Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 25-26 paise per litre on Saturday for the second consecutive day.
This took the petrol price in Delhi to Rs 85.70 per litre and Rs 92.28 in Mumbai. Diesel rate climbed to Rs 75.88 a litre in the national capital - its highest ever. In Mumbai, diesel price too increased to an all-time high of Rs 82.66, the price data showed.
Similarly, in Chennai and Kolkata, petrol is now priced at Rs 88.29 and Rs 87.11 a litre respectively.
Diesel on the other hand faced sharper increase, Chennai diesel rose 24 paise per litre to Rs 81.14 a litre, and in Kolkata by 25 paise per litre to Rs 79.48 a litre.
Fuel prices are now at a record high in the country, prompting cries for a cut in excise duty to ease the burden on the consumers.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan earlier this week blamed Saudi oil output cut for the surge in oil prices but remained non-committal on tax cuts.
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has pledged additional voluntary output cuts of 1 million barrels per day in February and March, which has led to price climbing to the most since the pandemic broke out.
"A few months back, we all were discussing about consumption-centric revival, demand-driven revival, and we were supposed to restrict our production cut, and ramp-up (of production) gradually by January. But contradiction to that, we all are controlling oil production (now)," he said at an energy conference referring to a deal between Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia.
This cut, he said, was "creating confusion" among consuming nations.
"This kind of scenario will push us to more alternate methods of energy sourcing. Every country has its own strategy. Being a major consumer of the globe today, we would be looking towards more alternate energy sources," Pradhan said.
"If the producing countries will not recognise our aspiration then new business models are bound to come up," he had noted.
State-owned fuel retailers -- Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) -- had on January 6 resumed daily price revision after nearly a month-long hiatus.
Since then, rates have gone up by Rs 1.74 a litre on petrol and Rs 1.76 in case of diesel.
This comes after international oil prices firmed up on hopes of demand returning from the rollout of coronavirus vaccines in different countries, including India.
Petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis in line with benchmark international price and foreign exchange rates. They vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes.
(With inputs from Agencies)
