The retail price of petrol has crossed Rs 100-a-litre mark in Mumbai on Saturday, its highest level ever. After a day’s hiatus, the state-run oil marketing companies have revised the fuel prices on Saturday. While petrol has become expensive by up to 26 paise, diesel is costlier by up to 30 paise on May 29, according to Indian Oil Corporation.
In Delhi, petrol rate has jumped to Rs 93.94 for a litre. Petrol is being sold at Rs 100.19 in the financial capital. The auto fuel prices have jumped to Rs 93.97 in Kolkata and Rs 95.51 in Chennai.
Diesel price has witnessed a sharp jump in this month. A litre of diesel costs Rs 84.89 in Delhi. You have to pay Rs 92.17 for a litre of diesel in Mumbai. While diesel rates have risen to Rs 87.74 in Kolkata and Rs 89.65 in Chennai.
Fuel prices have been soaring since the beginning of this month. State-run companies resumed daily revisions on May 4 after an over 18-day halt. Since then, petrol price has risen by Rs 3.30 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.89. Petrol rates had already crossed the Rs 100-mark in several cities in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan had the costliest petrol and diesel in the country.
Fuel rates differ from state to state depending on the incidence of value-added tax (VAT). The price of auto fuel in India depends on international crude oil prices, rupee-dollar exchange rate. Oil marketing companies like the Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited revise the rates daily.
In the international market, oil prices inched higher on Friday. Brent on track to close at a two-year high. Brent was up 33 cents, or 0.5%, at $69.79 a barrel by 1:33 p.m. (1733 GMT), and US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 6 cents, or 0.5%, to $66.91 a barrel, according to Reuters. Both benchmarks were on track to post weekly gains of 5% and 6%, respectively.
Earlier this month, India’s top state oil refiners have started reducing processing runs and crude imports as the surging COVID-19 pandemic has cut fuel consumption. Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS), the country’s biggest refiner, has reduced runs to an average of between 85% and 88% of processing capacity, a company official said, Reuters reported.
