India will need to assess ability of fuel retailers to bear losses, oil minister says

India will need to assess how long state-run fuel retailers can sustain losses from selling transport fuels below market prices at some stage, the oil minister said on Tuesday.

Petrol and diesel spot prices have surged to multi-year highs globally as the Middle East conflict disrupted supply, but governments in major economies have held down pump prices to shield consumers from inflation.

A government official had earlier said that India has no plans to ​compensate oil market companies for these losses.

Fuel retailers are incurring losses of about 100 rupees ($1.06) per litre on diesel and 20 rupees per litre on petrol, the official said last month.

Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also said India has crude and liquefied natural gas sufficient for 60 days, and liquefied petroleum gas for 45 days.

"India never imported liquefied natural gas from Russia," the minister said at an industry event.

-Reporting by Neha Arora, writing by Mohi Narayan; Editing by YP Rajesh/Reuters