NEW DELHI: Petrol price is set to breach its previous record, thanks to hefty doses of Central and state taxes magnifying the impact of a sharp rebound in global crude as Covid-19 vaccine rollout and Saudi offer to cut output buoyed the market.
Petrol price rose 26 paise to Rs 83.97 a litre and diesel 25 paise to Rs 74.12 in Delhi as fuel retailers resumed daily revisions after a month’s gap on Wednesday, coinciding with benchmark Brent almost touching $54/barrel, the highest since February 2020.
Petrol is just 3 paise short of its October 4, 2018 record of Rs 84 a litre in Delhi. But diesel is still Rs 1.33 short of the previous record of Rs 75.45 a litre. Prices are bound to rise further as the impact of hardening oil prices deepens in the coming days.
Crude has been on an upswing lately and gained about 5% in the last three days as the OPEC-Plus grouping looked to not increase production. The Saudi offer to cut output by a million barrels, made late on Tuesday, further raised hopes of an early rebalancing of the oil market.
For fuel consumers, though, the high Central excise and VAT are a bigger worry as they amplify the effect of any increase in crude prices. Taxes roughly make up about 60% of the prices.
