NEW DELHI, March 26 (Reuters) - Russia-backed Indian private refiner Nayara Energy has raised pump prices of gasoline and gasoil, petrol pump dealers said on Thursday, to mitigate some of its revenue losses from retail sales.
Indian refiners, hit hard by a declining rupee and rising oil prices, are facing revenue losses from retail sales as cracks for gasoline and gasoil surged to multi-year highs.
Nayara, India's top private fuel retailer, has raised the price of gasoline by 5 rupees per litre to 100.71 rupees ($1.07), and gasoil by 3 rupees to 91.31 rupees, the dealers said.
The refiner, which sells gasoline and gasoil through its 6,697 retail outlets, plans to shut its 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) Vadinar refinery from April 10 for a month-long maintenance.
"NO INTERRUPTION OF SERVICES"
Apart from direct sales to customers, Nayara also sells fuels to the state refiners after it was sanctioned by the European Union last year for links with Russian entities, including oil major Rosneft.
"The ongoing disruption in crude oil supplies has created unprecedented challenges in the industry, impacting several aspects of fuel distribution and availability," the company said in a statement.
Nayara said there is no interruption of services at its retail stations across the country.
"Further, our refinery turnaround has been meticulously planned, and we remain fully equipped to ensure that there will be no shortfall in fuel supplies during this period," it said.
Indian refiners are facing a revenue loss of more than 50 rupees per litre on gasoil and about 20 rupees on gasoline for selling fuels at below-market rates to cushion customers from a spike in global markets, industry sources said.
Indian state refiners have not raised the retail prices of gasoline and gasoil despite a surge in global oil prices to more than $100 per barrel as the supplies through the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted by the US-Israel war on Iran.
About 90% of the country's 101,470 retail fuel stations are linked to state refiners and retailer Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp.
($1 = 94.1040 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
By Nidhi Verma
