Jet fuel prices surge by 18% to a record high
NEW DELHI: Jet fuel prices were hiked by more than 18% on Wednesday, the steepest ever increase, to all-time high levels with the international oil price surging to a multi-year high.
The increase, the sixth straight this year, led to prices soaring past the ₹1 lakh per kilolitre (kl) mark for the first time ever.
Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was hiked by ₹17,135.63 per kl, or 18.3%, to ₹110,666.29 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by stateowned fuel retailers.
Jet fuel prices are revised on the 1st and 16th of every month based on the average international price of benchmark fuel in the preceding fortnight.
International oil prices had climbed to a 14-year high of near $140 per barrel last week on fears of supply disruption following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The rates have since mellowed to around $100 per barrel.
ATF price soared to ₹109,119.83 a kl in Mumbai and ₹114,979.70 in Kolkata. It is priced at ₹114,133.73 per kl in Chennai.
Jet fuel, which makes up for almost 40% of the running cost of an airline, has this year hit new highs. The previous peak of ₹71,028.26 per kl was recorded in August 2008, when international crude oil prices touched $147 per barrel.
Brent crude oil on Wednesday was trading just above $100 per barrel.
ATF prices have increased every fortnight since the start of 2022. In six hikes beginning January 1, ATF prices have been increased by ₹36,643.88 kl or almost 50%.
However, petrol and diesel prices continue to remain on a freeze for a record 132 days on Wednesday.
The daily price revision was put on hold on November 4, 2021, just as campaigning to elect new governments in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Punjab started. Cooking gas prices have also been on a freeze since October, when they touched ₹900 per cylinder.
This is despite a wild swing in international oil prices. The Brent crude oil price was $82.74 per barrel on November 5, 2021, before it started to fall and touched $68.87 a barrel on December 1.
The price climbed to more than $139 per barrel last week following the Russia-Ukraine crisis. It is now trading at $101, well above the peak of $86.40 on October 26, 2021, which had led to petrol and diesel prices spiking to all-time highs.
Petrol costs ₹95.41 a litre in Delhi and diesel is priced at ₹86.67, according to information from state fuel retailers.
The record-high retail pump prices prompted the government to cut excise duty on petrol by ₹5 a litre and that on diesel by ₹10. Many states matched this with a reduction in local sales tax or VAT rates.