'We don't tell oil marketing cos to raise or lower prices,' says Puri in LS

Puri also said prices have gone up by only 30% in the last 7 years, that is from 2014-2021 period and emphasised that various steps have been taken to deal with the situation of high oil prices

Amid petrol and diesel prices remaining unchanged for three months now, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday told the Lok Sabha that the government does not tell oil marketing companies to raise or lower the prices.

Responding to supplementaries during Question Hour, Puri also said prices have gone up by only 30 per cent in the last 7 years, that is from 2014-2021 period and emphasised that various steps have been taken to deal with the situation of high oil prices.

The NDA government has been in power at the Centre since 2014.

"Just now, we have a situation where the amount of crude made available in the market is less than the demand. That is why prices are high. We are in touch with the producing countries and we try to use our margin of persuasion to tell them to make more crude available. Equally, it is determined by the exchange rates, the freight rates and the dealer margin," the minister said.

To a query on whether petrol and diesel prices are not being hiked due to upcoming elections, Puri said, "we don't tell oil marketing companies to whether raise the prices or lower them. They have to determine..."

Noting that the government has taken a number of steps to meet the current situation, he said that a little while ago, excise duty on petrol and diesel was reduced by Rs 5 and Rs 10, respectively.

"The government is acutely sensitive about the price at which petrol and diesel are available to consumers... We are increasing the ethanol blending...," he emphasised.

According to him, prices of petrol and diesel in any country in the world are determined by international prices in a deregulated situation.

Citing historical price trends, the minister said that between 1973 and 1979 when an administered price system was in place, the prices rose by 140 per cent while the increase was 122 per cent between 1979 and 1986.

During 1986 and 1993, prices rose 125 per cent and the increase was 70 per cent between 2000 and 2007 while the same went up 60 per cent during 2007-2014 period, he added.

In a written reply, the minister said the Indian basket of crude oil has seen a rise of USD 17.51/bbl from USD 71.32/bbl as of December 1, 2021 to USD 88.83/bbl as of January 27, 2022.

There have been major fluctuations in international prices of crude oil in recent few months due to various global events, including lower than expected restorations of production by OPEC nations, increase in demand as the world economy recovers from disruption caused due to COVID and its variants, geo-political tensions and lower than usual inventory levels in major consuming nations.

He also noted that adequate refining capacity is currently available in the country and therefore the country is not dependent on import of petrol and diesel. "Retail selling price of petrol and diesel are linked to their respective international product prices".

"The international prices of petrol considered in pricing in the country have risen from USD 79.55/bbl on 01-12-2021 to USD 101.44/bbl on 27-01-2022. The international prices of diesel considered in pricing in the country have risen from USD 78.48/bbl on 01-12-2021 to USD 102.70/bbl on 27-01-2022," Puri said.

Petrol and diesel rates are revised daily after taking the average price in the preceding fortnight. But prices have remained unchanged since November 4, 2021, when the central government had cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 10 a litre.