The government, in the last week, had raised petrol and diesel prices citing spike in international crude oil prices to USD 70 a barrel.
International rates have eased since then. The basket of crude oil India buys was at USD 61.58 a barrel on Wednesday but the average for July was USD 65.34 per barrel.
The July average was certainly lower than USD 69.12 a barrel, the average price of the Indian basket of crude for June.
Deora said the price rise was unavoidable as India was dependent on imported crude oil to meet 75 per cent of its domestic oil needs. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum were projected to lose Rs 4,870 crore in revenues every month on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below the cost.
Published 09 July 2009, 19:09 IST