Petrol price to go up by Rs 5 per litre from midnight

NEW DELHI: In the steepest hike ever, state-owned oil companies on Saturday increased petrol price by about Rs 5 per litre with effect from midnight tonight.

The increase in petrol price, which the oil firms had been holding since January even though crude oil had touched a two-and-a-half-year high, came a day after election results of five state assemblies were announced.

IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum will hike rates between Rs 4.99 and Rs 5.01 per litre in Delhi with effect from midnight Saturday.

Petrol in Delhi currently costs Rs 58.37 per litre.

The government had freed petrol price from government control in June but the state-owned oil firms had not raised prices on an 'informal' dictate from the oil ministry.

"The hike needed to make domestic rates at par with international prices was Rs 9.

Petrol price hike this week; diesel, cooking gas put off

      NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday deferred for a week a ministerial panel's meeting to consider raising diesel and cooking gas prices. But it is expected to allow state-run oil marketers to raise petrol price at least Rs 3 a litre over the weekend.

Oil minister S Jaipal Reddy said the meeting was postponed to "accommodate" preoccupation of some ministers on the panel. "It (the next meeting) could be anytime on (May) 17 or 18." The ministerial panel was to meet on Wednesday to consider raising prices of diesel by Rs 2-2.50 a litre and cooking gas by Rs 25-50 per refill. The government controls price of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene. State-run oil marketers are free to revise petrol price but never do it without a cue from the oil ministry's.

The oil ministry is now expected to give green signal for a petrol price revision once the last phase of polling gets over in West Bengal on Wednesday. The oil companies may then raise petrol price over the weekend. On Saturday, TOI had reported that the government was likely to wait and watch a little to see how last week's slide in global crude prices played out. Crude slid below $100-level on the news of Osama bin Laden's killing on May 2. The development lifted expectations of stability in West Asia and pushed up the dollar against all major currencies.