Petrol, diesel price hike likely to restart by next week
New Delhi, March 2: With the Assembly elections in five states all set to be over by the next week and international crude oil prices going above $110 a barrel for the first time since mid-2014, petrol and diesel price hikes are likely to resume in the coming days.
Notably, international crude oil prices have shot above $110 a barrel for the first time since mid-2014 following apprehensions that oil and gas supplies from Russia could be disrupted either by the war in Ukraine or retaliatory western sanctions.
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According to information from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Oil Ministry, the basket of crude oil India buys rose above $102 per barrel on March 1, the highest since August 2014. This compares to an average of USD 81.5 per barrel price of the Indian basket of crude oil at the time of freezing of petrol and diesel prices in early November last year, as per a report.
"With state elections getting over next week, we expect daily fuel price hikes to restart across both gasoline and diesel," JP Morgan said in a report.
The final phase of polling for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly is on February 7 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.
It is learnt that state-owned fuel retailers — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) are making a loss of Rs 5.70 a litre on petrol and diesel. This is without taking into account their normal margin of Rs 2.50 per litre.
On the other hand, mounting inflation has brought yet another major setback to Indian consumers as the prices of commercial LPG cylinders have been increased with effect from Tuesday.
As per the latest news report, the cost of commercial LPG cylinder has been increased by Rs 105 in Delhi, by Rs 108 in Kolkata, starting from March 1.
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On February 1, the National Oil Marketing Companies lowered the price of a 19 kg commercial LPG cylinder by Rs 91.50. However, from Tuesday, a 19 kg commercial cylinder would cost Rs 2,012 in Delhi due to this hike. Meanwhile, the price of a 5 kg cylinder has jumped by Rs 27.
-PTC News
