The Indian oil marketing companies on Thursday hiked the retail prices of petrol and diesel sold across the country. Petrol prices per litre were increased to Rs 71.15 in New Delhi, Rs 76.79 in Mumbai, Rs 73.25 in Kolkata and Rs 73.87 in Chennai. Diesel prices per litre rose to Rs 66.33 in New Delhi, Rs 69.47 in Mumbai, Rs 68.13 in Kolkata and Rs 70.09 in Chennai.

These prices are based on an average of international crude rates for the past 15 days and the exchange rate of the rupee against the dollar. These rates are revised by the state-owned oil marketing companies every morning at 6 am.

The global benchmark Brent in the Thursday morning session was trading at $67.14 a barrel, which is not very far from its 2019 high of $67.38 per barrel. The price remained high due to the supply cuts made by the OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) that was scheduled to kick-in this calendar year as per their decision announced in December of 2018.

OPEC, along with its allies, that includes Russia, had agreed to cut their collective output by 1.2 million barrels per day so as to not keep the market oversupplied.

However, analysts said that US sanctions of Iran and Venezuela and concerns of a global economic slowdown have prevented the benchmark from climbing any further.