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Tuesday could see consumers paying up to a rupee more for their petrol and diesel. This is because of the spurt in global crude oil prices following the coordinated drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s oil production facilities, including a crude-processing plant in Abqaiq, on Saturday.
Subsequent to the attack, Saudi Aramco had announced curtailment of production by almost a half.
Indian oil refiners — both in public and private sector — are primarily dependent on crude oil from Saudi Arabia.
Though the government maintained that Saudi Arabia has assured supply, it is also closely watching the situation as the oil market remained volatile.
‘Force majeure not invoked’
“The retail price could go up in the range of 2-3 per cent on Tuesday and move higher over the coming weeks if the hike in crude prices does not taper,” an oil marketing company official said. On Monday, petrol in Delhi was sold at ₹72.03 a litre and diesel at ₹65.43 a litre.
“When the domestic economy is in doldrums, the bombshell of oil price jump to $66 a barrel from $60 in one stroke has sent a shiver down the spine of road transporters,” SP Singh, Senior Fellow and Coordinator at Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training, said.
“Till now, Saudi Arabia has not announced any force majeure and has indicated that the supplies can be met with inventories which it holds. But clarity is yet to emerge on how much time it will take for production to return to earlier levels. Based on the news, there was an immediate swing in crude oil prices, but they cooled a bit subsequently,” Mukesh Kumar Surana, Chairman & Managing Director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, told BusinessLine .
“If they resume supplies quickly, prices will cool off. Since domestic auto fuel prices are calculated on a rolling basis (benchmarked to the 15-day average global product prices), the domestic prices will not shoot up suddenly, but may firm up in future if the supply disruptions persist,” he said.
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