If the price of crude oil falls below 80 dollars per barrel, the price of petrol and diesel will come down.

Business Desk: In the coming days, common people can get a big relief from the expensive prices of petrol and diesel. Government oil companies have indicated that if the price of crude oil in the international market drops below $80 per barrel and the prices stabilize there, then the government oil companies will start changing the prices on a daily basis.

Oil industry officials said public sector marketing companies will start revising petrol and diesel prices on a daily basis only when crude oil prices in the international market stabilize below US$80 per barrel. The three retail government oil companies Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) have kept the prices of petrol and diesel stable for the last 20 months. These three companies have not made any change in prices since the first week of April 2022. However, the central government had given relief to the people from inflation by reducing the excise duty on petrol and diesel in May 2022.

At present, crude oil is trading at around $84 per barrel in the international market. An oil company official said that there is a lot of instability in the international oil market and wild fluctuations are being seen in prices. He said, ‘Oil companies can cut the prices by one rupee per liter at this time and everyone will appreciate doing so, but when international oil prices increase, there is doubt whether they will be allowed to increase the rates. ‘ Another official said, ‘Some days there is profit on selling diesel but on other days there is loss. There is no clear price trend.