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New Delhi, March 1: Petrol prices have been raised by Rs 1.75 per litre following a spike in global crude prices and weakening of the rupee against the dollar. Diesel prices have been left unchanged.
In Calcutta, petrol will cost Rs 78.34 per litre from midnight today.
With this hike, state-owned oil firms have increased the price of petrol by Rs 3.62 a litre in two weeks. The previous hike was on February 15.
“International prices have increased to $131 per barrel from $128.57 since the last revision, and the rupee has depreciated to Rs 54.15 from Rs 53.43 against the dollar during the fortnight,” P.K. Goyal, director (finance) of Indian Oil, said.
Diesel prices will be reviewed around the middle of this month, Goyal added.
He said global crude prices normally saw a spurt during the first quarter of the calendar and moderated during the second quarter.
“Keeping this trend in view, we do believe there should be an opportunity to revise the prices downwards as and when international rates soften,” he said.
The price hike is the 21st for petrol since the fuel was deregulated in June 2010. Oil firms are now free to decide the amount and the frequency of the hike.
State-owned oil firms lose about Rs 450 crore every day from selling diesel, cooking gas and kerosene at subsidised rates. For the full year, their total losses are estimated to be more than Rs. 167,000 crore.
However, these companies are compensated by the finance ministry and their sister upstream PSUs such as ONGC, GAIL and Oil India.
Total under-recoveries —the difference between market prices and fuel retail rates — to be borne by oil marketing firms this fiscal year are expected at Rs 167,000 crore, according to the petroleum ministry.
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