Vikrant Shekhawat : Oct 31, 2021, 11:53 AM
New Delhi: Price of a litre of petrol crossed ₹115 in Mumbai on Sunday, reaching an all time high of ₹115.15 per litre in the metropolis, where a litre of diesel was retailing at ₹106.23, following an increase in prices by 34 and 37 paise respectively.The fuel prices have been raised for the fifth consecutive day to touch record levels across the country.Central government maintains that the pump prices of petrol and diesel are skyrocketing due to reluctance of producers’ cartel - the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (together known as OPEC+) – to increase supply to meet rising energy demand. As a result, retail prices of petrol and diesel are creating record almost every day.On Saturday, a litre of petrol was priced at ₹114.81 and a litre of diesel was available at ₹105.86 in Mumbai.In Thane, price of a litre of petrol crossed ₹115 to reach ₹115.29, while a litre of diesel was being sold at ₹106.37, following the Sunday hike in retail fuel prices. Similarly, in Parbhani, a litre of petrol was selling at ₹118.09 on Sunday and a litre of diesel was available for ₹107.78 in Amravati.With a hike of 35 paise a litre, the price of petrol in national capital Delhi too rose to its highest-ever level of ₹109.34 a litre. The price of diesel also saw a hike by 35 paise and took the fuel’s rate to ₹98.07 per litre in the national capital.In Hyderabad, one litre of petrol is selling at ₹113.72 while a litre of diesel is available at ₹106.98. In Chennai, a litre of petrol is available at ₹106.04 and one litre of diesel is priced at ₹102.25.India is heavily dependent on energy imports--85% of crude oil that it processes and 55% of its gas consumption. Earlier this month, Union petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that India’s fuel consumption had surpassed the pre-Covid period-- petrol by 16% and diesel by over 10%, and that country’s energy consumption will increase further with the rapid economic recovery.Puri cited supply squeeze by global oil producers as one of the key reasons for high energy prices and said that the supply curve has been kept below the demand curve by the crude producing countries. He added that such high prices were undermining the global economic recovery and hurting the interests of both the developing and developing countries.He said that the Central government was in talks with other countries such as the US and Saudi Arabia to ease the situation.