Private oilcos may have to shell out windfall tax : ET

Private oilcos may have to shell out windfall tax

Private oilcos like Reliance Industries (RIL), Essar and Cairn may have to forgo some of their profits to share the huge subsidy burden in the oil sector. A proposal on these lines, which was first mooted by the Left parties, is now being considered “seriously” by the ruling party leadership, following a similar demand by the Congress’ latest political ally, the Samajwadi Party.

A windfall tax is normally levied on oil exploration and production companies who reap huge profits when global crude prices increase. Refinery companies, on the other hand, face pressure on their margins as costs go up. Sources in the know confirmed that the SP leadership, which has openly criticised the petroleum ministry’s stand on fuel prices, has demanded that private oil companies whose profits have surged thanks to high oil prices, need to share the subsidy burden.

A decision to this effect is expected towards the end of this month. The changing political landscape may revive the government’s proposal to widen the oil subsidy sharing mechanism, currently confined to PSU oil companies and the exchequer. It is understood from official sources that the proposal, mooted earlier from within the government, was summarily turned down by petroleum minister Murli Deora before.

According to official sources, it was proposed that the Reliance refinery should be asked to offer discount for at least two products, cooking gas (LPG) and kerosene, meant for the public distribution. While announcing the marginal fuel price hike on June 4, Mr Deora, however, said that he was against any such move to involve private companies, including Reliance, in sharing the oil price burden.

On June 4, at the prevailing crude prices ($129/barrel), the under-recoveries of oil marketing companies (OMCs) on the sale of petrol, diesel, PDS kerosene and domestic LPG was estimated at around Rs 2,45,305 crore for 2008-09.

Sources close to the current political developments said that SP has demanded that private companies like RIL are minting money due to rising global oil prices and they can’t be protected at the cost of common man and public sector companies. “The demand is in the public interest,” a source close to the SP leadership said. Many members of the Parliament (MPs) have been demanding that private refiners as well as exploration & production (E&P) companies like Cairn, Niko and GSPC should also contribute towards sharing of OMCs’ under-recoveries.

While E&P companies could offer discounted crude like ONGC (which would reduce costs for refineries and thus the loss on the selling price), refineries could sell the products at subsidised prices to public sector oilcos. As of now, public sector oil companies buy a marginal quantity of subsidised fuels like cooking gas and kerosene from the private refineries at import parity prices.

Currently, the under-recoveries are split by public sector E&P companies like ONGC, OIL and Gail through discounts, public sector OMCs like IOC, BPCL and HPCL through direct subsidised retail, and the government through oil bonds. On June 4, the government increased prices of three sensitive fuel products marginally — petrol by Rs 5/litre, diesel by Rs 3/litre and cooking gas by Rs 50 per cylinder.

The government didn’t increase the price of kerosene, a politically sensitive product considered to be used by the poor. Even as there has been a marginal price increase, public sector OMCs are losing Rs 14.92/litre on petrol, Rs 24.90/ litre on diesel, Rs 38/litre on kerosene and Rs 338.53 on every LPG cylinder.

IOC, which has over 50% market share in fuel retailers among PSUs, is losing Rs 383 crore per day on fuel sales. The losses are expected to go up significantly as the crude oil prices, currently hovering at around $145/barrel, are likely to touch $150/barrel mark soon.

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Source: ET