Accordingly, petrol and diesel prices have remained static for the 17th consecutive day on Sunday under the daily price revision mechanism followed by oil marketing companies.

 

The pump price of petrol in Delhi, which fell to Rs 103.97 a litre at 6 a.m. on November 4 from the previous day's level of Rs 110.04 a litre, remained the same lon Sunday.

 

The diesel prices also remained unchanged in the capital at Rs 86.67 a litre.

 

In the financial capital Mumbai, petrol continues to be priced at Rs 109.98 a litre and diesel Rs 94.14 a litre.

 

Prices also remained static on Sunday in Kolkata where the price of petrol was reduced by Rs 5.82 to Rs 104.67 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 11.77 to Rs 89.79 per litre in the first week of November.

 

Petrol price in Chennai also remained at Rs 101.40 per litre and diesel Rs 91.43 per litre.

 

Across the country as well, the prices largely remained unchanged on Sunday but the retail rates varied depending on the level of local taxes.

 

The global crude prices which has touched three year high level of over $85 a barrel on several occasions in past one month has softened now to below $ 80 barrel. Rise in US inventory has pushed down crude prices but OPEC+ decision on only gradual increase in production in December could raise crude prices further. This could put pressure on oil companies to revise fuel prices upwards again.

 

Before the price cuts and pause, diesel prices increased on 30 out of the last 58 days taking up its retail price by Rs 9.90 per litre in Delhi.

 

Petrol prices have also risen on 28 of the previous 54 days taking up its pump price by Rs 8.85 per litre.

 

Since January 1, 2021, the prices have increased by more than Rs 26 a litre.

 

The excise duty cut by the Centre on November 3 was first such exercise since the onset of Covid pandemic. In fact, the government had revised excise duty on petrol and diesel sharply in March and again in May last year to mobilise additional resources for Covid relief measures.