Amritsar: Following the recent spurt in oil prices to well over $50 a barrel, state-run Indian Oil Corp (IOC) yesterday hiked prices of petrol by Rs1.29 a litre, and of diesel by 97 paise, both at Delhi and effective from midnight, with corresponding increases in other states.
"The current level of international product prices of petrol and diesel and the INR-USD exchange rate warrant increase in selling price of petrol and diesel, the impact of which is being passed on to the consumers with this price revision," IOC said in a release here.
Petrol per litre from Monday will cost Rs70.60 in Delhi, Rs73.13 in Kolkata, Rs76.91 in Mumbai and Rs70.07 in Chennai.
Similarly, diesel will cost Rs57.82 in Delhi, Rs60.06 in Kolkata, Rs63.61 in Mumbai and Rs59.47 in Chennai.
Rates were last hiked on December 16, petrol by Rs2.21 a litre, and diesel by Rs1.79 paise, both in Delhi, with corresponding changes in other states.
With oil producers outside the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led by Russia, agreeing to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day (bpd) last month, the Indian basket of crude oils gained more than $3 a barrel over the weekend of December 11-12 even as global prices surged to an 18-month high.
This came in the wake of the 13-nation OPEC cartel's November 30 decision to cut output by 1.2 million bpd for six months effective January 1.
It is the first time since 2001 that OPEC and some of its rivals reached a deal to jointly reduce output in order to tackle the global oil glut.
As per available data, the Indian basket, comprising 73 percent sour-grade Dubai and Oman crudes, and the balance in sweet-grade Brent, closed trade on Thursday at $54.54 for a barrel of 159 litres.
State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Saturday hiked the price of subsidised cooking gas, or LPG, along with kerosene and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
The three state-owned OMCs revise rates of LPG, Kerosene and ATF on the first of every month, based on global oil prices and the foreign exchange rate.
This is the seventh straight month of increase in cooking gas cylinder prices -- a subsidised 14.2 kg cylinder will become expensive by Rs2 to Rs434.71 in Delhi, as against Rs432.71 earlier.
In a move to reduce its LPG subsidy outgo, the government, in July, had decided on small hikes of around Rs2 per cylinder every month.
