CHENNAI: PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss claimed that the state government is in a position to bring down petrol-diesel prices, owing to a drop in crude oil pricing, by at least Rs 14 per litre.

The PMK leader said that the reduction in prices of crude oil in the international market ought to be passed on to the consumers and urged the oil companies to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 14 per litre.

In a statement, Anbumani said that the price of a barrel of crude oil has reduced to 68 US dollars. "It is condemnable that the oil companies in India refuse to reduce the price of fuel in line with international trends. On March 14, the retail price of petrol and diesel was last reduced by Rs 2 per litre. During that time, one barrel of crude oil was priced at 89.94 US dollars," he added.

Alleging that oil companies tend to increase the petrol and diesel prices whenever prices of crude oil rise in the international market, Anbumani urged them to transfer the benefit of price reduction to the public, when prices go down.

"It is expected that the crude oil prices will go down further. So, the price of petrol should be brought down by Rs 13.60 per litre and diesel should be reduced by Rs 13.82 per litre," he urged.