three options. The first is to increase prices, either by increasing prices at the petrol pump or by asking the petroleum companies themselves to bear the losses, which will increase their losses. He further said that the third option is that the government should provide funds to compensate for the loss.

He said that the 20% to 50% increase in global prices was initially considered temporary, but considering the changing circumstances, he believes this trend will continue. Pointing to the damage caused to the energy infrastructure, he said that it will take a lot of time to repair it. Therefore, looking at the current situation, if this situation continues, he believes that another increase in prices will be necessary. Although he did not specify the limit of price increase, he said that if this situation continues for a long time, then it is certain that the prices will increase. Regarding supply security, Dubey said that despite geopolitical tension, diplomatic efforts and various changes in supply sources have played an important role in protecting India from shocks.

There should be different types of changes in supply

With more than 2 million barrels of oil supply blocked from the Strait of Hormuz, he said the shortfall could only be met by a variety of changes in supply sources. BPCL and other Indian energy companies have significantly increased their supply sources. Dubey said that earlier he had only 20 supply centres. Now, they have increased their number to 40 by including Russia. He further said that in this case, these different types of supply sources provide a lot of security. He also said that fuel consumption in India has actually increased since the war started, and despite this, we have managed to maintain the supply without any shortage.

He said that this crisis is also expected to accelerate India’s move towards green energy. With more than 200 GW of solar energy capacity being installed, he said this process will only get faster, adding that given the economic constraints created by huge foreign currency expenditure on oil imports, he is confident that we will move towards green energy options even faster. Rajkumar Dubey stressed on the Prime Minister’s target of increasing the share of natural gas in the total energy mix from the current 7-8% to 15%, and also gave a big boost to CBD. He described the 20% ethanol blending initiative as “a very proactive step”, and said that without it, petrol prices could have gone down by 20%, impacting foreign exchange reserves.

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