Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged on Thursday after touching new highs in the previous session.
Petrol and diesel prices in Delhi stayed at Rs 86.30 and Rs 76.48 per litre, respectively, according to a price notification from oil marketing companies (OMCs). Fuel prices in Mumbai too remained constant with petrol and diesel being sold at Rs 92.86 and Rs 83.30 per litre, respectively.
In Chennai and Kolkata, petrol is selling at Rs 88.82 and Rs 87.69 per litre and diesel at Rs 81.71 and Rs 80.08 per litre, respectively.
Fuel prices in the country on Wednesday touched new all-time highs after rates were hiked by 25 paise per litre each. They have increased sharply across the country, but their rise at the retail level has varied from state to state depending on the quantum of taxes in each state.
Though firm global crude and product price is the reason for this increase, it is interesting to note that even though crude has been hovering just over $55 a barrel for some time now, OMCs have opted for both a pause in prices of auto fuels as well as an increase in the retail prices on consecutive days.
Crude prices have remained firm for the last few weeks in the wake of unilateral production cuts announced by Saudi Arabia and a pick-up in consumption in all major economies globally.
January has seen a 10-fold rise in petrol and diesel prices with the two fuels' rates increasing by Rs 2.59 and Rs 2.61 per litre, respectively.
The last few increases in pump prices of petrol and diesel have taken their rates to record levels across the country—all major metros and other towns. The last time the retail prices of auto fuels were close to the current levels was on 4 October 2018 when crude prices had shot up to $80 a barrel.
Petrol price came very close to breaching the all-time high of Rs 84 a litre (reached on 4 October 2018) when it touched Rs 83.71 a litre on 7 December 2020; but its march was halted with no price revision by the OMCs in that month. The rise restarted only on 6 January.
Oil company executives said that petrol and diesel prices may rise further in the coming days as retail prices may have to be balanced in line with global developments to prevent OMCs from making a loss on the sale of auto fuels.
(With inputs from Agencies)
