Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi on Tuesday said that gas prices will be revised in October and there is a good chance that it will be hiked substantially. Speaking with the Market Guru, Zee Business research analyst Varun Dubey said that it is almost certain now that gas prices will be hiked as it was due only last year, however, the government did not increase the prices keeping difficult times industries in mind.  

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"There is a very high probability that gas rates will be increased in October, when gas prices are revised annually. As per calculation, it can also happen that gas prices may be increased by 50 to 60 percent. Even the managers of domestic oil marketing companies such as ONGC, GAIL or IOCL would confirm that this kind of steep hike could be seen gas prices. One reason is that last year gas prices were not increased. Every time prices of crude oil are increased, gas prices also go up simultaneously. Last year in October, gas prices were reduced from $2.39 to $1.79 when the crude oil was declining. Thereafter, international crude oil has been consistently rising and it has seen almost 80 per cent jump since then. Even the gas prices increased by 50% to 60% only since July. This is the reason that it is expected that this time around, gas prices will be substantially hiked," said Dubey.  

Last year, the prices were kept unchanged, however, domestic oil marketing companies are of the view that it is no more sustainable this year and has to be increased, he said. 

Talking about companies that will benefit, Varun said OMCs like ONGC, Gail and Indian oil will benefit the maximum, while power industries will be affected negatively. "Around 30 % gas consumption is done by Power industries, 27 per cent by fertilizers and 19 per cent is with the city gas distribution. So, these sectors will have negative impact. It will be interesting to see if they pass on this extra cost further or not."