Sunday 31 August 2014

Petrol prices slashed, diesel prices hiked

State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Thursday decided to cut retail petrol prices by Rs 1.09 a litre and increase retail diesel price by 56 paise a litre with effect from midnight of July 31. The OMCs also reduced the diesel price for bulk consumers by 72 paise a litre and price of non-subsidized LPG cylinder by Rs 2.50 for a 14.2 kg cylinder and that of commercial LPG cylinder by Rs 4.00 for a 19kg cylinder. 

Private oil firms like Reliance Industries (RIL), Essar Oil and Shell are also likely to reduce petrol prices to make their prices at par with OMCs. 

This is because the international prices of petrol, diesel and LPG have fallen in the global markets and the Indian Rupee slightly depreciated against the US Dollar. This is the first drop in petrol prices since April. Petrol prices were last slashed on April 15, by 70 paise per litre, excluding local levies. 

After revision, petrol will be sold at Rs 72.51 per litre in Delhi, Rs 80.30 a litre in Kolkata, Rs 80.60 in Mumbai and Rs 75.78 per litre in Chennai. Similarly, diesel will be sold at Rs 50.40 in Delhi, Rs 63.22 per litre in Kolkata, Rs 66.63 per litre in Mumbai and Rs 62.30 per litre in Chennai.


A petrol pump in Chandigarh. (TOI file photo) 

Due to the hike, the under-recovery in diesel will fall to Rs 1.33 a litre from Rs 1.83 a litre, taking the fuel closer to deregulation. 

The international crude oil price of Indian basket went down to $ 106.12 per barrel on Wednesday compared $106.34 per barrel on Tuesday. In rupee terms, the price of Indian basket decreased to Rs 6383.12 per barrels on Wednesday as compared to Rs 6391.03 per barrel on Tuesday. 


A diesel pump in Kochi. (TOI file photo by Jipson Sikhera) 

The last revision in fuel prices were undertaken on June 30 when petrol prices were hiked by Rs 1.69 per litre and diesel by 50 paise per litre. The government in January last year decided that diesel prices should be raised by 40-50 paise a litre every month until losses are wiped out. 

The government freed petrol prices from its control in June 2010 and since then state-owned oil firms like BPCL, HPCL and Indian Oil have been revising rates on the 1st and 16th of every month based on the fortnightly average of international oil prices and the rupee-dollar exchange rate. 

OMCs from mid-July were incurring combined daily under-recovery of about Rs 261 crore on the sale of sensitive petroleum products like diesel, kerosene and domestic LPG, which is expected to come down with 56 paise hike in diesel price. The under recoveries for the financial year 2014-15 are projected to be Rs 91,665 compared to Rs 1, 39,869 crore in the 2013-14.

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