The oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Friday kept petrol and diesel prices unchanged after reducing them for two consecutive days.
Accordingly, petrol now costs Rs 90.78 per litre in Delhi and a litre of diesel comes for Rs 81.10. In Mumbai, petrol and diesel were sold at Rs 97.19 and Rs 88.20 per litre, respectively.
In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs 92.77 per litre while the price of diesel is Rs 86.10 per litre. The price of petrol in Kolkata is Rs 90.98 per litre while diesel is sold at Rs 83.98 per litre.
In Pune, petrol and diesel remained at Rs 96.83 per litre and Rs 86.51 per litre respectively.
According to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers, petrol price was cut by 21 paise per litre and diesel by 20 paise on Thursday.
The latest price cuts on auto fuel have come after OMCs kept oil prices steady for the last 24 days. Petrol and diesel prices were last revised upwards on February 27 and ever since then retail prices remained unchanged even though during the period crude jumped to over $70 a barrel only to start falling and is now slightly up at $63.5 a barrel.
The current reduction in retail prices has not helped in bringing down fuel prices that have crossed Rs 100 per litre (petrol) mark in several parts of the country and continues to remain above the levels even now.
Since the beginning of February crude has gained more than $7 per barrel that pushed OMCs to increase fuel prices on 14 occasions raising the prices by Rs 4.22 per litre for petrol and by Rs 4.34 a litre for diesel in Delhi.
Crude has now slipped around 9 per cent in the last eight days and is now sitting at a tab lower around $ 63.5 a barrel on the back of rising US inventory and concerns on demand squeeze over the new wave of the pandemic.
The petrol and diesel prices have increased 26 times in 2021 with the two auto fuels increasing by Rs 7.46 and Rs 7.60 per litre respectively so far this year.
(With inputs from Agencies)
