Murli Deora rules out further fuel price hike

New Delhi, July 19: Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora today ruled out any immediate price hike of petroleum products, even as the domestic and world crude oil prices did not show any sign of relenting.

''Right now there is no move on the price hike front,'' Mr Deora said on the sidelines of the MOU signing ceremony between ONGC and PetroEcuador.

The domestic crude oil basket reached 73.96 dollars a barrel up from 72.25 dollars, going up in tandem with soaring global prices which are hovering at 78.40 a barrel triggerd by the raging violence in West Asia.

According to the government structures, oil marketing firms have been allowed to raise product prices if international oil prices top 75 dollars a barrel.

The price of the country's crude basket had hit 71.13 dollars on May 2 and it averaged 66.95 dollars in June compared with 67.29 dollars in May and 67.15 dollars in April.

The Indian basket comprises Oman-Dubai sour grade of crude and Brent sweet crude in a 58:42 ratio. Brent crude closed at 73.30 dolars a barrel, while the Dubai and Oman benchmarks were at 67.61 dollars and 68 dollars, respectively, government data said. India imports about 76 per cent of its crude oil requirements in a year.

The Indian crude oil basket touched an all-time high of 73.96 dollar a barrel on July 14, up from 72.75 dollar a barrel on June 13 impacted by the surge in international crude prices. On 17 July too, London Brent crude hit a record intra-day high of 78.18 dollar a barrel as violence raged in West Asia.

The spurt in crude price has impacted the four petroleum products --petrol, diesel, kerosene and cooking gas with rise in every dollar.

According to Indian Oil Corporation, one dollar increase in crude price has Rs 100-Rs 120 crore monthly impact on these products.

IOC takes a hit of Rs 143 on sale of 14.2 kg domestic cooking gas cylinder, Rs 18 per litre on kerosene, Rs 7.75 a litre on diesel, and Rs 5.50 a litre on petrol.

Also for every dollar increase in crude oil prices, there is a need to raise retail prices of a litre of petrol by 39 paise, diesel by 30 paise, kerosene by 36 paise and cooking gas by 67 paise.

With soaring crude prices the government has said it may go in for another round of price hike of the petroleum products. The price per barrel is likely to hit 80 dollars triggered by the worsening of the West Asian crisis.

Government sources said they are closely watching the situation and would decide on any hike after August 1.

UNI