A day after crude oil prices fell below the $30 mark to touch lowest level since January 2016, petrol and diesel prices were left unchanged today. Fuel prices are now a constant decline since February 27 as crude oil rates have been falling down over fears related to the economic impact of coronavirus and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
In Delhi, a litre of petrol is priced at ₹69.59 per litre and diesel at ₹62.29 per litre. In Mumbai, petrol is selling at ₹75.30 per litre and diesel at ₹65.21 per litre. In Chennai, a litre of petrol will cost ₹72.28 per litre whereas diesel is now priced at ₹65.71 per litre. In Bengaluru, petrol is now selling at ₹71.97 and diesel at ₹64.41. In Hyderabad, petrol pumps are charging ₹73.97 for petrol and ₹67.82 for diesel. If you are in Gurgaon, you will have to shell out ₹70.21 for petrol and ₹62.08 for diesel.
Even after a ₹3 hike in excise duty, oil marketing companies could be having a very large window to provide relief to consumers, according to a report. The net auto fuel margin of OMCs is estimated to be ₹5 per litre on March 16, according to a ICICI Securities report.
After dropping by more than 11% to as low as $29.52 a barrel yesterday, Brent crude was up by 1.5%, or 46 cents, to $30.51 a barrel by 0206 GMT, after hitting a high of $31.25.
Saudi Arabia is showing no sign of backing down in its price war with Russia, with Aramco saying it’s “very comfortable” with oil prices below $30 a barrel.
