Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu), Mar 01: India has sufficient crude oil stocks for two months and would not face any shortage even if a war broke in West Asia, Union Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said today. He told a press conference here that his ministry's contingency plan allowed for importing crude from countries not located in the troubled zone, in the case of war.


He did not say which countries could be source of oil for India in that case, but said firm orders had been placed with some oil producing countries.

He said that the strategic stockpiling by India when war clouds hovered over India and Pakistan had given enough strength to the nation to face any situation.

Justifying the hike in prices of petroleum products in the budget, he said it had touched an all time high of 37 US Dollars in the international market yesterday. The only other option was to stop crude import, which was not feasible.

He said that he also take up with finance minister Jaswant Singh, the need to reduce excise duty on petroleum products so that any hike in international prices was not passed on to the consumer.

Fresh blocks under the new exploration licensing policy would be identified by April next and tenders would be called for very soon, he added.

Bureau Report