``In the next two months, you will see the difference,'' the minister said, asked about the pace of reforms in the petroleum sector. The pending subsidy rollback should find prices of kerosene and cooking gas going up close on the heels of the 40 per cent increase in diesel prices last month.

Naik made a commitment to liberalisation and everything it involved. He promised to push for a reduction in import duties on crude oil and petroleum products and award exploration blocks offered as part of the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP) in record time.

The minister drew the line at strategic sales in PSus however. He said the only form of disinvestment would be through the market.

Replying to a question on Reliance Industries' proposal to buy strategic stakes in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) or Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Naik said, ``there will be no direct sales.''"Disinvestment has to be through the market,'' he said.

He confirmed that the 10 per cent disinvestment of the government's stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was planned early next year. The offering of government shares in Indian Oil will be in the form of both GDRs and a domestic float.

He said he was yet to ``apply his mind on the Nitish Sengupta committee recommendations,'' which calls for a major restructuring within the oil industry. The proposals involve selling government shareholding in smaller oil refining companies to public sector giants.

On the question of rollback of LPG, kerosene subsidies, he said that he still had four months to implement the 33 per cent roll-back in LPG subsidy scheduled for the 1999-2000 fiscal.

He added that the ministry would do something to bring down the oil pool account deficit, which has grown to Rs 4,800 crore since the diesel price hike last month. The hike in diesel prices brought down the deficit to Rs 3,900 crore, but the continuing subsidies on LPG and kerosene have added to the shortfall in the pool account.

The oil import bill is expected to grow to a whopping Rs 54,000 crore ($ 12.55 billion), from Rs 24,000 crore ($ 5.58 billion) in 1998-99. The 125- per cent increase in the oil bill coincides with crude imports having nearly doubled this year. The tough decisions to raise LPG, kerosene prices was apparent more in what Naik did not say than what he did say about subsidies. Unlike his predecessors the petroleum minister did not lend unconditional support to subsidising the ``poor man's fuel'' kerosene.

On the contrary, he committed himself to a crusade against adulteration of motor spirit with the hugely subsidised petroleum product. He reiterated that the subsidy roll-back in LPG and kerosene and linking diesel prices at home with global rates, were decisions that had already been taken by the Union Cabinet in September 1997.