Crude surge stokes fuel price rally, petrol up by 30p, diesel by 37p to new record highs

Petrol and diesel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes. (Representative image)

Petrol prices were increased by 26-30 paise a litre and diesel by 33-37 paise a litre across the country on October 11 as domestic fuel prices recorded possibly the largest rally in rates.

Monday's revision took the petrol price to a record Rs 110.41 a litre in Mumbai and to Rs 104.44 in Delhi. Diesel rates peaked at Rs 101.03 in Mumbai and Rs 93.17 in Delhi.

In Kolkata, petrol shot up to Rs 105.09 per litre and diesel to Rs 96.28 on the day, while in Chennai, the fuels sold for Rs 101.79 and Rs 97.59 a litre, repectively.

Petrol and diesel prices differ across states, depending on the incidence of local taxes.

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State-owned fuel retailers have in the past few days resorted to modest increases to align domestic rates with cost. But with the international benchmark Brent crude soaring to $82.92 per barrel after the decision by OPEC+ not to increase output more than 0.4 million barrels per day, fuel rates are being increased by a larger proportion.

Being a net importer of oil, India prices petrol and diesel at rates equivalent to international prices. A month back, Brent was less than $72 per barrel.

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With international crude oil prices moving in both directions during July and August, oil marketing companies (OMCs) restrained from any price hike from July 18 to September 23. Instead, petrol went cheaper by Rs 0.65 a litre and diesel by Rs 1.25. However, with no respite from surging international prices, OMCs began increasing the retail selling price of petrol and diesel with effect from September 28 and September 24, respectively.

Prior to the July-August price cuts, the petrol price was hiked by Rs 11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17 and diesel by Rs 9.14.