FACTBOX: Subsidies shield many world consumers from record oil

LONDON (Reuters) - Governments and state oil companies across the globe are bearing much of the brunt of record high oil prices on behalf of consumers, helping stoke demand in China and Brazil and weighing heavily on budgets from Indonesia and Mexico.

But many Asia governments such as India and Malaysia are finding they're no longer able to bear the full burden, forcing them to raise prices in order to cut subsidy costs.

Latest on the fray is China. Beijing announced on Thursday it would raise its nationwide pump diesel and gasoline prices by 1,000 yuan a tonne, or about 18 and 17 percent respectively from June 20th -- the first rise since November.

Find below details of major countries in Asia and Latin America that subsidize their fuel prices and what it costs them to do so. ***************************************************************

CHINA

RETAIL GASOLINE PRICE: $0.72/litre for 93-octane;

$0.67/litre for 90-octane

RETAIL DIESEL PRICE: $0.70/litre

LAST INCREASES: 10 pct on November 1 2007

RISE SINCE JAN 2003: gasoline prices by 67 pct, diesel by 71 pct. ID:nSP263366

SUBSIDY BORNE BY: Top refiner Sinopec Corp (0386.HK) and, to a lesser degree, upstream heavyweight PetroChina (0857.HK).

COST OF SUBSIDY: $1.37 billion payout to Sinopec in 2005

$685 million payout to Sinopec in 2006

Sinopec also won around 4.9 billion yuan for losses in 2007, and 7.4 billion for the first quarter of 2008.

SUBSIDY AS PCT OF TOTAL GOVT BUDGET COSTS: 2.9 pct in 2005;

0.1 pct in 2006

TOTAL OIL DEMAND (2008): 7.9 million bpd

OUTLOOK - Beijing is focused on fighting high inflation and has repeatedly said it will not raise energy prices in the short term. But serious fuel shortages are cropping up all over the country which forced the announcement of the hike. ****************************************************************

INDIA

RETAIL GASOLINE PRICE: $1.19/litre

RETAIL DIESEL PRICE: $0.81/litre

LAST INCREASES: Gasoline by 11 percent and diesel by 9.5 percent in June 2008

RISE SINCE JAN 2003: 67 pct for gasoline, 77 pct for diesel

SUBSIDY BORNE BY: Government, state-run upstream companies, and state-run retailers

COST OF SUBSIDY: not immediately available.

SUBSIDY AS PCT OF TOTAL GOVT BUDGET COSTS: n/a

TOTAL OIL DEMAND: 2.9 million bpd

OUTLOOK: India raised its petrol and diesel prices by about 10 percent on June 4 to curb losses at its state-owned refiners. Although the higher prices may help temper fuel demand at the margins, analysts have said that rapid economic growth and rising salaries may blunt the effect of a modest price from India, where oil demand rose 7 percent last year, its fastest rate in 8 years. ****************************************************************

INDONESIA

RETAIL SUBSIDISED GASOLINE PRICE: $0.645/litre for 88-octane

RETAIL SUBSIDISED DIESEL PRICE: $0.591/litre

LAST INCREASES: 28.7 percent increase in May 2008

RISE SINCE OCT 2005: 125 percent.

SUBSIDY BORNE BY: the central government

COST OF SUBSIDY: $9.31 billion in 2007; $13.5 billion in 2008

SUBSIDY AS PCT OF TOTAL GOVT BUDGET COSTS: 13 percent.

TOTAL OIL DEMAND: 674,000 bpd of subsidized fuel; just over 1 million bpd of total oil demand

OUTLOOK: The government raised subsidized fuel price in May 24, 2008 and it plans to introduce smart card to ration fuel consumption. The smart card may be introduced in September 2008. ****************************************************************

MALAYSIA

RETAIL GASOLINE PRICE: $0.833/litre

RETAIL DIESEL PRICE: $0.796/litre

LAST INCREASES: gasoline 40.6 pct

SUBSIDY BORNE BY: government

COST OF SUBSIDY: Malaysia is a net oil exporter and earns 250 million ringgit ($77.6 million) a year in revenue for every $1 rise in crude prices. Domestic Trade Minister Shahrir Samad said earlier this year that fuel subsidy would cost the government as much as 56 billion ringgit this year, or about a third of government expenditure in 2008.

SUBSIDY AS PCT OF TOTAL GOVT BUDGET COSTS: n/a

TOTAL OIL DEMAND: 517,000 bpd

OUTLOOK: Malaysia said it would scrap fuel price controls in August in a move that could double Asia's second-cheapest pump prices and stoke inflation already at 15-month highs. ***************************************************************

VIETNAM

RETAIL GASOLINE PRICE: $0.90/litre

RETAIL DIESEL PRICE: $0.86/litre

LAST INCREASES: 12 percent on Feb 25

RISE SINCE JAN 2004: 186 percent for gasoline, 263 percent for diesel.

SUBSIDY BORNE BY: government

COST OF SUBSIDY: about $500 million in Jan-May period.

SUBSIDY AS PCT OF TOTAL GOVT BUDGET COSTS: 6 percent

TOTAL OIL DEMAND: 270,000 bpd

OUTLOOK: The government said in 2008 that it planned to stop subsidizing distillates from 2008 but since then suspended the plan as it moved to battle double-digit inflation. Hanoi has kept a lid on retail fuel prices since late February but has said it is considering allowing prices to rise from July to ease the burden on government budget.

** LATIN AMERICA ************************************************

VENEZUELA

RETAIL UNLEADED GASOLINE PRICE: $0.033 per liter

PRICE RISE AT LAST ADJUSTMENT: 27 percent in July 1997

COUNTRY'S OIL DEMAND: Around 600,000 bpd

SUBSIDY BORNE BY: State oil company PDVSA

COST OF SUBSIDY: No official figure. Estimates range from $10 to over $20 bln per year. Government estimates 27,000 bpd lost to smuggling, costing some $1 billion per year. ****************************************************************

BRAZIL

RETAIL GASOLINE PRICE: $1.50

RETAIL DIESEL PRICE: $1.22 a liter (500 PPM)

PRICE CHANGE AT LAST ADJUSTMENT: On May 2. A 15 percent rise for diesel and 10 percent for gasoline.

RISE SINCE JAN 2003: gasoline around 45 pct, diesel around 60 pct.

COUNTRY'S OIL DEMAND; around 1.8 mln bpd.

SUBSIDY BORNE BY: State-run oil firm Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N)

OUTLOOK: The government reduced anticyclical CIDE tax when it last adjusted prices to avoid gasoline price rise at the pump. Steep appreciation in the Brazilian currency, the real, over the past three years had minimized losses for Petrobras stemming from the oil price rally. ****************************************************************

MEXICO

RETAIL GASOLINE PRICE: $0.69 per liter (MAGNA GRADE)

RETAIL DIESEL PRICE: $0.59 a liter.

PRICE CHANGE AT LAST ADJUSTMENT: 0.5 percent rise in gasoline, 0.4 pct rise in diesel on May 1

RISE IN PRICE SINCE JAN 2003: gasoline around 21 pct, diesel around 24 pct

COUNTRY'S OIL DEMAND: around 750,000 bpd of gasoline and 425,000 bpd of diesel.

SUBSIDY BORNE BY: The government. ================================================================= (Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Caracas, Andrei Khalip in Rio De Janeiro, Catherine Bremer in Mexico City, Emma Graham-Harrison in Beijing, Felicia Loo in London, Nhatlam Nguyen in Hanoi and Muklis Ali in Jakarta, Compiled by Sambit Mohanty)