Compressed natural gas (CNG) prices in Delhi have been hiked by another Rs 2.5 per kg days after the government raised input natural gas prices to record levels, according to a notification by Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL), the firm that retails CNG and piped cooking gas in the national capital. The price of CNG now stands at Rs 64.11 per kg, effective Monday. This is the seventh increase in CNG prices in the last month.
Prices differ from state to state and city to city depending upon the incidence of local taxes such as value-added taxes (VAT). CNG prices in the national capital on Friday was also hiked by 80 paise per kg. Overall, the rates have gone up by about Rs 6.5 per kg after the past seven hikes. The increase comes on the back of a surge in gas prices globally.
Apart from compressed natural gas, petrol prices were also hiked on Monday by another 40 paise a litre, taking the overall increase in the past two weeks to Rs 8.40. This was the 12th hike in petrol and diesel prices by the state-owned fuel retailers in two weeks. In Delhi, petrol is being sold at Rs 103.81 per litre as against Rs 103.41 previously, and diesel rates have gone up from Rs 94.67 per litre to Rs 95.07. In Mumbai, the petrol and diesel prices are Rs 118.83 and Rs 103.07, respectively.
Following the Assembly election results in five states last month, fuel prices in India have been rising amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war that has raised crude oil prices to a seven-year high. The petrol and diesel prices were on a freeze since November 4 last year, when the Centre cut the excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 to allow some relief to the common man.
However, globally, oil prices fell at the start of Asian trade on Sunday, after the UAE and the Iran-aligned Houthi group welcomed a truce that would halt military operations on the Saudi-Yemeni border, alleviating some concerns about potential supply issues.
The early losses this week come after oil prices settled down around 13 per cent last week — their biggest weekly falls in two years — when US President Joe Biden announced the largest-ever US oil reserves release. Last week, the US president had announced to release 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil for six months from May, which at 180 million barrels is the largest release ever from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Brent crude futures fell USD 1.01, or 1 per cent, to USD 103.38 a barrel by 2223 GMT. WTI crude futures fell 84 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to USD 98.43 a barrel.
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