Amid a non-stop rise in petrol and diesel prices Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked foreign oil companies to ease payment terms and channel their investible surplus into commercial exploitation in the developing countries.

PM Modi made the request at an interaction with chief executives of top oil companies and ministers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The Prime Minister underlined that oil consuming countries, due to rising crude oil prices, were facing many other economic challenges including serious resource crunch. India, which imports more than 80 percent of its oil imports, has been under pressure as crude oil prices have surged and the rupee weakened.

“The cooperation of the oil-producing countries would be very critical to bridge this gap,” a statement by Prime Minister’s Office said, outlining PM Modi’s four-point message to global leaders of the energy sector .

“Lastly and importantly, PM Modi requested for review of payment terms so as to provide temporary relief to the local currency,” the statement said.

The roundtable came on a day diesel price rose for the 10th consecutive day to wipe out all of the Rs 2.50 per litre cut in rates announced earlier this month through excise duty cut and oil company subsidy. A litre of diesel on Monday costs Rs 75.46 in Delhi, Rs 79.11 in Mumbai and Rs 79.80 in Chennai while petrol costs Rs 82.72 in Delhi, Rs 88.18 in Mumbai and Rs 85.99 in Chennai.

At the meeting attended by heads of Indian and foreign oil companies apart from representatives of multi-lateral agencies, PM Modi also appealed for assistance in commercial exploitation of natural gas.

Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Dharmendra Pradhan; Vice-Chairman NITI Aayog Dr Rajiv Kumar and senior officials from the Union Government and NITI Aayog were also present at the interaction.

First Published: Oct 15, 2018 17:03 IST