Petrol, diesel price hike next week: Murli Deora

Mumbai, May 27: The Union Government will revise prices of petrol and diesel by next week owing to an unprecedented hike in crude oil prices in the international market, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said here today.

''The government is very concerned over the hits taken by four oil-PSUs which runs upto around Rs 160 crore per day,'' Mr Deora said adding that in the given situation ''a small increase in the prices of petrol and diesel is inevitable.'' He was speaking after the inauguration of the state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd's Lube Oil Base Stocks (LOBS) project at Mehul Refinery here.

However, he said efforts will be made to ensure that the lower strata of the society is not disturbed by the price hike. Mr Deora said the price hike will be ''as minimal as possible'' and will be specific to petrol and diesel and will not touch products consumed by lower strata of the society. In effect, he ruled out price hike on LPG and kerosene.

UNI