Representational file image.
| Photo Credit: E. LAKSHMINARAYANAN

The price of jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was on Sunday (September 1, 2024) reduced by 4.6%, while the rate of commercial LPG used in hotels and restaurants, was hiked by ₹39 per 19-kg cylinder in the monthly revision done in line with international oil price trends.

The ATF price was cut by ₹4,495.5 per kilolitre or 4.58%, to ₹93,480.22 per kl in the national capital, according to state-owned fuel retailers.

The price reduction will help ease the burden on airlines for whom fuel makes up almost 40% of the operating cost.

The reduction follows two rounds of monthly price increases. Jet fuel prices were on August 1 raised by 2% or ₹1,827.34 per kl and by 1.2% (₹1,179.37 per kl). These hikes followed a steep 6.5% (₹6,673.87 per kl) reduction effected on June 1.

The ATF rate in Mumbai was reduced to ₹87,432.78 per kl on Sunday from ₹91,650.34 previously.

Prices differ from State to State depending on the incidence of local taxes.

Alongside, oil firms increased the price of commercial LPG by ₹39 to ₹1,691.50 per 19 kg cylinder.

This is the second straight monthly increase. Prices were hiked by ₹6.5 per cylinder on August 1. The two rounds of increase follow four monthly price reductions. In four price reductions, rates were cut by ₹148 per 19-kg cylinder.

Commercial LPG now costs ₹1,644 per 19-kg cylinder in Mumbai, ₹1,802.50 in Kolkata and ₹1,855 in Chennai.

Domestic LPG unchanged

Rate of cooking gas used in domestic households, however, remained unchanged at ₹803 per 14.2-kg cylinder.

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) revise prices of ATF and cooking gas on the first of every month based on the average price of benchmark international fuel and foreign exchange rate.

Prices of petrol and diesel continue to remain frozen. Rates had been cut ₹2 per litre in mid-March. Petrol costs ₹94.72 a litre in Delhi while diesel is priced at ₹87.62.

Representational image of crude oil barrels ready to be transported.
| Photo Credit: AP

The government has cut the windfall profit tax on crude oil produced in the country while the levy on exports of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has been hiked, an official notification said.

The tax, levied in the form of special additional excise duty or SAED, on domestically produced crude oil was reduced to ₹6,700 per tonne from ₹7,100 a tonne.

SAED on the export of diesel was increased to ₹6 per litre from ₹5.50 a litre and on jet fuel or ATF to ₹4 per litre from ₹2, the notification said.

SAED on export of petrol will continue to be zero.

The new tax rates came into effect from Saturday, the order dated September 1, said.

India first imposed windfall profit taxes on July 1 last year, joining a growing number of nations that tax supernormal profits of energy companies. At that time, export duties of ₹6 per litre ($12 per barrel) each were levied on petrol and ATF and ₹13 a litre ($26 a barrel) on diesel.

A ₹23,250 per tonne ($40 per barrel) windfall profit tax on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was also levied.

The tax rates are reviewed every fortnight based on average oil prices in the previous two weeks.

A windfall tax is levied on domestic crude oil if rates of the global benchmark rise above $75 per barrel. Export of diesel, ATF and petrol attract the levy if product cracks (or margins) rise above $20 per barrel.

Product cracks or margins are the difference between crude oil (raw material) and finished petroleum products.

International crude oil prices averaged $86.43 per barrel in August, up from $80.37 in the preceding month and $74.93 a barrel in June.

The levy on domestic crude oil dropped to nil in the first half of April as international crude oil prices fell but was back in the second half in step with a rise in rates.

Levy on diesel became nil in April but the levy was brought back in August. Levy on ATF became nil in March and was brought back in second half of August.

The export tax on petrol was scrapped in the very first review.

Crude oil pumped out of the ground and from below the seabed is refined and converted into fuels like petrol, diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF).

Reliance Industries Ltd, which operates the world’s largest single-location oil refinery complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, and Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy are primary exporters of fuel in the country.