NEW DELHI: The government ruled out a cut in retail fuel prices on Tuesday till global oil prices dips to USD 67 a barrel, saying the fall in rupee against the USD had negated the 38 per cent drop in crude prices.
"There is no case for cut in fuel prices now," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said here.
He said the depreciation in rupee has squared off fall in crude oil prices.
Oil prices dropped more than USD three in Asian trade on fears for the health of the global economy, after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery, plunged USD 3.95 to USD 91.76 a barrel.
The Indian rupee lost 48 paise to slip to a two-year low of 46.53 against the greenback in early trade on Tuesday, as demand for the US dollar surged.
State-run Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum are still losing hundreds of crores of rupees a day on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene despite oil coming off its peak of USD 147 per barrel in June.
Based on an average price of the first fortnight of September, IOC - the market leader, is losing Rs 211 crore per day.
Till last week, the three retailers were losing Rs 6.31 per litre on petrol, Rs 13.69 on diesel, Rs 31.39 on kerosene and Rs 312.58 per 14.2-kg LPG cylinder.
Their projected revenue loss has come down from Rs 165,300 crore last week. A month back, the losses were projected at Rs 205,740 crore.
Government will issue oil bonds for about half of the revenue loss to the three retailers while upstream firms like ONGC will bear one-third.
The Indian basket of crude oil averaged USD 100.35 per barrel in September, down from USD 121-122 a barrel average price when the June 4 hike in petrol, diesel and domestic LPG prices was announced.
"The Indian basket has averaged USD 118.56 per barrel during the fiscal, which is higher than the level at which domestic retail prices are pegged," Deora said.
