Oil ministry moots 3 fuel price hike options; decision likely Sat

[K.Karthik Raja]

Oil ministry moots 3 fuel price hike options; decision likely Sat
NewsWire18, Friday, May 30
.
By Debjit Chakraborty
NEW DELHI - A hike in auto and cooking fuel prices looks imminent
as early
as Saturday, when the Cabinet is expected to meet to finalise a
compensation
package for state-run oil retailing companies.
A series of meetings in the last few days between Prime Minister
Manmohan
Singh, United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and key
Cabinet
ministers has not been able to freeze the quantum of the hike, a
senior oil
ministry official close to the development told NewsWire18.
"A note is being prepared, which includes three price hike
options. A
final decision will be taken only at the Cabinet meeting, which is
likely
Saturday at 11:30AM," the official said.
He said all the three options under consideration propose 20-rupee
hike
per 14.2 kg cylinder of liquefied petroleum gas.
"The most optimistic option is a 7 rupee/L hike on petrol and 3
rupee/L on
diesel. The second option is 5 rupee hike in petrol and 3 rupee
increase in
diesel while the third one is a moderate hike of 3 rupees on petrol
and 2
rupees on diesel," the official said.