Govt defers oil price hike, waits for OPEC meeting

By Our Economy Bureau | 28 May 2004

New Delhi: The government has decided to wait till the June 3 meeting of the oil cartel organisation of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) before effecting any revision of petrol and diesel prices.

Petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said the new petroleum pricing policy of the government would have a "human face".

Aiyar added that he would continue reforms process in his sector "while demonstratively ensuring sensitivity to the human consequences of decisions taken in the name of reforms".

"The decision they (OPEC) take will show whether the recent steep rise in international oil prices is aberrant and transitory. As also whether greater stability at more moderate prices is the more likely prospect."

"This is such an important parameter for determining our approach to the domestic pricing of sensitive petroleum products that it must be taken into account in determining the timing, phasing and content of these decisions," he said.