Petrol and diesel prices today, 7 August: Retail fuel rates across major Indian cities remained largely unchanged on Friday despite marginal fluctuation. Petrol and diesel prices continue to align with the last major price revision that came about over two months ago, on 25 May, even as crude prices witness tremendous fluctuation due to geopolitical situation in West Asia. Brent crude, the global benchmark, extended gains wiping out some of the declines from earlier in the week.
Crude oil price today
As optimism over reopening of Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic evaporated, Brent crude price edged higher on 7 August in early Asia trade. Brent traded around $83.45 a barrel, nearly 1% higher after surging almost 4% in the previous session as prospects for a lasting truce remained uncertain. Meanwhile West Texas Intermediate traded around $78.
US Bank Asset Management Group senior investment strategy director, Rob Haworth said, “Deals to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remain elusive, with investors teetering in the balance," Bloomberg reported. He added, “For now, traffic remains low and the path to a durable deal remains unclear.”
The volatility in global oil prices did not trickle down to retail fuel markets in India as state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) shield consumers from market fluctuations and set retail petrol and diesel rates.
US-Iran war update
Iran launched fresh wave of attacks on Thursday night at “hostile targets” in the Persian Gulf at the entrance to the strait. Tehran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported explosions near Qeshm Island in Hormuz. Seeking to bar US and Israeli ships from the critical waterway under the proposed Iran-Oman agreement, Tehran intends to demand compensation from hostile countries to use it.
The recent escalation in fight comes as both US and Iran signaled that an accord may be close. US President Donald Trump on Thursday said negotiations were “going fine” and that he was involved. At the White House, he told reporters that the war will end “pretty soon” and that the US is in control of the strait.
At the same time, gold traded around $4,240 an ounce as traders assessed the impact of Iranian strikes. Iran-backed Houthi's, who opened a new front to the war, claimed to have conducted a “large-scale” attack against forces from Yemen’s Saudi-backed government.
Centre rejects claims of ethanol import from US
The Central government on Thursday rejected claims of ethanol import from US and said India's fuel blending programme and ethanol procurement continue to be governed solely by the country's domestic policy requirements. The commerce and industry ministry in a statement said, “No concessions or commitments relating to the import of ethanol for fuel blending from the US have been made in the India-US trade discussions. Accordingly, any suggestion of a policy change to permit large-scale imports of fuel ethanol from the US is misleading.”
