Consumers continue to ask when petrol and diesel prices will be reduced, but Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said such expectations are not legitimate at this stage.
Speaking on Wednesday, Puri said petrol prices have risen only 5.58% over the past four years, while diesel prices have increased 6.23% during the same period.
He said state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) are still dealing with cumulative under-recoveries of around Rs 2.18 lakh crore and continue to hold inventories procured when crude prices were significantly higher.
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"So the question of bringing fuel prices down is not legitimate at this point in time," Puri said.
The minister also said the government had largely shielded consumers from volatility in global crude oil markets, adding that India navigated the recent Hormuz crisis without any major disruption in fuel supplies.
"Not one retail outlet reported a dry-out," he said, noting that India has about 1.07 lakh fuel retail outlets. "The government has absorbed most of the shocks arising from the crude crisis."
Separately, Puri said India's refining capacity is expected to increase to 309.5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) by 2030, with several refinery projects currently under implementation and some scheduled for completion over the next two years.
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He highlighted the HPCL Rajasthan Refinery, with an estimated project cost of Rs 79,459 crore, as India's first greenfield refinery in nearly a decade. Puri also noted that the U.S. has not built a greenfield refinery in the past 10 years.
The minister said the global refining landscape is likely to consolidate into three to four major refining hubs, with India expected to emerge as one of them.
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