New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday said there were sufficient supplies of petrol and diesel to meet extra demand amid reports that some petrol pumps in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka had run out of fuel. In a press statement, the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas said an unprecedented surge in demand had created "temporary logistics issues" at the local level.
Some states have seen a sudden surge in demand at PSU outlets after private fuel retailers curtailed their operations to check heavy losses.
PSU fuel retailers Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL haven't raised petrol and diesel prices in tandem with the rise in crude oil and sell petrol at a loss of Rs 14-18 per litre and diesel at Rs 20-25. The private retailers haven't been able to match this rate.
"In the past few days, some areas have reported a big increase in instances of rush at the PSU retail outlets (petrol pumps), leading to delays and increased waiting time for customers. This has, in turn, led to speculation of supply constraints by the public sector oil marketing companies," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry attributed the increase in demand to a seasonal surge due to agricultural activities, bulk buyers shifting their purchases to petrol pumps and a substantial reduction in the sales by private firms whose volumes shifted to PSU bunks.
"The production of petrol and diesel in the country is more than sufficient to take care of any demand surge. This unprecedented growth has created some temporary logistics issues at the local level," the ministry said.
"Oil companies have geared up to tackle these issues by increasing the stocks at the depots and terminals, extra movement of tank trucks and lorries to serve the retail outlets; extended working hours of depots and terminals including at night, and provision of extra quantities of fuels for supply in the affected states," the ministry further said.
Some petrol pumps of HPCL and BPCL in states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh ran out of fuel, particularly diesel, after customers of private retailers shifted to them, PTI reported.
In a tweet, HPCL said its pumps in Rajasthan had seen a 41 per cent rise in petrol sales in May over the previous month and 32 per cent in diesel. In Madhya Pradesh, petrol sales rose 40.6 per cent and diesel by 46.1 per cent as compared to a 4.3 per cent and 29.5 per cent drop in private fuel retailers.
BPCL said its outlets in Rajasthan have seen petrol and diesel volume grow 63 per cent in first fortnight of June. In Madhya Pradesh, the volume surge was 43 per cent, PTI reported.