Deora rules out hike in fuel prices

The ministry of petroleum and natural gas has completely negated the possibility of a hike in fuel prices even as the country's crude oil import basket fell to $72.72 a barrel on July 18 from the all-time high of $ 73.96 four days ago.

"No price hike is intended," Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora said. However, under-recoveries of oil marketing companies in the last fortnight of this month are expected to be around Rs 2,900 crore.

The Indian crude basket was priced at $73.96 a barrel on July 14, significantly higher than the average $66.80 in June 2006.

The government had recently said the state-run oil marketing companies could revise retail prices of petrol and diesel on the last day of each month if the monthly average price of the country's crude oil basket crossed $70 a barrel.

The government had said if the Indian crude basket averaged over $70 a month downstream oil firms could hike petrol prices by 39 paise and diesel by 30 paise. Kerosene price would increase by 36 paise, while each LPG cylinder would be costlier by 67 paise.