Petrol and Diesel Prices Today — July 17: Fuel prices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata amid renewed US-Iran war | Today’s news
Petrol and diesel prices today, July 17: Retail fuel prices in India were largely unchanged on Friday, even as global benchmark Brent headed for its biggest weekly gain since April. Renewed escalation of fighting in West Asia has introduced new risk to the market as oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has thinned further.
Brent crude oil price today
Oil rose for a fifth day, hitting its highest level in about a month, as the US launched a sixth night of strikes on Iran, raising fears of disruptions to oil and gas supplies from the energy-rich region. Brent is on track for a weekly gain of nearly 12% to trade around $85 amid increased uncertainty over energy supplies, Bloomberg reported.
The Joint Maritime Information Center has raised the Strait of Hormuz regional threat level to “severe” following the breakdown of the ceasefire and a spate of recent enemy attacks on merchant vessels. According to a Reuters report, Tehran has ordered Yemen’s Houthi rebel group to close the Bab el-Mandeb gate to the Red Sea in case Iranian energy infrastructure is targeted. This gateway is a vital lifeline for Saudi Arabia’s oil exports.
Even as oil erased a roughly 30% drop in the second quarter, the domestic retail price of petrol and diesel was little changed as it is set by state-owned Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
A portfolio manager at the Catalyst Energy Infrastructure Fund said, “Refined products are much bigger than oil,” Bloomberg reported. He added: “We only had a brief lull when the energy guys warned that we were running out of supplies, there really wasn’t much room left in the system.”
According to Goldman Sachs, Brent could rise to as high as $110 a barrel in the fourth quarter if the recovery in Gulf exports continues to stall. However, the opposite would be the case if tensions ease and output recovers faster than expected, and oil could fall into the 60s by the end of the year.
The Center is ordering mariners to refrain from sailing through the Strait of Hormuz
Amid renewed back-and-forth between the US and Iran, the center has ordered ship owners, ship managers and recruitment companies not to put sailors on vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. In an order issued on Wednesday, the Directorate General of Shipping said, “No deployment of Indian seamen on vessels undertaking voyages involving passage through the Strait of Hormuz until further orders.
Notably, India is the world’s third largest supplier of seafarers with over 300,000 seafarers working across global shipping fleets. More than 15,000 Indian sailors are still stranded in the western strategic waterway, Manoj Yadav, general secretary of the Union of Forward Seamen of India, told Reuters. The warning comes after two Indian sailors were killed in attacks on vessels in the region over the past three days.
“In view of the heightened security situation in the Persian Gulf region… the directorate deems it necessary to take enhanced precautionary measures to protect the interests of Indian seafarers serving on board ships operating in the region,” the order added.
