International crude oil prices may have eased but the government has no immediate plans to pass on the benefit to the consumers, as it wants to wait for the prices to stabilise further.
"There is no immediate proposal to de-freeze (the freeze in petrol and diesel prices)," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told reporters in New Delhi.
Petrol prices were last revised on November 15 when they were lowered by Rs 1.16 per litre while diesel prices were last changed on October 31.
Aiyar said public sector oil firms were still losing money on selling diesel as domestic retail price was higher than its cost. But the current petrol price was more than the international price and oil companies were making marginal profits on it.
Petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene prices have not moved in tandem with the change in the cost of raw material (crude oil).
Indian Oil Corp, country's largest oil firms which controls half of the 15 billion dollar oil market, lost Rs 1207.43 crore (Rs 12.07 billion) on kerosene sale in October-December, Rs 917.53 crore (Rs 9.17 billion) on LPG sales and Rs 511.37 crore (Rs 5.11 billion) on diesel sales. It, however, made Rs 7.36 crore (Rs 73.6 million) by selling petrol at slightly above the cost.
"We want stable pricing policy (which will come) when we get out of the syndrome of absurd oil volatility characterised by price movements in 2004," he said.
Aiyar hoped that international oil markets may ultimately calm down in 1-2 months as the US is putting in place its economic policies and the winter is getting over.
"We hope prices will ease in coming month or two as US puts in place economic policies to contain its fiscal deficit and winter demand ends," he said.