Petrol price cut by Rs 1.15 a litre

Diesel gets decontrol dose; jet fuel price cut 4.5%

Oil marketing companies cut the petrol price Rs 1.15 a litre from Thursday midnight.

However, as part of the monthly decontrol measure, diesel prices were increased 50 paise. Following the softening of international prices of crude oil, and strengthening of rupee, petrol prices were last revised downwards on October 1 by Rs 3.05 a litre.

Jet fuel price was cut 4.5 per cent, the first in six months. The price had touched a record of Rs 77,089.42 a kilolitre following five consecutive increases since June, as the rupee had depreciated against the dollar, making oil imports costlier.

The price changes announced by oil companies are excluding local sales tax or VAT and will be effective midnight tonight, oil companies announced.

Petrol price in Delhi will be cut by Rs 1.38 to Rs 71.02 per litre, while it will cost Rs 78.04 a litre in Mumbai as against Rs 79.49 currently.

Since last price change, international prices of petrol have declined marginally from about $113 per barrel to about $ 112 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the exchange rate of rupee versus dollar has appreciated from around Rs 63 per dollar to around Rs 62 per dollar. “Both these factors have resulted into a reduction in prices of petrol, the benefit of which is being passed on to the consumer,” staterun IndianOil Corporation said in a statement.

OMCs were authorized to go for a phase-wise decontrol of diesel prices from January 17 onwards, with a monthly dose of 50 paise. Even after the current increase, under recovery on Retail Diesel shall stand at Rs 9.58 per litre.

 All the oil marketing companies — IOC, HPCL and BPCL — are expected to suffer an under recovery of Rs 1,35,900 crore during this financial year, while IOC is expected to incur under-recovery of Rs 71,200 crore on sale of three sensitive products. The corporation is also suffering under-recoveries on sale of kerosene of Rs 35.77 per litre and domestic LPG of Rs 482.50 per cylinder.