Petrol, diesel prices unmoved once again. 5 things to know

State-run fuel retailers today left the price of petrol and diesel untouched once again for the 31st day in a row. Barring cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata where the state government has hiked VAT, fuel rates have been stagnant in India despite a daily review at 6 am.

As demand for petrol and diesel plunged by around 70% during lockdown, refiners are struggling to keep themselves running. In one of such rare occasions, even state-run refiners have started exporting diesel.

R. Ramachandran, director of refineries at Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) said there is still some demand for diesel from China but a further erosion in consumption is likely to lead to additional cuts to crude processing rates. India’s state-owned refiners typically produce fuel for domestic customers, leaving the business of exporting to privately-held companies such as Reliance Industries Ltd. and Nayara Energy Ltd.

In the international market, Brent lost more than 6% yesterday after the United States reported its biggest weekly inventory build on record, while global demand is expected to fall to quarter-century lows due to the coronavirus pandemic. Brent crude was up 2.5% today, at $28.38 a barrel.

In Delhi, a litre of petrol is priced at ₹69.59 per litre and diesel at ₹62.29 per litre today. In Mumbai, petrol is selling at ₹76.31 per litre and diesel at ₹66.21 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 ₹73.55 and diesel at ₹65.96. 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. In Kolkata, petrol pumps are charging ₹73.30 for petrol and ₹65.62 for diesel.