Oil-marketing companies increased the prices of petrol and diesel across the four metro cities on Saturday, despite the Centre and states announcing cuts in the rates. Petrol was priced at Rs.81.68 per litre in New Delhi, Rs.83.52 per litre in Kolkata, Rs. 87.15 per litre in Mumbai and Rs. 84.89 per litre in Chennai, according to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). Diesel was sold at Rs 73.24 per litre in New Delhi, Rs. 75.09 per litre in Kolkata and Rs. 77.42 per litre in Chennai. However, diesel prices were cut by 70 paise in Mumbai and were sold at Rs.76.75 per litre, a day after Maharashtra announced reduction in diesel prices by around Rs. 4/litre.
On Thursday, 12 states slashed the prices of petrol and diesel after the central government announced a Rs. 1.5 per litre cut in excise duty and made state-run oil companies absorb a Re 1 per litre cut in fuel prices. The move to bring down domestic fuel prices came amid international crude oil rates soaring to 2014 highs in the past few days.
Petrol and diesel rates are decided on a daily basis by oil-marketing companies on the basis of the rupee-dollar rate and global crude oil prices.
Globally, crude futures steadied on Friday after climbing to four-year highs earlier this week, and both Brent and US crude marked weekly gains ahead of US sanctions on Iranian oil exports. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 1 cent to settle at $74.34 a barrel, reported news agency Reuters.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures for December delivery fell 42 cents to settle at $84.16 a barrel. On Wednesday, Brent hit its highest price since late 2014 at $86.74.
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