The Indian Oil Corporation on Saturday reduced the prices of petrol and diesel by nine paise in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. A litre of petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 78.20, and diesel costs Rs 69.11 per litre.

In Kolkata, a litre of petrol costs Rs 80.84, in Mumbai Rs 86.01, and Rs 81.19 in Chennai. A litre of diesel costs Rs 71.66 in Kolkata, Rs 73.58 in Mumbai and Rs 72.97 in Chennai.

Kerala reduced its cess to cut petrol prices by Rs 1, as opposed to the price reduction ranging between 9 and 11 paise in metros, NDTV reported. A litre of petrol cost Rs 73.96 in Trivandrum.

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On Friday, the prices of subsidised liquefied petroleum gas cylinder, were increased by Rs 2.2 and by Rs 77 for non-subsdised cylinder in New Delhi. The price per subsidised LPG cylinder in Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai is Rs 496.65, Rs 491.31 and Rs 481.84 respectively, ANI reported.

Price control

State-run oil companies had resumed the dynamic pricing mechanism on May 14 after prices were froze for 19 days between April 24 and May 13, when campaigning was on for the Karnataka Assembly elections.

International crude oil prices had risen during this period, while the rupee fell against the United States dollar – both factors make fuel costlier. Oil companies are estimated to have lost about Rs 500 crore because of the price freeze for three weeks, PTI reported.

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On May 24, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan had said the Centre is considering bringing petroleum products under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax. Earlier, he had said the Centre is deliberating on an “immediate solution” to control rising fuel prices.

On May 28, oil prices dropped to about $75 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and Russia announced their decision to relax restrictions on supply that had led to an increase in crude prices, Reuters reported.