Petrol and diesel prices held steady across metro cities on September 9, the latest price notification issued by fuel retailers showed.
Fuel prices have stayed unchanged for more than a month. Petrol and diesel in Delhi cost Rs 96.72 and Rs 89.62 a litre, respectively. In Mumbai, petrol is being sold for Rs 106.31 per litre and diesel for Rs 94.27. Petrol and diesel are priced at Rs 102.63 and Rs 94.24 in Chennai and at Rs 106.03 and Rs 92.76 in Kolkata, respectively.
State-owned fuel retailers Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) have not raise petrol and diesel prices for almost five months now, despite rising international oil prices.
Oil prices retreat on demand destruction fears, benchmarks off 4% for week
Oil prices turned down in early trade on Friday after a slight rebound in the previous session, leaving them set to fall for a second straight week on worries that central banks' aggressive rate hikes and China's Covid-19 curbs will hurt demand.
Brent crude futures slipped 12 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $89.03 a barrel at 0051 GMT, after rising 1.3 percent on Thursday.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 19 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $83.35 a barrel, after climbing 2 percent in the previous session.
Both benchmarks were down about 4 percent for the week, with the market sliding at one point to its lowest level since January.
India's future crude oil supplies will mostly come from Gulf: Hardeep Singh Puri
India's minister of petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, said most of his country's crude oil supplies in the near future will come from the Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Iraq, as it seeks a secure and affordable energy base.
Indian refiners have been snapping up relatively cheap Russian oil, shunned by Western companies and countries since sanctions were imposed against Moscow for what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
India's imports from Russian oil rose by 4.7 times, or more than 400,000 barrels per day, in April-May, but fell in July.
Crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia by the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer rose in July by more than 25 percent after Saudi Arabia lowered the official selling price in June and July compared with May. Saudi Arabia stayed at the No 3 spot among India's suppliers.