Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Friday ruled out an immediate hike in the prices of petrol and diesel in view of rising crude oil prices in the international market, stating that the devaluation of the dollar against the rupee had helped neutralise the global price rise impact.
“The situation is not worrisome now. There is no distress situation as the strengthening of the rupee against the dollar has helped us. The dollar has devalued against the rupee by about 10 per cent,” Mr. Deora said at the launch of the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitrak Scheme here.
The dollar devaluation has seen a revenue loss incurred by State-run oil firms on fuel sales, trimming to about Rs.96 crore per day from Rs.124 crore a day in the first half of October.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) chairman Sarthak Behuria said oil companies were comfortable at the current level of oil prices and the rupee-dollar rate. IOC has seen its projected losses on fuel sales this fiscal coming down to Rs.19,790 crore from the Rs.21,825 crore estimated earlier. On domestic LPG, these companies lose Rs.204.51 per 14.2-kg cylinder and Rs.16.14 on every litre of kerosene.
Wen keen on meeting
At current prices, the revenue losses on kerosene and LPG are estimated to be at Rs.17,000 crore and Rs.12,000 crore respectively in the current fiscal. These will be met through the issue of bonds.
Referring to his recent visit to China, Mr. Deora said that during his meeting with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, the premier had shown keen interest in meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit scheduled in Thailand next week.
“Mr. Wen asked if Dr. Singh will be going to Thailand next week, to which I replied yes. Twice or thrice he said he is looking forward to meeting Dr. Singh in Thailand,” Mr. Deora said. Dr. Singh will be travelling to Thailand on October 24 to attend the summit.
China’s objection to Dr. Singh’s recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh for an election campaign led to a war of words between the two countries. India responded strongly and questioned China’s engagement in projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), asking it to stop such activities taking a long-term view of India-China relations.
