Fuel prices remain steady, check December 5 prices here

Fuel prices remained steady on Wednesday with petrol retailing at Rs 71.72 per litre and diesel at Rs 66.39 per litre. In Mumbai, petrol and diesel were being sold at Rs 77.29 per litre and 69.48 per litre, respectively. In Chennai, petrol was retailing at Rs 74.41 per litre and diesel Rs 70.09 per litre. In Kolkata, petrol was sold at Rs 73.75 per litre and diesel at Rs 68.12 per litre. While price of petrol in Noida, Gurugram and Faridabad was Rs 71.28 per litre, Rs 70.73 and Rs 71, respectively. Diesel was sold for Rs 65.44 a litre in Noida, Rs 65.47 per litre in Gurugram and Rs 65.73 per litre in Faridabad.

With last week's price revision, petrol fell below the Rs 74 per-litre mark for the first time since April as the six-week-long price reduction spree wiped off all of the massive price hikes witnessed in petrol and diesel rates earlier this year. The fall in prices of international crude oil resulted in prices of fuel being slashed. With this, the reduction in rates in last six weeks totals Rs 9.62 per litre on petrol and Rs 7.58 per litre on diesel on Thursday. Rates have been on the decline since October 18. This has wiped off all of the price hike on petrol and diesel in two months beginning August 16. The reduction in diesel rates has been slower due to moderate fall in its benchmark international prices, according to oil company price notifications.

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Oil prices slumped to its lowest level in 2018 on Friday after 8 per cent correction in prices. Brent crude oil futures hit their lowest since December 2017 at $59.04 per barrel. On Monday, it witnessed minor bounceback and was trading near $59.50 per barrel mark. The retail selling price of petrol and diesel is dependent on the international prices of benchmark fuel and the rupee-US dollar exchange rate. This is because a large proportion of country's requirement is met through imports.

Petrol price had touched a record high of Rs 84 per litre in Delhi and Rs 91.34 in Mumbai on October 4. Diesel on that day had peaked to an all-time high of Rs 75.45 a litre in Delhi and Rs 80.10 in Mumbai. 

Prices had started to climb from August 16. Petrol in Delhi was priced at Rs 77.14 per litre and in Mumbai it cost Rs 84.58 on August 15. Diesel on that day was priced at Rs 68.72 per litre in Delhi and at Rs 72.96 in Mumbai. Between August 16 and October 4, petrol price was hiked by Rs 6.86 per litre and diesel by Rs 6.73.

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On October 4, the government decided to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 per litre each and asked state-owned fuel retailers to subsidise the price by another Re 1 a litre by reducing their margins.  Subsequent to this, the petrol price came down to Rs 81.50 per litre in Delhi and diesel to Rs 72.95 a litre on October 5. In Mumbai, rates fell to Rs 86.97 per litre for petrol and Rs 77.45 in case of diesel. 

Before the price cut, petrol in Delhi had hit an all-time high of Rs 84 per litre while diesel was at record Rs 75.45. This came down to Rs 81.50 per litre for petrol and Rs 72.95 in case of diesel.