Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has said India is creating pressure on oil-producing countries like Russia, Qatar and Kuwait to increase production so the cost per barrel will come down, so that retail fuel price also falls.
The Hindustan Times has reported that Pradhan said in April last year, major oil-producing countries decided to cut production as there was a sharp fall in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“These countries are producing less fuel to make more profit. While less fuel is still being produced, the demand for fuel has reached the point as it was before pre-Covid situation. Therefore, petrol and diesel prices have increased in the country,” he said during an interaction in Varanasi on Saturday, the report said.
Pradhan said he was in touch with his counterparts of major oil-producing countries and had spoken to them, and asked them to increase fuel production in order that prices of oil may come down in India which buys fuel from these countries.
He said that no one could, with certainty, predict by when prices of diesel, petrol and gas would come down. “But the prices of cooking gas, diesel and petrol may come down by March or April,” he said.