According to Suresh Gopi, India’s Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, fuel costs will stay high for a while despite the drop in global oil prices.
According to Gopi, who was cited by Indian media on Thursday, fuel dealers will require time before beginning to sell cheaper diesel and petrol, so Indian drivers won’t receive immediate relief at the pump.
According to the official, there will be a delay between the current decline in global crude oil prices and the refiners’ and retailers’ acquisition of the less expensive crude supplies.
It will take time since the cheaper crude must be shipped to India through the Strait of Hormuz, which will see a lot more ship activity. Thus, normalisation will be necessary, the union minister informed reporters today.
As the United States and Iran signed the memorandum of understanding to begin 60-day negotiations and reopen the Strait of Hormuz this week, Brent Crude prices dropped to a three-and-a-half-month low below $80 per barrel, indicating that the global crude markets are betting on normalisation sooner rather than later.
Indian fuel dealers have increased the cost of petrol and diesel four times since the conflict started at the end of February.
Indian fuel retailers raised prices four times in May after keeping them stable for almost two months. This was because the federal government and the merchants were suffering significant losses from importing pricey oil while selling fuel at low prices.
India was already frantically trying to manage the economic and financial fallout as high oil prices affected the country’s currency, economic expansion, and public finances at the same time as the United States and Iran announced a deal to reach a deal.
Drivers in the most populous nation in the world will have to wait at least a few more weeks to see relief at the pump, but the decline in global prices is a welcome relief for India’s energy import bill and governmental finances.
