Within hours of war breaking out in Iraq, the government on Thursday put in motion a contingency plan to ensure regular supplies of petroleum products for the next two months and said it would cushion domestic consumers in case global crude oil prices shoot up.

"We have enough stocks to meet country's oil demand for next two months. There will be no shortage even if supplies from Iraq were disrupted," petroleum secretary B K Chaturvedi said after meeting oil industry officials on the contingency plan.

Stating that the US-led war in Iraq was unlikely to have any impact on India's oil supplies, he said, “Our three-pronged contingency plan involves shoring up of stocks, ensuring continuous supplies at all places and seeing that retail prices are at reasonable level."

Chaturvedi, however, did not say what he considered was reasonable price. Prices of petrol and diesel have risen by around Rs 5 per litre since January as global crude oil prices have firmed up on war fears.

"We are constantly in touch with the finance ministry and (excise and customs) duties on crude oil and petroleum product would be cut if global crude oil prices rise," he said.

The government has asked domestic refineries and exploration and production companies to defer maintenance shutdowns by four months, he said while emphasising that the war would only dry up the small quantity of oil exported by Iraq.

"If crude prices rise steeply, we may stop procurement and exhaust the current stockpile of close to 25 days," he said while anticipating that war in Iraq would be of short duration.

Refiners told to defer maintenance shutdowns

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, India's oil ministry asked refiners to defer maintenance shutdowns by four months to ensure a steady supply of oil products in the import-dependent country, Petroleum Secretary B K Chaturvedi said on Thursday.

"We have said the refineries do not need to take their shutdowns now. They can do it after four months," he told reporters after top officials met to review India's oil supplies after the US-led attack on Iraq.

In February, the ministry had asked oil firms to put off refinery maintenance until the end of March.

Industry officials say India had about 40-45 days stock of refined products and three-four weeks of crude, including that in tankers either unloading of still at sea. Another 60,000 bpd of Nile Blend crude is available from Sudan where India's state exploration firm has bought equity in an oil field.

India has approached countries outside the war zone for emergency supplies if necessary and can also step up domestic crude output, which meets 30 percent of the crude requirements of the country's 17 refineries that can process 2.3 million bpd.

Additional inputs: Reuters