Fresh hike: Diesel at record high, petrol nears all-time high
(Sourced from PTI)
Petrol and diesel prices on Thursday neared record levels across the country after rates were hiked by 25 paise and 30 paise a liter respectively. The price of petrol was hiked to Rs. 101.64 a liter in Delhi and to Rs. 107.71 per liter in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.
Diesel rates increased to Rs. 89.87 a liter in Delhi and Rs. 97.52 in Mumbai. Prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes. This is the second price increase in petrol since the ending of a three-week-long hiatus in rate revision and the fifth in the case of diesel.
The hike took the retail price of petrol to a near-record high. Petrol had hit a record high of Rs. 101.84 a liter in Delhi in July and Rs. 107.83 in Mumbai. For diesel, the increase led to rates equaling the all-time high of Rs. 89.87 a liter seen in Delhi in the same month. International oil prices are at a three-year high.
Global benchmark Brent is trading at $78.64 per barrel. This spurt in global rates led state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to resume daily price revisions on September 24, ending the pause in rates that came into effect from September 5.
In five price increases since September 24, diesel rates have gone up by 1.25 paise per liter, negating all of the price reductions that happened between July 18 and September 5. Petrol price has increased by 50 paise per liter in two installments this week. Previously, diesel price was last increased on July 15. The last increase in petrol rate was on July 17.
International crude oil prices have reached a nearly three-year high as global output disruptions have forced energy companies to draw more crude oil out of their stockpiles. When international oil rates fell in July and August, retail prices of petrol and diesel in the Delhi market were reduced by Rs. 0.65 and Rs. 1.25 per liter.
The price hike between May 4 and July 17 pushed petrol prices above the Rs. 100-a-litre mark in more than half of the country, while diesel crossed that level in at least three states. India is dependent on imports to meet nearly 85 percent of its oil needs and so benchmarks local fuel rates to international oil prices.
