Fuel prices to rise further in coming days

After three consecutive hikes this week, public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) are likely to soon go in for further increase in the retail prices of petrol and diesel.

The next set of price increase is part of their efforts to catch up with the rise in global crude oil prices in recent weeks, when the OMCs were unable to keep in step with the global price trends partly due to assembly elections in five States in March-April.

On Thursday, diesel in Delhi was priced at ₹81.42 per litre, having risen by 69 paise since the election results in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry was announced on Sunday. The price of petrol similarly rose by 59 paise to ₹90.99 per litre.

“Retail prices are likely to rise by 3-4 per litre given the roughly $5 rise in Brent since the start of March that is yet to be passed on,” said Prashant Vasisht, Vice-President, Corporate Ratings at ICRA.

Brent crude
Brent crude has been hovering around $70 per barrel and is expected to rise further to $73-75 per barrel, said Anuj Gupta, Analyst at Angel Broking.

“Despite the sharp fall in the Indian demand due to the ongoing second wave of Covid, OPEC has taken a positive demand outlook betting on increased economic activity in the US and China,” Gupta said.