India’s ONGC sees lower fuel subsidy burden in 2009

India’s state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp.’s (ONGC) fuel subsidy burden for the current year will be significantly lower than the previous year. This, Chairman and Managing Director R.S. Sharma said, would be possible if crude prices stay at the level they were on July 2, around US$70 per barrel. India had unexpectedly raised gasoline and diesel prices by as much as 10% on July 2, which marked the country’s first price increases this year. India’s government-controlled fuel pricing regime forces state-run producers such as ONGC to partially subsidize state oil marketing companies to sell products at low prices to consumers. (July 2, 2009)