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Informist, Thursday, Jul. 2, 2026

 

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--Oil Minister: ONGC already acquiring land to up storage capacity 
--Oil Minister: Will try to up crude oil, LPG storage capacity 
--Oil Minister: India continued to export petroleum pdts even during crisis 
--Oil minister: Higher ethanol blended fuel only after extensive study, trial 
--Oil minister: Not worried about oil rising in future but must be prepared 
--Oil Minister: Oil cos' losses for Q1 FY27 at INR 748 bln 
--Oil Minister: Oil cos' under-rcoveries for Q1 FY27 at INR 1.88 tln 
--Oil Minister: Retail fuel prices can come dn if crude stays low sustainably 
--Oil Minister: India to be key global refinery hub by 2030 
--Oil minister: Robust capex to push India's refining capacity to 300 mtpa 
--CONTEXT: Oil Minister Puri briefing media 
--Oil minister: Have robust capex plans for next 6 mos-2 yrs

 

NEW DELHI - The retail prices of fuel in India, which have been hiked in the wake of the West Asia crisis, can only come down if global crude oil prices remain sustainably low, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said Thursday. "When will it (retail fuel prices) come down? Well, if it (global crude oil prices) remains like this," Puri said in a media briefing. 

 

"...the petrol and diesel that you buy at the dispensing station today, that crude would have been obtained two months ago...at the price available then," he said. "...then the price was not this price, it was higher price. The cost of insurance freight was also that price, So for the crude being sold today, if the price has come down to 70 or below, that crude will arrive here much later," he explained. 

 

Crude oil prices had shot up to as much as $123 a barrel after the West Asia war broke out on Feb. 28. Since then, prices have cooled off to sub-war levels of around $70 per barrel. India's state-owned oil marketing companies, after absorbing the higher crude oil prices for 75 days, hiked the retail prices of petrol and diesel on May 15. 

 

In the second half of May, oil companies hiked retail fuel prices in a staggered manner, taking the total increase to INR 7.35 per litre for petrol and INR 7.53 per litre for diesel. Their cumulative losses for absorbing the pressure of higher global crude oil prices for Apr-Jun totalled INR 748 billion, Puri said. Their underrcoveries during this period were to the tune of INR 1.88 trillion, he said. 

 

While the oil minister is not anymore worried now that crude oil prices have come down following the progress in peace talks between the US and Iran, he said that India will have to be prepared better. "I am not worried about it (higher energy prices), but I have to prepare for it," he said. 

 

In terms of preparation, one of the key learnings for India from this energy crisis, which was possibly the worst energy crisis in decades, has been to increase domestic storage capacity for crude oil, natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas. Expanding storage is an expensive exercise but we will have to do it to be better prepared, he said, adding that Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. has already bought land to expand storage. 

 

The oil minister also highlighted India's refining activities which helped cut import dependency during the energy crisis. "Our LPG consumption was something in the range of 80,000 metric tonnes per day and more. So, what did we do? We reconfigured our refineries," he said. "...having a refinery capacity is a great boon...our domestic production of LPG was raised from 35,000 metric tonnes a day to 54,000 metric tonnes a day," he said. India was also able to continue with its petroleum product exports during the crisis period because of its refining capacities. 

 

According to Puri, PSU oil companies have a robust pipeline of capital expenditure over the next six months to two years to be able to boost refining capacities under the 'Samudra Manthan' mission which will take India's total refining capacity to 300 mtpa. Mission Samudra Manthan is a national deepwater exploration drive announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2025 to boost India's energy security and reduce 85% import dependency. It focuses on exploring deep-sea oil and gas reserves, developing submersibles for seabed mining, and increasing domestic energy production through advanced, mission-mode technology. With these measures, India will emerge as a top refinery hub globally by 2030, Puri said.

 

Briefly touching upon the concerns raised on social media with regards to ethanol blended fuel, Puri said that most claims were baseless. Ever since the government launched E80 petrol last month, or petrol with 80% ethanol blended in it, these posts have increased across social media platforms with many saying most cars in India are not equipped to run on blended fuel and could suffer engine damage. The oil minister said that India will launch blended fuel with over 20% ethanol only after extensive research and trial.  End

 

US$1 = INR 95.25

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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