Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said state-run fuel retailers lost ₹74,781 crore in the April-June quarter, as they sold petrol and diesel below market rates, according to reports from a press conference.
Global crude prices have fallen sharply in recent weeks, with Brent crude trading near $70 a barrel on Thursday, down 26% in a month and nearly 40% below its April high. Despite this, Puri gave no clear signal on cutting retail fuel prices. His reasoning was that refiners are still working through costlier crude stocked up earlier, since companies typically place orders one to two months ahead and hold roughly two weeks of inventory at their facilities, the reports added. Puri did not clarify whether the companies remain in losses at the current juncture.
The losses trace back to an earlier period, when state refiners raised petrol and diesel prices by only about ₹8 a litre despite a much sharper rise in global crude costs. Having absorbed that gap, the companies may now want to recoup some losses before passing on the benefit of cheaper crude to consumers, Puri suggested. He reportedly added that a price cut is possible if crude rates hold steady for a while.
1 June 2026
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Asked about Nayara Energy's recent cut in pump prices, Puri reportedly said it only reversed an earlier hike the private refiner had made, bringing its rates in line with state-run competitors. Separately, he noted that bulk diesel prices in India have eased along with global rates, shrinking the retail-to-bulk price gap to just ₹3 a litre.
On ethanol blending, Puri ruled out rushing past the current 20% target. "If we move to 25% from 20%, it will be after tests are done," he said.
Conflicting Reports on Russia Exports
A Reuters report on Wednesday said Indian petrol cargoes had reached Russia, helping ease shortages caused by Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries. Responding to this, Puri said no Indian refiner had directly exported petrol to Russia, though traders may have shipped Indian-made fuel there independently.
That clarification sits uneasily with a follow-up Reuters report on Friday, which said traders had sold petrol made by Indian refiner Nayara Energy to Russia, which is dealing with fuel shortages caused by the Ukrainian strikes. The report directly names an Indian refiner as the fuel's source, even if the sale itself was routed through traders rather than the company, raising questions about how the two accounts square with each other.
