Petrol crosses Rs 100 in Chennai; at Rs 99 in Delhi, Kolkata

Petrol price on Friday crossed the Rs 100- per-litre mark in Chennai as well as in some places in Punjab and Kerala after fuel prices were hiked yet again.

Petrol is priced at over Rs 99 a litre in Delhi and Kolkata -- the only metro cities which haven't seen the Rs 100 mark yet.

Petrol price was hiked by 35 paise per litre on Friday but there was no change in diesel rates, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

On Thursday, the price of domestic cooking gas (LPG) was hiked by Rs 25.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder. A subsidised and non-subsidised cylinder now costs Rs 834.50 in Delhi.

The increase in petrol price -- 33rd in two months -- took rates across the country to fresh highs.

In Chennai, the petrol price rose to Rs 100.13 a litre. Diesel price in the city was unchanged at Rs 93.72 per litre.

Petrol in Delhi now comes for Rs 99.16 a litre and the same in Kolkata is priced at Rs 99.04.

Other metro cities - Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune - had last month crossed the Rs 100-a-litre price.

Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as value-added tax (VAT) and freight charges.

For this reason, petrol has crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in some places in Punjab and all over Kerala. Jalandhar in Punjab has the fuel priced at Rs 100.22 a litre while it costs Rs 101.14 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

With this, petrol has crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Punjab and Ladakh.

It is over Rs 99 a litre in Puducherry as well as Gangtok.

Rates of diesel, the most used fuel in the country, have crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh in Rajasthan as well in some places in Odisha.

The hike on Friday is the 33rd increase in prices since May 4, when state-owned oil firms ended a 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.

In 33 hikes, the price of petrol has risen by Rs 8.76 per litre. Diesel rates have soared by Rs 8.45 a litre in 32 instances of price increase.

Oil companies revise rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market in the preceding 15 days, and foreign exchange rates.

International oil prices have climbed in recent weeks on optimism of a quick recovery in fuel demand. Brent crude touched the USD 75 per barrel mark, the first time since April 2019.