No immediate hike in petrol, diesel prices: Govt

New Delhi, July 3: Petroleum Minister Murli Deora today ruled out any immediate hike in petrol and diesel prices.

''Right now, there is no plan to increase the petrol and diesel prices,'' the minister told reporters here after reports that the Government was considering a Rs 2 per litre hike in petrol and Re 1 a litre raise in diesel prices.

To compensate losses incurred by the oil companies, Mr Deora said he will meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram for seeking more oil bonds.

''We will meet Chidambaram next week with a detailed compensation package,'' he said.

Country's crude oil basket increased to 69.62 dollars per barrel yesterday.

On June 19, the basket had risen to 69.63 dollars per barrel.

State-run oil marketing companies are continuing to lose revenues due to under recoveries at Rs 50,000 crore in the current fiscal, against Rs 49,387 crore revenue loss last year.

UNI

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