E-Paper
Fuel prices rise for sixth day, petrol rate close to record
Petrol was sold at ₹83.71 per litre in Delhi on Monday; only 30 paise away from surpassing the previous record of ₹84 a litre in 2018, according to official data.
Auto fuel rates have surged in the last 18 days, making petrol costlier by ₹2.65 per litre in Delhi and diesel by ₹3.41 per litre since November 19, breaking the one-and-a-half-month-long stable price regime.
Petrol was sold at ₹83.71 per litre in Delhi on Monday; only 30 paise away from surpassing the previous record of ₹84 a litre in 2018, according to official data.
Diesel on Monday was priced at ₹73.87 per litre in Delhi, which is the highest since July 30, 2020, when it was sold at ₹81.94 a litre. The Delhi government on July 31, 2020 slashed value-added tax (VAT) by ₹8.38 a litre on diesel to protect the consumers from rising diesel rates. A government official and an executive of an oil company said on condition of anonymity that the spike in petrol and diesel rates was because of rising global crude oil rates in anticipation of rising demand and oil squeeze by producers’ cartel.
Benchmark Brent, which was $44.2 a barrel on November 19, saw over 11% jump at $49.25 a barrel on Friday (India’ retail rates are based on global fuel prices of previous day) as cartel of oil producing countries – the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and their allies, together known as OPEC+ – decided against full restoration of the 7.7 million barrels per day output cut from the next calendar year, people mentioned above said. Global oil prices are also moving north because of hopes of rapid demand recovery in anticipation of Covid-19 vaccines, they added.
