labels: Economy - general, Oil & gas
ONGC's subsidy bill to top Rs22,000 crore in 2007-08 news
21 May 2008

Mumbai: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation will pay subsidies totalling Rs22,001 crore ($5.16 billion) to state-run fuel retailers for the financial year ended 31 March 2008, petroleum ministry sources said.

The subsidy bill for ONGC, Oil India Ltd, and GAIL together has risen to Rs25708 crore, nearly 25.4 per cent higher than in the previous year.

For the January-March quarter, ONGC's subsidy bill has risen nearly 81.5 per cent year-on-year to Rs8472 crore, while GAIL (India) Ltd will pay Rs474 crore to retailers for the quarter and Oil India over Rs888 crore.

State-run oil explorers provide the subsidy to PSU oil marketing companies like Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation by selling crude to them at a heavy discount.

Oil India will pay 15.64 per cent more subsidy for the last fiscal at Rs2,306 crore, while GAIL's subsidy share has declined 5.85 per cent to Rs1,401 crore, the official said.

Exploration firms such as ONGC subsidise a third of the retail losses on subsidised sale of fuels like petrol and diesel while government partly compensates oil marketing companies through issue of oil bonds.

Crude prices, which have been ruling above $125 a barrel, hit a record $130.47 a barrel in the US on Wednesday.


 search domain-b
  go
 
ONGC's subsidy bill to top Rs22,000 crore in 2007-08