Domestic fuel prices won’t rise as much as international rates: Oil ministry official

New Delhi: Domestic fuel prices will not rise in tandem with international prices as consumers need to be protected, an oil ministry official has said, defending a curb on free pricing. He backed reasonable profit for refiners but warned against ‘profiteering’ by them.

There was no immediate plan to cut duties on fuel as money was needed for welfare measures, he said. It was a matter of ‘worry’ that a leading private refiner was starving its dealers of fuels while exporting big volumes in search of extraordinary profits, he added.