By IANS,
New Delhi : The government will not cut fuel prices despite the continuous fall in global crude prices, said Petroleum Minister Murli Deora here Friday.
“I welcome that crude prices have come down,” Deora told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. He, however, said there would be no immediate downward revision of fuel prices in the country.
Oil prices had climbed slightly Friday over concerns that Hurricane Ike will hit the US.
While Brent North Sea climbed to $98.6 a barrel, in New York light sweet crude rose $1.15 to $102.02.
Crude oil prices had gone up to an all-time high mid-July to $145-plus a barrel.
The government had earlier increased fuel prices by 10 percent in July. The current retail price is pegged at about $68 a barrel.
According to Petroleum Secretary R.S. Pandey, crude prices are expected to fall further.
“We expect prices to fall further, which would be a real relief,” he said, adding that the Indian basket of crude finally broke the $100 mark this week, when it fell to $95.47 a barrel.
He commented that even if the oil price remained at the current level for this financial year, the under-recoveries of oil marketing companies would be Rs.1,622.5 billion, which was “still very high”.