April 17, 2012. State-run fuel retailers have threatened to raise gasoline prices sharply if the government does not compensate them for revenue losses on retail sales, Indian Oil Corp said. It said the government should 'temporarily' consider gasoline as a regulated commodity on a par with other subsidised fuels - diesel, cooking gas and kerosene - and provide cash compensation for retail sales or reduce factory gate tax on the fuel to the extent of revenue losses. IOC said state-run refiners cannot sustain the current scenario where they import crude oil at $121.29 per barrel and sell at $109.03 per barrel. The companies previously raised gasoline prices on Dec. 1. State-run oil companies have served an ultimatum to the government that they will raise petrol prices by '9.6 a litre if excise duty is not cut or they are not provided compensation for' 49-crore per day loss on fuel sale. IOC, together with Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, is losing '49 crore per day on petrol sale alone. They are losing another' 573 crore every day on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost. Oil PSUs in the first 15 days of April lost '745 crore in revenue on petrol, whose pricing was freed from the government control in June 2010. But rarely have the product prices moved in tandem with cost as oil companies bowed to government diktats. The states also levy VAT or sales tax ranging from 15 per cent to 33 per cent ('10.30 a litre to '18.74 per litre), which too can be cut to avoid a price hike.