The government is set to take up with private refiners such as Jio-bp and Nayara Energy the issue of restrictions on diesel sales at their fuel pumps across the country, Petroleum Secretary Neeraj Mittal said.
According to Mittal, oil marketing companies (OMCs) are not allowed to impose restrictions on fuel sales, and the government will raise the matter with the companies.
There have been reports that Jio-bp has capped diesel sales at 50 litres per customer. Similarly, Nayara Energy has also reportedly capped diesel sales at between 70 and 200 litres per customer. The companies are also exporting petroleum products to other countries.
"Nobody is allowed to put a cap on sales, so if they are putting a cap on sale, we will take it up. We will tell them that it is not acceptable, it is not done,” said Mittal.
Reliance Industries-backed Jio-bp, which accounts for a fifth of India’s around 10,000 private fuel retail pumps, had earlier restricted diesel sales and imposed a diesel procurement quota for its pumps in April.
India has around 100,000 fuel pumps, with state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) owning about 90 per cent of them. Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy has more than 7,000 petrol pumps in the country.
Both Jio-bp and Nayara Energy are also key exporters of petroleum products. A recent report by Finnish think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said Russia imported a record 172,000 tonnes of petroleum products in August, with most of the supplies coming from India.
The report noted that supplies from Nayara Energy’s Vadinar refinery accounted for about 70 per cent of Russia’s product imports, followed by supplies from South Korea.