New Delhi: With global crude prices coming down to around $70 a barrel, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Thursday said consumers should not expect any immediate cut in petrol and diesel prices.
Any possibility of reduction, he said, could take two to three months, as oil companies are still selling fuel refined from costlier crude bought during the peak of the West Asia conflict.Highlighting the impact of the West Asia crisis on public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), Puri said that in the first quarter of FY2027 (April-June 2026), the actual loss stood at around Rs 74,781 crore, while under-recoveries on petrol, diesel and LPG were about Rs 1.88 lakh crore.
Addressing a press conference here on the West Asia crisis, he said retail fuel prices do not immediately reflect changes in international crude prices because refiners procure crude oil weeks in advance. “The crude that you buy at the dispensing station today would have been obtained two months ago,” Puri said, explaining that fuel currently being sold was refined from crude purchased when prices, insurance costs and freight rates were significantly higher.Asked when consumers could expect a cut in fuel prices, Puri said it would depend on whether international crude prices remain at current levels.“If this (international prices) persists for the next two-three months, then that would be a legitimate question. But that’s hypothetical,” he said, while declining to elaborate further.Puri also defended the government’s fuel price hike, noting that fuel prices were largely shielded during the crisis through excise duty cuts.He said petrol prices in Delhi were hiked by only about 5.6 percent between June 2022 and June 2026, and diesel prices by about 6.2 percent, compared with substantially higher increases in several developed and neighbouring countries. According to Puri, international crude prices had climbed as high as $128 a barrel, but retail prices were not hiked proportionately because the Centre reduced excise duty by Rs 10 per litre each on petrol and diesel in March.
