Petroleum – i.e. crude oil represents the single most important factor for the
progress achieved by mankind in the industrial field. Being a scarce
resource, oil has
always played a prominent role in international politics and
economics. India, being a
net oil-importing nation, has to have a clear long-term strategic
perspective for
procurement, distribution, pricing, etc of this key resource.

 Government will always have a role to play as far as the petroleum sector is
concerned. If left to market forces alone (vagaries of international
prices dominated
by OPEC’s arm twisting policies, customers will have to bear the brunt of highly
unpredictable oil prices.
An economy can ill afford wide short-term fluctuation of prices of such a key
resource. The govt. thus is duty bound to ensure a reasonable
stability of market
prices of petroleum products.
 By giving the sector the status of a “strategic” one, the government
would be, in
principle giving it the due importance it deserves.
 After the dismantling of the Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) the private
players would have a much more active role in pricing at the retail outlets. The
Regulatory framework must be in place to provide a level playing filed
to all the
major refineries.