New delhi,jul 05:
Petrol and diesel prices were on Thursday hiked for the first time in more than a month on the back of rising international rates and weakening rupee.
The increase of 16 paisa a litre in petrol and 12 paisa a litre in diesel came after an eight-day self-imposed hiatus in rate revisions by the State oil firms in anticipation of softening international rates due to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) decision to raise output by 1 million barrels a day.
The petrol price in Delhi climbed to ?75.71 a litre from ?75.55 and diesel to ?67.50 a litre from ?67.38, according to a price notification from the Indian Oil Corp. (IOC).IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd. (HPCL) had not revised petrol and diesel prices since June 26.
“We had not changed prices for a few days in anticipation the OPEC decision to raise production, leading to softening of international rates. But the 1 million barrels of additional production, which was to kick-in from July, has been overdone by the Iran issue,” IOC Chairman Sanjiv Singh told PTI in New Delhi.
While the OPEC last month decided to raise production, the U.S. is piling pressure on India, China, and other buyers to end all imports of Iranian oil by a November 4 deadline in a bid to choke the Persian Gulf state’s economic lifeline with sanctions over its nuclear programme.Mr. Singh said Iran produces around 2.3 to 2.5 million barrels a day and the world searching for alternates to replace those volumes has put pressure on the prices.
