Nayara hikes fuel price on higher costs

Mumbai: India's largest private fuel retailer Nayara Energy has raised petrol prices by ₹5 per litre and diesel by ₹3 per litre, company dealers confirmed on Thursday.

The move comes as refining and marketing companies face rising costs amid the ongoing Middle East conflict.

International crude prices have jumped nearly 50% since late February, when the United States and Israel carried out strikes on Iran. Global oil prices had earlier touched $119 per barrel amid the Iran conflict before easing to around $100 per barrel.


Nayara, which is majority owned by Russia's Rosneft, operates nearly 7,000 plus petrol pumps across India.

"We were not informed about this price increase. Who will buy expensive fuel from us if other oil marketing companies are selling fuel cheap?" asked Rajveer Chohan, Nayara Energy dealer from north India. Chohan is also the head of dealers' association.

He added that dealers across India are planning an agitation to protest these price hikes.

Three dealers ET spoke to said the company had curtailed fuel supplies from last week.

RIL Denies Buying Iranian Crude

Reliance Industries on Thursday denied media reports claiming it had purchased Iranian crude oil. The company was responding to reports that India's largest private refiner had placed orders for Iranian oil after the US reportedly allowed the purchase of Iranian crude stranded at sea. "RIL categorically rejects recent media reports that the company has purchased crude oil of Iranian origin. These reports are baseless and misleading," the company said in a statement. -Our Bureau