Reliance-bp, Nayara price petrol, diesel at market rates
The move comes for the first time in over a year after a fall in global oil prices cut losses
New Delhi: India’s private fuel retailers -- Reliance-bp and Russia's Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy -- have begun pricing petrol and diesel at market rates for the first time in over a year after a fall in global oil prices cut losses, sources said. Reliance BP Mobility Ltd (RBML), a joint venture between Reliance Industries Limited and UK's bp, Nayara Energy and Shell sold petrol and diesel at huge losses as they tried to match the below-cost frozen rates of dominant public sector retailers.
The losses were despite pricing fuel at slightly higher rates than state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL). But a fall in international oil prices over the last six weeks has helped bring the PSU pump-matching retail rates at par with cost, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Nayara, the largest private fuel retailer that owns over 7 per cent of India's 86,855 petrol pumps, started pricing petrol and diesel at market rates sometime in March and RBML's 1,555 petrol pumps are selling diesel at par from this month.
