Manmohan Singh to review oil price hike

{image-manmohan singh_29052008.jpg news.oneindia.in}New Delhi, May 29: The Government is likely to decide today the raising of fuel prices and compensation package for the Oil Public Sector Undertakings.

The Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this afternoon and if the PM agrees, the proposal may go to the Cabinet slated for this evening. The Petroleum Ministry is seeking a hike in petrol, diesel and LPG prices together with reduction in excise duties. Earlier, a proposal by Deora to raise petrol price by Rs 10 a litre, diesel by Rs 5 per litre and that of LPG by Rs 50 per Kg had not gone down well with the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government. Deora again met Chidambaram on May 27 but could not convince him of the urgency to cut import and excise duties to avoid the Rs 2,00,000 crore revenue loss expected on petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene this fiscal. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) can buy crude oil only till July while Indian Oil can afford imports till September. The three firms face huge liquidity crisis as they fail to recover full value of the products sold.

ANI