New Delhi: Union Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Friday put rest to all speculation on an impending hike in prices of petroleum products like petrol, diesel and LPG.

“(There is) no immediate plans to hike oil prices now and cabinet will take final call on hiking fuel prices”, Reddy said on a day when it was widely speculated that the government will go for a steep hike in petrol price.

Reddy however admitted that the State-run oil marketing companies (OMC) are incurring unremitting losses Under-recoveries on account of higher crude prices in the global markets.

Oil firms are seeking Rs. 32,000 crore in compensation for the first quarter of the current fiscal year. The companies are not compensated for petrol sales since the government decontrolled petrol prices in June 2010.

The petroleum minister did agree that the situation is grave but the government is not in favour of a hike, at this moment.