Multiple hikes take petrol rate up by ₹1.65/litre since August 15

NEW DELHI: Petrol is costlier by ₹1.65 per litre after fuel retailers raised the price of the fuel in small doses to ₹82.08 per litre since August 15, but kept pump prices of diesel unchanged in the past month at ₹73.56 a litre.

Retail prices of both petrol and diesel were kept at ₹80.43 per litre and ₹73.56, respectively, in Delhi in the first 15 days of August. Petrol prices started moving north from August 16 with a 14 paise per litre increase that day. They crept up in subsequent days.

In the past fortnight, the price of petrol at the pump was revised up about a dozen times although international oil prices did not fluctuate much. Benchmark Brent crude remained in the range of $45.4 and $45.9 per barrel. On Tuesday, Brent crude opened at $45.60 per barrel and was trading at $45.86 a barrel, 1.28% up from Monday’s close of $45.28 per barrel.

India, which imports more than 80% of the crude oil it processes and for which it pays in dollars, has seen a marginal 0.8% softening of its cost of imports in the past fortnight. India’s average crude oil purchase cost (the Indian basket) that also factors in the rupeedollar exchange rate, was Rs 3,268.13 per barrel on August 31.

An oil ministry official said diesel and petrol prices in the country were linked to the international prices of finished products, and not crude prices. The government has no role to in the daily revision of petrol and diesel rates as they are deregulated products, he said, requesting anonymity. The government deregulated petrol prices in 2010 and diesel prices in 2014.

State-run fuel retailers – Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) – declined comment on the matter.

SC Sharma, an energy expert and a former officer on special duty at the erstwhile Planning Commission, said that in August, international diesel prices moved up by a marginal 0.05%, but petrol prices had been volatile at an increase of between about 5% and 7%.

“Hence, diesel prices were kept constant without change, while the petrol prices were increased in line with volatility,” he said.