Petrol, diesel prices remain static

New Delhi : Fuel prices remained unchanged in the country on Monday after the revision of duties by the Centre and the state governments, providing a much needed relief to consumers from the consistent increase in the rates earlier.

Accordingly, petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for 11th consecutive day under the daily price revision mechanism followed by oil marketing companies.

The pump price of petrol in Delhi, which fell to Rs 103.97 a litre at 6 a.m. on November 4, remained at the same level on Monday.

The diesel prices also remained unchanged in the capital at Rs 86.67 a litre.

In the financial capital Mumbai, petrol continued to be priced at Rs 109.98 a litre and diesel Rs 94.14 a litre.

Prices also remained static on Monday in Kolkata where the price of petrol reduced by Rs 5.82 to Rs 104.67 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 11.77 to Rs 89.79 per litre in the first week of November.

Petrol price in Chennai stood at Rs 101.40 per litre and diesel at Rs 91.43 per litre.

Across the country as well, price of the fuel largely remained unchanged on Monday but the retail rates varied depending on the level of local taxes.

The global crude prices which touched a three-year high of over $85 a barrel on several occasions in the past one month, has softened now to around $ 81.5 a barrel. Rise in the US inventory has pushed down crude prices but a decision by the OPEC+ on only gradual increase in production in December could raise crude prices further. This could put pressure on oil companies to revise fuel prices upwards again.

Before the price cuts and pause, diesel prices had spiked on 30 out of the last 52 days, taking up its retail price by Rs 9.90 per litre in Delhi.

Petrol prices had also increased on 28 of the previous 48 days, which increased its pump price by Rs 8.85 per litre.

Since January 1 2021, the rates of the two fuels rose by more than Rs 26 a litre before the duty cuts.

The excise duty cut by the Centre on November 3 was the first such exercise since the onset of Covid pandemic in early 2020.

The government had revised the excise duty on petrol and diesel sharply in March and again in May last year to mobilise additional resources for Covid relief measures.