Indian Petroleum Minister Ram Naik yesterday spoke of raising petrol prices and said he would have liked the Opec to raise output by more than 800,000 barrels per day.
“After Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha return from the United States later this week we shall apply our minds to the issue of revising prices. The nature and quantum are to be worked out,” Naik said.
“We expected Opec to increase production by one million to 1.2 million barrels a day to keep crude prices within the band of 22 to $28 a barrel in line with Opec’s decision in March.
“The Opec decision taken on Sunday is welcome but they should have kept in mind the anticipated increase in consumption owing to increase in winter demand in the western countries.” – AFP
