The Cabinet on Thursday raised the foreign direct investment limit in petroleum sector to 100 per cent.

However, FDI in public sector oil and gas companies will continue at 26 per cent, highly placed sources said in New Delhi.

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A meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, raised the FDI limit in oil refining to 100 per cent from current 26 per cent, while the cap for oil marketing companies has been hiked from 74 per cent to 100 per cent.

It also put FDI in oil refining and marketing on the automatic list.

FDI in petroleum exploration (small fields through bidding route) will be 100 per cent (unchanged), but can be done through the automatic route. For petroleum exploration in unincorporated joint ventures, the cap will be raised from 60 per cent to 100 per cent, while that in case of incorporated joint ventures will be raised from 51 per cent to 100 per cent.