Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on September 25, according to a price notification by state-run oil companies.
Diesel price was hiked by 20-22 paise per litre across the country - the first increase in rates in over two months – on September 24, as international oil prices neared their highest since 2018.
Petrol price was not changed on the day. State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) hadn't revised fuel rates since September 5 despite a surge in international oil prices.
The September 24 hike took the diesel price to Rs 88.82 per litre in Delhi, which remained the same on September 25. Petrol costs Rs 101.19 a litre in the national capital on the day.
In Mumbai, fuel prices witnessed a similar trend. The petrol price remained unchanged and retailed at Rs 107.26 a litre. The financial hub, on May 29, became the first metro in the country where petrol was being sold for more than Rs 100 per litre.
Diesel price also remained the same and sold at Rs 96.41 per litre in Maharashtra’s capital.
The fuel prices remain unchanged in Kolkata too, where a litre of petrol and diesel were retailed at Rs 101.62 and 91.92, respectively.
Chennai also retailed a litre of petrol at the same price - Rs 98.96. Diesel price also remained unchanged at Rs 93.46 per litre in Tamil Nadu’s capital.
Since the last price revision in petrol on September 5, the price of petrol and diesel in the international market is higher by around $6-7 per barrel as compared to average prices during August.
But oil companies, which are supposed to revise prices daily in line with the cost, did not change rates for almost three weeks. They have now started to pass on the increase to customers. Average international crude oil prices had fallen by more than $3 per barrel in August as compared to the previous month. This came against the backdrop of mixed economic data from the United States and China and mobility restrictions in Asia fuelled by the fast-spreading Delta variant.
Accordingly, retail prices of petrol and diesel in the Delhi market were reduced by Rs 0.65 a litre and Rs 1.25 per litre by oil marketing companies from July 18 onwards.
The last downward revision was on September 5. Prior to that, the petrol price was increased by Rs 11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17. Diesel rate had gone up by Rs 9.14 during this period.
The price hike during this period 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 per cent of its oil needs and so benchmarks local fuel rates to international oil prices.
(With inputs from PTI)
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