Petrol & Diesel Prices Today — July 12: Fuel prices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata as Iran closes Hormuz | Today’s news
Petrol and Diesel Prices Today: Fuel prices in India remained flat with little change on Sunday, July 12. Although Brent crude, the international crude benchmark, has seen significant swings in recent days due to geopolitical tensions, fuel prices in India remained unchanged.
Brent crude prices eased on Friday after the US and Iran resumed talks and markets watched the war in West Asia unfold. Brent fell 0.41% to settle at $75.99 a barrel. Investors continue to monitor oil prices and the potential for subsequent inflation following the escalation of attacks that have strained their ceasefire and pushed back tanker traffic through the critical bottleneck of the Strait of Hormuz.
After the two sides traded tit-for-tat strikes over the past few days, traffic in the Persian Gulf thinned and appeared to come to a near standstill on Thursday, according to ship-tracking data. On Sunday, Iran attacked a vessel it claimed was sailing on an unauthorized route and announced the closure of the strait “until further notice”. In response, the US launched retaliatory strikes that undermined the modest truce.
Iran calls latest strike ‘warning shots’
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the strikes on the vessel were “warning shots” because it ignored repeated instructions to use an approved shipping corridor, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported. “Following this incident… the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of US interventions in the region, and no vessels will be allowed to pass through,” Reuters quoted the IRGC as saying.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tehran “brazenly attacked” a Cypriot-flagged container ship transiting the Persian Gulf. One crew member was lost in the incident and the vessel was decommissioned due to fire and damage to its engine room.
CENTCOM confirmed that the U.S. conducted a third round of strikes this week, saying on X: “In response, the United States is imposing a heavy cost by continuing to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian sailors and commercial ships moving freely through the strait.” Of Washington’s recent strikes, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said: “Iran made a bad choice. It’s paying off now.”
While Tehran wants to regulate shipping through the strait, Washington wants unrestricted navigation through the waterway, which controls a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas trade. As state-owned OMCs determine retail fuel prices in India, domestic petrol and diesel prices remain stable despite fluctuations in crude oil prices.
“E20 is causing problems”, claims Arvind Kejriwal
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convention Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday interacted with common vehicle owners to know about the effect of E20 petrol. In a post on X, he wrote: “Today I went to a petrol pump and petrol station in Delhi to understand the ground reality. The government is telling blatant lies. E20 petrol is really causing problems in vehicles. Common people are deeply upset about ethanol. Almost everyone I spoke to said their vehicle mileage had dropped and many complained of mechanical problems.”
The statement came after the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas admitted the unavailability of pure E10 and E20 petrol at retail outlets. According to the ministry, multiple grades of gasoline in India’s fuel distribution network would pose significant operational and logistical challenges.
The ministry admitted that E20 can reduce fuel consumption by 3-5 percent in some vehicles and said the blend offers several other benefits, including higher octane, improved combustion, smoother engine performance, cleaner operation and lower life-cycle carbon emissions.
