NEW DELHI, May 15 (UPI) -- Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said there will be no reduction in the duty charged on imported oil, despite soaring energy prices.

India's state-owned oil marketing companies have been hit hard by a sharp jump in oil prices, and there had been talk that the import duty might be cut to offset some of their losses.

"No. Because mere reduction in import duty on crude oil has no impact on administered prices," Chidambaram told journalists Thursday in New Delhi, the Press Trust of India reports.

He was answering a question on whether the government was considering cutting oil tariffs similarly to what it has done in the case of some other commodities to check consumer price increases and the consequent inflationary pressures.

In the case of crude oil prices, however, India's ruling coalition, led by the Congress Party of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has faced stiff opposition from its Left partners for passing on the higher prices to the masses. The government needs the support of the Left to stay in power at least until elections next year.