State-owned oil marketing companies (OMC) continued to increase prices of petrol and diesel for the second consecutive day on Wednesday. Fuel prices, which vary from state to state depending on local sales tax or VAT, are now at record high levels in the country.
According to a price notification from OMCs, petrol and diesel prices were raised by 25 paise per litre each across the country on Wednesday. This took petrol price in Delhi to Rs 86.30 per litre and to Rs 92.86 per litre in Mumbai. Diesel rate climbed to Rs 76.23 a litre in the national capital and to Rs 83.03 per litre in Mumbai, the price data showed.
After Wednesday’s rate revision, petrol price in Dimapur rose to Rs.88.70 per litre while diesel price climbed to Rs.79.38 per litre. In the state capital Kohima, price of petrol was hiked to Rs.89.64 per litre and diesel price increased to Rs.80.14 per litre.
According to PTI report, branded or premium petrol price crossed Rs 100-mark in Sriganganagar town of Rajasthan.
In Sriganganagar, regular petrol costs Rs 98.40 per litre and premium or branded petrol comes for Rs 101.15 a litre.The main difference between regular and premium fuel grades is the octane number. Regular fuel has a lower octane number — 87, while Premium fuel generally gets a 91octane rating or higher.
Octane number is a measure of the ignition quality of fuel – higher the number, the less susceptible is the fuel to ‘knocking’ when burnt in a standard engine.
Petrol and diesel prices were on Tuesday raised by 35 paise per litre each.
Top oil explorer Saudi Arabia pledging additional voluntary output cuts and demand returning from the rollout of coronavirus vaccines has led to a surge in international oil prices.
State-owned OMCs had on January 6, resumed daily price revision after nearly a month-long hiatus.
Since then, rates have gone up by Rs 2.59 a litre on petrol and Rs 2.61 in case of diesel.
Prior to the current high crude prices triggered the price hikes this month, fuel prices had last touched record high on October 4, 2018. At that time the government had cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre in a bid to ease inflationary pressure and boost consumer confidence. Alongside, state-owned fuel retailers cut prices by another Re 1 a litre, which they recouped later.
This time, there are no indications of a duty cut so far.
Petrol and diesel prices are revised on a daily basis in line with benchmark international price and foreign exchange rates.