Public sector petroleum companies' losses on fuel sales cross Rs 500 crore a day; govt under renewed pressure to allow them to raise petro-product prices New Delhi, April 23: The price basket of crude oil that India imports has crossed an all-time high of $110 a barrel, widening the losses incurred by state-run firms on fuel sales to over Rs 500 crore per day and increasing pressure on the government to allow oil companies to hike the prices of petroleum products like petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene. The Indian basket of crude oil has reached $110.34 per barrel, a 75 per cent jump over last fiscal's lowest price of $62.91 per barrel recorded on May 9, 2007. Officials said that the Indian basket of crude oil has averaged $103.87 per barrel in April, up from the $99.76 a barrel average in March. In 2007-08, it had averaged $79.25 per barrel. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) were till last fortnight losing about Rs 450 crore a day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene. This has now widened to Rs 500 crore. Oil firms currently lose Rs 11.80 a litre on petrol, Rs 17.51 on diesel, Rs 316.06 per LPG cylinder and Rs 25.23 a litre on kerosene as they are being forced by the government to sell fuel below costs so that inflation remains under check. With the Indian basket of crude staying above the $100 a barrel mark, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has projected a revenue loss of about Rs 1,50,000 crore on fuel sales this fiscal. This will be almost double the Rs 77,304.50 crore revenue loss or under-recoveries projected on sale of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene in 2007-08.