Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Petrol and diesel prices have increased by Rs 10 per litre in the past 16 days across India. There are apprehensions that rates may go up further.
Revision of fuel rates has been paused by oil marketing companies since November. The hiatus ended on March 22.
Petrol prices have crossed the Rs 100-mark in all major cities – Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Gurugram, Noida, Patna, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Patna, and Thiruvananthapuram.
Diesel prices have already hit the century-mark in major cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Patna, and Thiruvananthapuram.
Meanwhile, fuel rates have gone up too in countries like the US, the UK, Europe’s largest economy Germany, France and others.
INTERNATIONAL OIL PRICES
Meanwhile, international crude prices have dropped far more steeply, from a peak of more than $139 per barrel in early March to about $107 a barrel on Tuesday, a fall of 23 per cent.
US crude was at $101.96 a barrel (Rs 48.51 per litre) and international benchmark Brent crude was at $106.96 per barrel (Rs 50.90 per litre) on Wednesday.
FUEL PRICE IN US
Gasoline or petrol prices in the US, driven up by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions on Moscow’s energy exports, hit a record on March 11 of $4.33 a gallon and slipped to $4.17 a gallon on Wednesday, a decline of about 4 per cent, according to a Reuters report.
If we convert a gallon to a litre and a dollar to an Indian rupee, we will find that a litre of gasoline or petrol in the US costs close to Rs 92 on Wednesday, according to data on globalpetrolprices.com.
However, like India, petrol prices vary in states across the US.
INDIA VS OTHER NATIONS
The petrol price in Germany is $2.18 per litre (Rs 164.86), $1.96 per litre in Spain (Rs 148.22), $1.93 per litre in France (Rs 145.95), $2.14 a litre in the UK (Rs 161.84), and $1.52 a litre in Canada (Rs 114.95), as per globalpetrolprices.com on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that though the Russia-Ukraine war has impacted fuel prices across the world recently. While the increase in India was 5 per cent during April 2021 and March 2022, as against over 50 per cent in some developed and developing nations.
He said petrol prices have gone up by over 50 per cent in countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, and Sri Lanka.
He said that the gasoline price increase at the pump between April 2021 and March 2022 in the US was 51 per cent, Germany was 55 per cent, the UK was 55 per cent, France was 50 per cent, Spain was 58 per cent, Canada was 52 per cent, and Sri Lanka was 55 per cent.
“Our percentage increase is one-tenth of what it is elsewhere,” the Minister said.
