State-run oil marketing companies in India on Friday hiked the premium petrol prices by up to Rs 2.35 as the raging war in the Middle East deepens the global energy crisis following the tit-for-tat strikes on gas plants by Israel and Iran.
According to news agency ANI, prices of BPCL’s Speed petrol, HPCL’s Power petrol, and IOCL’s high performance variant XP95 have been increased by Rs 2.09–Rs 2.35 per litre.
However, there is no change in the price of regular petrol for now.
The development follows Israel’s strikes on Iran’s South Pars Gas field and retaliatory attacks by Tehran on Qatar’s LNG facilities.
The attacks led to a sharp rise in oil and gas prices on Thursday over fears of a global supply crunch.
Qatar Energy confirmed that Ras Laffan Industrial City suffered significant damage in Iranian retaliatory strikes.
International benchmark Brent crude futures with May delivery rose 6.3% to USD 114.13 per barrel.
Gas prices were also sharply higher. The front-month gas price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub, a European benchmark for natural gas trading, traded nearly 30% higher at 70.8 euros per megawatt-hour.
UK gas prices also surged on Thursday, sitting at 173p per therm, which is up more than 24 per cent from Wednesday.
Strait of Hormuz route disrupted
The US and Israeli attacks on Iran and the latter’s retaliation paralysed the energy supply route from Qatar, as the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping corridor in the Persian Gulf, has been severely impacted.
Iran had warned that it would target any ships that pass through the Strait of Hormuz, triggering an unprecedented global energy crisis.
However, the Centre had assured assured that petrol and diesel prices would not be hiked unless crude oil prices breach USD 130 per barrel.
In a statement shared by ANI, the government sources had said that the crude prices are expected to be around USD 100 per barrel and reaffirmed that the country has enough stock.
“We expect crude oil prices to be around USD 100 per barrel,” ANI quoted one of the sources as saying. “No problem of shortage of petrol and diesel at any pump in the country.”