Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: Consumers can look forward to more price cuts on both petrol and diesel as Brent crude oil dropped to a four-year low below $82 a barrel on Wednesday.
Petrol price is expected to be cut between 80 paise and Rs 1.20 while that of diesel is expected to be cut between 75 paise and Rs 1.10 per litre by Friday.
US crude ended up, despite expectations that oil inventories in the United States rose last week. The gap between Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at its smallest in three weeks as the markets diverged.
Brent closed down 67 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $81.67 a barrel, after touching a Sept. 2010 low of $80.46. It is down 25 percent from a June high above $107.
Announcing the diesel price deregulation last month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said: "Price of diesel will be linked to the market, and therefore, depending on whatever is the cost involved, is the element that consumers will have to pay."
"Just like petrol prices, diesel cost will now be governed by market forces. The diesel prices were being increased by 50 paise or so over the last few months. The prices should come down as the global crude oil prices have dropped substantially in recent times," he had added.
Petrol price were last cut by Rs 2.41 a litre whereas the price of diesel was slashed by Rs 2.25 per litre.
