Amid pressure to check the fuel price rise, oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Thursday decided to keep petrol and diesel prices unchanged for the second consecutive day.
Petrol and diesel prices in Delhi stayed at Rs 90.93 and Rs 81.32 per litre, respectively, according to a price notification from OMCs. Fuel prices in Mumbai too remained constant with petrol and diesel being sold at Rs 97.34 and Rs 88.44 per litre, respectively.
In Chennai and Kolkata, petrol is selling at Rs 92.90 and Rs 91.12 per litre, and diesel at Rs 86.31 and Rs 84.20 per litre, respectively.
The price pause on Thursday may be momentary as global oil prices are on the boil with benchmark Brent crude prices remaining above $65 a barrel. The product prices in the international market have also firmed up over restricted supplies and a demand pick-up.
The increase of fuel prices in the previous weeks has taken petrol's rate to historically high levels of Rs 100 a litre in several cities across the country.
Since fuel prices are benchmarked to a 15-day rolling average of global refined products' prices and dollar exchange rate, pump prices can be expected to remain northbound over the next few days even if crude price stabilises.
Petrol and diesel prices have increased 25 times in 2021 with the two auto fuels increasing by Rs 7.22 and Rs 7.45 per litre respectively so far this year.
(With inputs from agencies)
