Petrol, diesel prices unchanged for eighth straight day
Premium- On Thursday, global crude prices fell, having jumped in the first half of the week, as traders weighed a larger-than-expected build-up in US stockpiles against tightening supplies
NEW DELHI: Oil marketing companies (OMCs) kept retail prices of fuel unchanged for the eighth day in a row on Thursday.
In Delhi, petrol is priced at ₹105.41 per litre and diesel is selling for ₹96.67 a litre, with the last price hike of 80 paise per litre each undertaken on 6 April.
OMCs had kept held rates steady for nearly four months before they resumed daily price revisions from 22 March. Since then, prices of petrol and diesel have been raised by a total of ₹10 a litre each.
Meanwhile, India’s retail inflation hit a 17-month high in March, led by a sharper-than-expected spike in food and manufactured goods prices. Inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) quickened to 6.95% in March from 6.07% in the previous month. Since January, retail inflation has stayed above 6%, the upper end of the Reserve Bank of India’s inflation target band.
Crude prices have a major impact on India's economy as the country imports around 85% of its energy requirements.
Global oil prices had been high even before Russia invaded Ukraine, following a surge in demand after pandemic-induced curbs began to ease. Sanctions on Russia, one of the biggest crude producers, saw Brent--the global benchmark--hit a high of nearly $140 a barrel in early March, but have declined since then.
On Thursday, oil prices fell, having jumped in the first half of the week, as traders weighed a larger-than-expected build in US oil stocks against tightening global supply.
Around 1120am, the June contract of Brent futures on the Intercontinental Exchange was at $108.25 per barrel, down 0.49% from previous close. The May contract of West Texas Intermediate on NYMEX was down 0.87% at $103.34.