New Delhi, Oct. 30: Petroleum minister Murli Deora today demanded a higher amount of bonds for the state-owned oil marketing companies who had been selling fuel below costs and remained non-committal on a cut in fuel prices.

“I just cannot say that (fuel price cut). What is happening internationally is unpredictable. Prices came down to $60 a barrel and have risen to $70 a barrel. You cannot decide in such a volatile atmosphere,” he said.

Petroleum secretary R.S. Pandey said the cabinet was unlikely to discuss the fuel price issue this week.

Deora met finance minister P. Chidambaram to seek an increase in the amount of oil bonds for oil companies to partially compensate them for the losses incurred by selling petrol and diesel below costs.

“My meeting today was essentially to seek a higher quantum of oil bonds, as under the present compensation package, some of the oil companies have reported losses in their quarterly earnings,” he said.

At present, 50 per cent of the revenue loss of the oil companies is met by the government through the bonds and another 33 per cent by upstream companies such as ONGC. Deora sought an increase in the amount of bonds to cover the remaining 17 per cent of the losses. Pandey said the state-owned oil firms had reported net losses in the first quarter, and similar results were expected in the second quarter.

PSUs suffer

ONGC today reported a 5.7 per cent drop in its net profit at Rs 4,808 crore in the second quarter ended September 30 on the back of higher subsidies to the oil companies.

The company paid Rs 12,663 crore for subsidising fuel in the second quarter, up 233.3 per cent over the previous year. Sales grew 13.1 per cent to Rs 17,492 crore in the quarter.

“Our gross realisation on crude oil sales in the second quarter was $119.39 per barrel, but after giving a discount of $72.67 per barrel to the refiners, our net realisation was $46.72 per barrel,” ONGC chairman R.S. Sharma said.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation today said its net loss for the second quarter ended September 30 stood at Rs 2,625.27 crore.

Total income rose 49.32 per cent to Rs 38,148.73 crore for the quarter under review from Rs 25,548.14 crore in the year-ago period.

Nymex crude, meanwhile, was trading lower at around $65.66 per barrel at 00:15 today.