The retail prices of diesel and petrolrose by roughly ₹4 through May, registering their steepest rise for any month so far this year.
In Delhi, the price of diesel has risen by ₹4.42 during May to ₹85.15 per litre on Monday, while the price of petrol has risen by ₹3.83 to ₹94.23 per litre. In Mumbai, the price of petrol crossed the ₹100 per litre mark last week. The difference in regional prices is due to the variance in local taxes.
Petrol and diesel prices have risen across the country by around 32 per cent on a year-on-year basis. The prices remained on an upwards climb during May as oil marketing companies sought to bridge the gap with higher global crude prices after a hiatus in price revisions that had roughly harmonised with the March-April state election season.
Brent crude had also remained largely under $65 per barrel mark during March and early April. However, prices have since then consistently hovered around $70 per barrel.
“Every dollar rise in crude prices leads to a rise of 55-65 paise in domestic retail prices,” said Prashant Vasisht, Vice-President, Corporate Ratings at ICRA. “The price of LPG cylinders will also rise if crude remains strong.”
Oil marketing companies make any revisions to the domestic price of LPG cylinders at the start of every month. In April, the OMCs had reduced the price of domestic cylinders by ₹10. A 14.2kg domestic LPG cylinder in Delhi was priced 39 per cent higher on a year-on-year basis at ₹809 during May.