The Union Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has said hike in petrol price was because of increase in prices of crude oil in the international market. Talking to reporters in Kolkata on Wednesday, he said, the price of crude oil in the international market has touched 90 dollars a barrel. Petrol prices have been deregulated already. So the hike in price was in parity with international prices. State-run oil refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) hiked petrol prices by 2.96 a litre effective from Tuesday midnight.