The Modi government is not considering any proposal to cut the duties on petrol and diesel even as global crude prices hover around multi-year highs of $85 per barrel, finance ministry officials said.

Ministry officials said revenue considerations far outweigh the benefits of an excise duty cut and any decision to slash duties will be politically driven.

A one rupee cut in excise duty on fuel will cost the central exchequer almost Rs 14,000 crore annually, which the government cannot afford at a time growth needs a push.

Price hikes

Petrol and diesel prices on Thursday were hiked for the third consecutive day that took pump rates across the country to record high levels. In Calcutta, a litre of petrol costs Rs 107.11, and diesel is sold at Rs 98.38 per litre

While petrol has hit the Rs 100-a-litre mark or more in all major cities of the country, diesel has touched that level in over a dozen states. .

Coal reserves

Power Secretary Alok Kumar on Thursday stressed on the need to have strategic fuel reserves to insulate the nation from supply shocks for at least a month, in the backdrop of the ongoing coal shortage at power plants in the country.

Addressing a Confederation of Indian Industry event, Kumar said the higher price of coal, especially imported, was the main reason for the coal crisis in the country.

His comments assume significance in view of ongoing coal shortage at power plants in the country.

Oil storage

India has started selling crude oil from its strategic reserves to state refiners with a view to soften the blow from surging global crude prices, while also creating space for leasing out to private and international companies.

“We have started selling to oil marketing companies. This will help to create space that we will then offer for leasing,” Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd CEO H P S Ahuja said on Thursday.

As much as 0.3 million tonnes of Upper Zakum crude stored at the Mangalore cavern has already been emptied and the remaining 0.45 million tonnes will be sold by the end of the year.

ISPRL will lease out Mangalore cavern of 0.75 million tonnes capacity to state-owned Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd

“MRPL has bought the crude the government had stored at Mangaluru at market rate,” he said adding that MRPL wants to store Saudi crude at Mangaluru SPR.