Public sector oil marketing companies on Friday increased petrol and diesel prices by Rs 1.50and 45 paise /litre (excluding taxes) respectively.The price hike is effective midnight of Friday/Saturday. This is the second consecutive increase in diesel price within a monthNow, a litre of petrol in Delhi will cost about Rs 69.06, and diesel Rs 48.16. Defending the increase, public sector oil refiner-cum-retailer Indian Oil Corporation said this was because of the sharp uptrend in crude oil prices.
“Since the last price change, international oil prices have constantly shown an uptrend. Crude oil price has increased from $109.08 to $113.24 a barrel, while international petrol prices have gone up from $119.59 to $128.57 a barrel,” IndianOil said in a statement. This has negated the advantage gained from the improved rupee-dollar exchange rate.
The exchange rate has improved from Rs 54.78 to Rs 53.43 a dollar during the last fortnight, the statement added.
Incremental hikes
Recently, the Government had allowed the oil companies to increase diesel prices in small increments till they are able to neutralise the under-recovery incurred because of selling the product at a controlled price.
Since the last price revision, international diesel prices have shown a continued uptrend.
As a result, under-recovery has gone up to Rs 10.72/litre which will now, with this increase, fall to Rs 10.27/litre.