The oil companies may have to bear an additional burden of Rs 41,740 crore about 17 per cent of the total under-realisation bill of Rs 245,000 crore if the oil prices do not soften in the near future.
 
The relief package announced for the oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum on Wednesday did not clarify how this gap of Rs 41,740 crore would be plugged.
 
"The finance ministry is getting increasingly reluctant to give out more oil bonds. So the additional burden may fall on the oil companies themselves," said a petroleum ministry official.

The government is, however, hoping that the global oil prices will soften. "The calculations have been done in the hope that crude oil prices will fall towards $100 per barrel during the year. Then the additional gap would be wiped off significantly," the official added.

 
The projected under-realisation of Rs 245,000 crore has been calculated assuming an average price of the Indian oil basket at $125 per barrel.
 
If oil prices do not fall, the oil marketing companies and the oil producers ONGC and Oil India will have to bear much more than the Rs 65,000 crore burden they have now been told they will bear.
 
The decision to increase prices of petrol by Rs 5 per litre, diesel by Rs 3 per litre and cooking gas by Rs 50 per cylinder will reduce the oil marketing companies' under-realisations, or the gap between the desired selling price and the subsidised selling price, by Rs 21,000 crore. The cut in excise and Customs duty will cut the overall under-realisation by another Rs 22,660 crore. The oil marketing companies will bear Rs 20,000 crore, while oil producers such as ONGC and Oil India will bear Rs 45,000 crore. Oil bonds worth Rs 94,600 crore are also likely to be given out during the year. The size of the bailout package is Rs 20,3260 crore.