New Delhi, July 17: With the price of the Indian basket of crude imports scaling the $73 per barrel mark, the public sector oil marketing companies are again looking to the government for another dose of price hike.

A senior oil industry official told The Telegraph that the under-recovery from petrol is Rs 6.50 per litre and diesel, Rs 7. It is Rs 17 from kerosene and Rs 135 per cylinder from LPG.

The projected under-recovery from the sale of petroleum products is up to Rs 80,000 crore for the year from Rs 73,500 crore when the prices were raised in the first week of June. Under-recovery is caused by the spiralling prices of crude and the political necessity to keep fuel price in check.

The petroleum ministry had decided to let the oil companies increase the prices of the auto fuels if the average crude price for the month exceeds $ 70 per barrel. However, this decision is going to be very difficult to implement due to political reasons.

The oil companies are again in dire straits with the price of the Indian basket of crude touching $70 per barrel on June 30 and rising continuously since then.

The Indian basket comprises 55 per cent of the relatively cheaper high-sulphur Gulf crude and 45 per cent of the sweet Brent variety.

The average price is around $3 per barrel cheaper than Brent crude and $5 per barrel less than the New York light variety consumed in the US.

Imports make up 70 per cent of the country's crude requirements. Since crude makes up 90 per cent of the costs of the oil companies, there is no room for manoeuvre once prices shoot up.

With the oil companies losing money on the sale of kerosene and LPG, the government has issued interest bearing bonds valued at Rs 28,000 crore as partial compensation. These were issued when crude prices were at $65 per a barrel. With prices shooting well past the $70 mark this amount will clearly fall short. The government bonds are incorporated in the balance sheets of the oil companies and have saved them from plunging into the red in the past.

Upstream oil majors ONGC and OIL and gas major GAIL have also been asked to share the burden of the subsidy on the cooking fuels and were expected to shell out Rs 24,000 crore for the purpose during the current fiscal. This amount would also have to be raised given the spiralling international prices of crude.