New Delhi, May 21 (IANS) There is no shortage of petrol, diesel or LPG in the country and petrol pumps that are not giving fuel or giving fuel in reduced quantities are being pulled up, according to senior government officials on Thursday.

The government is receiving feedback about petrol pumps across India and full supply of fuels is being maintained to all retail outlets. There has also been no reduction in oil imports coming from Russia in order to ensure adequate crude supplies to the refineries of oil marketing companies, the officials pointed out.

There has been an increase in sales at some pumps because of the higher demand for diesel due to the harvesting season. There has also been a shift in customers from private oil marketing companies, who have started charging higher prices, to retail filling stations belonging to public sector oil companies.

Besides, institutional or commercial sales, which are priced around Rs 20 higher as per actual international price, have also shifted to petrol pumps, they added.

The officials also pointed out that India’s increase of Rs 3.91 per litre in the prices of petrol and diesel announced this week, works out to 4.4 per cent, which is the smallest hike of any major economy outside the directly subsidising Gulf producers such as Saudi Arabia, according to figures compiled by GlobalPetrolPrices.com.

An IndianOil official pointed out that the Rs 3.91 increase, which restores only part of the rise of cost in crude, has been undertaken after 76 days of complete absorption of costs by the public sector oil companies. In sharp contrast, the rest of the world has been adjusting price for the rise in crude costs through increases ranging from 10 to 90 per cent in the retail prices of the two fuels.

The pass-through has been steepest in liberalised emerging markets directly exposed to West Asian supply and freight, where governments do not absorb volatility. The Pakistani consumer is paying about 55 per cent more for petrol today than three months ago, the Malaysian about 56 per cent more, and the Emirati consumers about 52 per cent higher prices, the figures show.

In the advanced economies, the increases are smaller in percentage terms but still substantial. American petrol prices, which respond quickly to crude because federal and state excise loadings are modest, have risen by close to 45 per cent and diesel by 48 per cent.

In Europe, where excise duties dampen the swing, the United Kingdom is up about 19 per cent on petrol and 34 per cent on diesel, Germany about 14 per cent on petrol and 20 per cent on diesel, France about 21 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.

In the case of Japan, South Korea and Singapore, the hike in petrol prices has been held below 20 per cent and the price of diesel has risen considerably faster, with Singapore registering a 65 per cent jump in the price of diesel.

–IANS

sps/na