Wednesday, February 8 2006 14:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will convene a meeting with Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora shortly today (Feb 8 2006) to discuss pricing of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene.

"I met Prime Minister this morning for finding a way for not raising prices of domestic cooking gas (LPG) and PDS kerosene (necessitated due to spurt in global oil prices). Prime Minister said he will convene a meeting with Finance Minister soon for solutions," Deora told sources here.

The Government's ban on raising fuel prices despite rise in raw material (crude oil) cost has resulted in public sector fuel retailers - Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, IBP and Hindustan Petroleum Corp - posting net loss of Rs 2,898 crore this fiscal.

"I am not in favour of raising LPG and kerosene prices as these fuels are used by poor and vulnerable sections of the society. We need to see how through duty adjustments, raising Government subsidy and issuance of oil bonds for the unrecovered cost, the financial health of oil PSUs are restored," he said but did not indicate when the meeting will take place.

Asked if he agreed with the recommendation of the C Rangarajan Committee, appointed by Prime Minister to look into fuel pricing policy, to raise petrol price by Rs 1.27 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.18 per litre, Deora said: "We have requested the committee to submit its report to us by this week. I cannot say if auto fuel prices would rise or not."

Deora said his ministry was seeking a slew of fiscal incentives, including infrastructure status, for exploration and production business and exemption from service tax as measures to boost domestic oil hunt.