New Delhi, Oct. 21: The trigger for lowering fuel prices seems to have driven a wedge between two ministries of the Manmohan Singh government.

While finance minister P. Chidambaram favours a cut in fuel price once crude drops below $67 per barrel, petroleum minister Murli Deora wants this benchmark to be lowered to $61 a barrel.

“When crude prices come down to $67 per barrel, oil companies will break even. When that happens, the government will take a decision at an appropriate time,” Chidambaram said while replying to a discussion on supplementary demands for grants in the Lok Sabha.

Deora, however, has ruled out any immediate cut in fuel prices. A price reduction may be considered if crude falls to $61 per barrel, he said.

Though the Indian basket of crude is currently ruling at $64 a barrel, the average price for October is around $71 a barrel.

“Our administered prices of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG cylinder and kerosene are based on the Indian basket calculated at $67 a barrel. The drop in crude oil prices has helped but not to the point where we can roll back the prices,” Chidambaram said.

“Even at $71 or $72 a barrel, there is an element of subsidy. Though under-recovery has come down, we are not making any profit,” he said.

Deora said though the decline in global crude prices had helped state-run oil firms, the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar had offset some of the gains.

Domestic oil companies are losing Rs 2.85 a litre on petrol, Rs 7.26 on diesel, Rs 29.19 on kerosene and Rs 335.03 per domestic LPG cylinder for selling below cost and are projected to lose Rs 1,47,592 crore in revenues this fiscal.