NEW DELHI: Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday raised hopes of the government cutting excise duty to soften the impact of oil prices as petrol and diesel prices hit historic highs on Sunday with state-run fuel retailers racing to catch up with current market rates after freezing pump prices for 19 days ahead of the Karnataka election."The Centre is sensitive towards the rising fuel prices . Various alternatives are being explored. I hope something will work out soon," Pradhan told reporters in Bhubaneswar.The minister blamed "the unilateral decision of Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reduce production, political instability in Venezuela and the prospect of US sanctions against Iran" for the steady rise in fuel prices. Last week, global benchmark Brent hit $80/barrel , the highest since November, 2014.Pradhan's statement came in the backdrop of petrol price touching a record high of Rs 76.24 per litre, rising 33 paise in Delhi - the reference market - to mark the steepest increase since the retailers adopted the system of daily price revision in June, 2017. The price of Diesel rose by 26 paisa to Rs 67.57 a litre, an all-time high.Fuel pump prices were higher in states with higher VAT or other levies, with Mumbai suffering the highest pump prices. In Delhi, petrol price has breached the previous high of Rs 76.06 touched on September 14, 2013. Diesel rates are also at the all-time high level.These price levels come on the back of retailers raising prices for the seventh straight day after resuming daily revision from May 14, two days after the Karnataka elections. They had stopped revising prices since April 24 after a nudge from the government ahead of the polls.Pradhan has so far been ruling out any excise cut saying the oil price spike was temporary. Instead, he kept urging states to cut VAT and bring fuels under the GST regime. Just a fortnight back, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg too had ruled out a tax cut. But the minister's statement on Sunday clearly indicates a rethink in the government to avoid public outcry getting louder.The government had raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 - when crude went into a free fall - aggregating Rs 11.77 per litre on petrol and Rs 13.47 on diesel. Though oil prices have been moving up since August 2017, excise was cut only once by Rs 2 in October that year.The benchmark international rate for petrol, used for revising rate on April 24, had gone up from $78.84 per barrel to $84.97 on May 14.It has further risen to $84.97, indicating more daily hikes would be needed to level retail price with cost. Similarly, benchmark international diesel rates during this period have climbed from $84.68/barrel to $90.28/ barrel. Also, the rupee has weakened to Rs 67.27 per US dollar from Rs 66.62, making imports costlier.