RIL-BP’s sales of petrol and diesel rose 49% and 53% respectively in the April-August period this year over the previous year, according to industry data. This gave them a national market share of 2.75% for petrol and 4.35% for diesel.
Nayara, the Rosneft-backed refiner that operates the largest number of petrol pumps among private players, sold 14% more petrol and 12% more diesel this year, ending up with a market share of 5.7% in petrol and 5.2% in diesel. Shell, another private retailer, sold 11% less petrol this year. It, however, sold 6% more diesel. It has less than 0.5% share in both fuels.
Private players’ share in petrol retail has risen to 9% this year from 8% in the previous year; in diesel, it's up to 9.6% from 7.7%.
Refining margins have been under tremendous pressure for months, prompting refiners to focus on marketing margins by retailing petrol and diesel, said a sector analyst who declined to be named.
Private refiners export as well as sell to state-run oil companies in the domestic market at a price prevalent in the international market. If they do so, they realise only refining margins, which have sharply contracted in recent months.
But if they choose to push their product through their own retail network, they end up getting an additional marketing margin, which has sharply expanded these days because domestic pump prices haven’t fallen in line with international prices of petrol and diesel. Domestic pump prices have been nearly unchanged for a year, except to marginally decline ahead of the general elections.
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