New Delhi, Sept. 26: Petroleum minister Murli Deora today ruled out any immediate reduction in petrol and diesel prices although international rates are on the downswing.

The minister said a cut may be considered only if the international price of crude falls below $50 a barrel. The Indian basket of crude imports is ruling at $56.28 per barrel.

“It is not an appropriate time to cut prices. Indeed, international oil prices have declined over the past two-three weeks, which is a welcome trend, but prices have not fallen to levels warranting any cut in domestic rates,” Deora said.

The minister said the fall in international prices of crude has reduced the losses incurred by oil companies from the sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene. However, the reduction is not enough to make sales profitable. “Losses are still there. I wish international prices would fall further.”

In June, the government had raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 3 and Rs 2 a litre, respectively, in the wake of soaring international prices of crude. However, the hike was not adequate to cover the entire increase in crude cost and public sector oil companies were asked to bear a substantial part of the loss on the sale of these cooking and transport fuels.

Deora said, “If crude falls to $50 a barrel, we will think of cutting prices.” The price of the Indian crude basket, which had scaled $73 per barrel, has in recent days fallen below the $60-per-barrel mark.

While the fall in crude prices has resulted in oil companies breaking even on selling petrol, they were still losing over Rs 5 per litre on diesel. Besides, selling kerosene and LPG continued to be a loss-making proposition.