New Delhi: Petrol price on Wednesday crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Delhi after fuel prices were hiked again on the back of firming international oil rates. Petrol price was increased by 35 paise per litre, while diesel rates were increased by 17 paise a litre, according to a price notification from state-owned fuel retailers. In Delhi, the price of petrol soared to Rs 100.21 per litre and diesel rates rose to Rs 89.53 a litre.
The national capital is the last of the metro cities to see petrol rising above the Rs 100-a-litre mark. Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune already have prices above that mark. Kolkata also saw petrol prices climbing over Rs 100 per litre on Wednesday. The fuel now costs Rs 100.23 a litre in the city. Brent crude oil had surged to USD 78 per barrel as OPEC+ proposal for a monthly output hike of 400,000 barrels per day from next month has been put on hold and lifting of US sanctions on Iran's exports no longer appears imminent.
OPEC+ led by Saudi Arabia linking output hike to extending OPEC+ deal up to December 2022, without any revision in production baselines demanded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has led to a stalemate. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates global oil demand to recover to a pre-COVID level of 100.6 million barrels per day only in the fourth quarter of the 2022 calendar year, while OPEC+ proposal is to unwind production cuts fully by September 2022.
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The rally in international oil prices has reflected in rising retail prices in India, which is 85 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs. Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as value-added tax (VAT) and freight charges. In Mumbai, petrol is priced at Rs 106.25 a litre and it costs Rs 101.06 in Chennai. As much as 55 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol in Delhi is made up of taxes (Rs 32.90 a litre excise duty collected by the central government and Rs 22.80 VAT levied by the state government).
Half of the diesel price is made up of taxes (Rs 31.80 central excise and Rs 13.04 state VAT). Petrol has crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Punjab, Ladakh, Sikkim and Pondicherry.
Diesel, the most used fuel in the country, is above that level in some places in Rajasthan, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. The hike on Wednesday is the 36th increase in the price of petrol since May 4, when state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal. In 36 hikes, the price of petrol has risen by Rs 9.81 per litre. During this period, diesel rates have soared by Rs 8.80 a litre in 34 instances of price increase.
(PTI)
