Petrol-Diesel Price / Will petrol and diesel not become cheaper before the elections? The condition of common people deteriorated

Lok Sabha election notifications may be released anytime. Signal has been received from the Election Commission. But the good news for which the common people have been waiting for the last two years. She hasn't come yet. Yes, that good news is not about anything else but about petrol and diesel becoming cheaper. It seems that the wait for common people may become longer. The way the country's interim budget was

Vikrant Shekhawat : Feb 25, 2024, 08:07 AM

Petrol-Diesel Price: Lok Sabha election notifications may be released anytime. Signal has been received from the Election Commission. But the good news for which the common people have been waiting for the last two years. She hasn't come yet. Yes, that good news is not about anything else but about petrol and diesel becoming cheaper. It seems that the wait for common people may become longer. The way the country's interim budget was presented and no attempt was made to give a populist budget. The way the price of gas cylinder has been kept frozen for the last five months. The government and oil marketing companies have accepted the fact that the prices that common people have been paying for petrol and diesel for the last two years. They have become accustomed to it. In such a situation, there is no point in reducing the prices of petrol and diesel here.

For the last two years, oil marketing companies have kept the prices of petrol and diesel unchanged. These prices are from the period when the price of crude oil was at $120 per barrel in the international market. At that time OMC had increased the prices of petrol and diesel. There has been no change from OMC since April 2022. In May 2022, the government definitely reduced its taxes and tried to make the prices of petrol and diesel cheaper. But in many cities of the country the price of petrol is more than Rs 100 per liter. In most cities it is Rs 90 per liter more. There will be very few or rather almost no such cities where the price of petrol will be less than Rs 90 per litre.

How much cheaper has crude become by 2022?

Whereas in the international market the price of crude oil has remained between 75 to 85 dollars per barrel for the last one and a half year. For some time the price did go above $90, but this level did not last long. Common people have forgotten the last time the price of crude oil reached $100 per barrel. That too at a time when Ukraine-Russia war and Middle East tension is at its peak. From the high of 2022, crude oil prices have come down to around $50 to $55 per barrel. Oil marketing companies have also benefited from this. In the 9 months of the current financial year, the profit of oil marketing companies exceeded Rs 69 thousand crores. Even after that the companies are still reporting losses.

Claims of companies

Companies say that since the price of crude oil has been above $80 per barrel for some time, they are incurring a loss of Rs 3 per liter on diesel. Whereas the profit on petrol has decreased. Whereas before January, oil companies have made profit of Rs 11 per liter on petrol and Rs 6 per liter on diesel. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has also reiterated on many forums that the present time is not good. Crude oil prices are quite volatile. Because of which it seems difficult to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel.

What is the truth?

Whereas the truth is that the price of crude oil i.e. Brent crude oil of Gulf countries last reached $ 90 per barrel about 4 months ago i.e. on October 30. Whereas during this period, from January 1, 2023 till now, there have been only four such trading sessions when the price of crude oil has been more than $ 95 per barrel. Since January 1, there have been about 100 business days when the price of Brent crude oil has been below $ 80 per barrel. During this period, there were many such occasions when the price of crude oil remained above $75 per barrel. In such a situation, you can imagine that the prices of crude oil have remained within their limits for about one and a quarter years. If crude oil prices are analyzed from June 2022 onwards, the number of days below $90 and below $80 may increase further.

What should have been the price?

In such a situation, the biggest question now is that when will the common people get relief from the expensive prices of petrol and diesel. A crude oil expert, on the condition of anonymity, said that in the current situation, the attitude of the oil marketing companies and the government does not indicate that the prices of petrol and diesel are going to come down. There is not much time left for the election notification to be issued. If petrol and diesel had to be made cheaper, it would have been done by now. At present, considering the profit that OMC is sitting on and the prices of crude oil, the price of petrol should have been reduced by Rs 15 per liter and the price of diesel should have been reduced by Rs 10 per liter.

Current price of crude oil

At present the price of crude oil is around $81 per barrel. According to the data, crude oil of Gulf countries is available at $ 81.62 per barrel. After a decline of more than two percent on Friday, it has seen a rise in the current year. On the other hand, the price of American crude oil WTI is at $ 76.49 per barrel. American oil has been trading above $75 per barrel for some time. However, experts say that the prices of crude oil are likely to decrease in the coming days. Once again an increase in inflation is being seen. All the economies of the world have tightened their policies. Due to which demand is also being seen less. On the other hand, there is a possibility of increase in oil production of non-OPEC countries. Due to which a fall in prices may be seen.

Since when are the prices of petrol and diesel frozen?

On the other hand, there has been no change in the prices of petrol and diesel in India. The last change in the prices of petrol and diesel in the metropolitan cities of the country was seen on May 21, 2022. At that time, the country's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had reduced the tax on the price of petrol and diesel. After that some states tried to influence prices by reducing or increasing VAT. The interesting thing is that ever since the prices of petrol and diesel started changing daily in the country as per the international market, this is the first time that petroleum companies have not made any changes during the record timeline.

Price of petrol and diesel in major cities of the country