Oil bubble to burst soon: Aiyar

India hopes that international oil prices, which have peaked to a historic high of over $60 a barrel, will retreat to below $40 per barrel with petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar predicting that the "oil bubble" will burst soon.

Aiyar, who attributed the spike in international oil prices to speculative trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, said: "What goes up must come down. People who have nothing to do with oil are behind the bubbling up of prices. At one stage, the bubble will burst, and we might get oil at $35-40 a barrel."

The oil spike has again put pressure for raising domestic fuel prices. Petrol and diesel prices were raised by Rs 2.50 per litre and Rs 2 per litre, respectively, earlier this month.

Aiyar said the spurt in international oil prices had nothing to do with fundamentals and was primarly driven by speculators.