Petrol nears ₹80, diesel price touches new high

NEWDELHI: Petrol price was hiked by 33 paise a litre and diesel by 58 paise on Monday as fuel retailers raised their rates for the 16th day in a row selling petrol at ₹79.56 a litre, highest in 20 months, and diesel at record ₹78.85 per litre in Delhi.

Executives at state-run oil marketing companies (OMCS) said petrol and diesel prices are going up in tandem with their rates in the international oil markets. Retail rates of auto fuels vary from state to state due to wide differences in local levies. According to petroleum ministry’s datakeeper Petroleum Planning and Analysis cell (PPAC), the current pump prices of the two fuels are close to the level of October 2018, when India’s average cost of international crude oil import was around $80 per barrel compared to current average import price of $40.06 a barrel. Petrol was sold at a record price of ₹84 per litre on October 4, 2018 and during the same month the highest price of diesel was recorded on October 16, 2018 at ₹75.69 per litre.

Domestic consumers have seen a sustained spike in petrol and diesel rates as global oil prices started moving north after the producers’ cartel—the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, particularly Russia (together OPEC+)—ON June 6 decided to extend record output cuts by one more month till the end of July.

Despite global crude oil prices plunging in April and remaining low in May, they did not help Indian consumers because the government hiked levies that kept retail prices of the two fuels more or less unchanged. Executives of OMCS said requesting anonymity that petrol and diesel prices are high because of very high central and state’s levies.