New Delhi: With Brent crude oil futures sliding below $55 per barrel and rupee trading below 70 against the US dollar, petrol and diesel prices were today cut by 17 paise and 15 paise, respectively. The price of petrol is now tracking January levels while diesel is close to April rates. A litre of petrol today costs ₹ 70.46 in Delhi, ₹ 76.08 in Mumbai, ₹ 71.03 in Bengaluru, ₹ 73.11 in Chennai and ₹ 72.55 in Kolkata.

Diesel, on the other hand, costs ₹ 64.39 a litre in Delhi, ₹ 67.39 in Mumbai, ₹ 64.74 in Bengaluru, ₹ 67.98 in Chennai and ₹ 66.15 in Kolkata. If the last 2 months are taken into account, petrol is down by ₹ 12 and diesel by about ₹ 11 in Delhi. Although volatile in the last few days, the crude oil market has shown a declining trend in the last three months during which prices have fallen by as much as about 30%.

Brent crude oil had closed below $55 a barrel yesterday for the first time in more than a year as macroeconomic warning signals sent markets reeling across the globe. The rupee, on the other hand, had closed at 69.70 against the US dollar yesterday. These are the two major variable components of prices of petrol and diesel.

India’s monthly crude oil imports in November marked their biggest year-on-year decline in nearly four years, according to data from the oil ministry. November crude oil imports slid 11.4% to 17.01 million tonnes, registering their largest year-on-year percentage fall since February 2015, when they tumbled 21.3%.

The fall was largely attributed to maintenance shutdowns at some Indian refineries, according to a Reuters report.

In November, oil imports from Iran also declined to their lowest level in a year as purchases were curbed after reimposition of US sanctions on Iran.

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