India’s oil ministry said Wednesday (Apr 1) that domestic jet fuel prices would rise as the Middle East war pushed up energy costs, but that it had cushioned airlines from an expected 100 per cent jump.

Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) makes up a substantial chunk of airlines’ expenses, and sustained increases could translate into higher airfares.

State-run refiner Indian Oil Corporation said that ATF prices rose by 8.5 per cent in the capital Delhi, with similar rises in other major cities.

“Due to the closure of Strait of Hormuz, and extraordinary situation in global energy markets, price of ATF for domestic markets was expected to increase by more than 100 per cent on Apr 1,” the Ministry of Petroleum said in a statement.

The Strait of Hormuz is a crucial shipping route for oil and gas virtually paralysed by the Middle East war.

But the ministry said it had “passed only a partial and staggered increase of 25 per cent” to airlines in order to “insulate the domestic travel costs from the substantial increase in international prices”.

Foreign travel routes “will pay for the full increase in ATF prices consistent with what they pay in other parts of the world”, it added.

Commercial cooking liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) gas prices have also risen.

India is the world’s fourth-largest buyer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and second-largest buyer of LPG, which is used for cooking and predominantly sourced from the Middle East.

For commercial LPG, 19kg gas cylinder prices increased by around 200 rupees (US$2.13) on average across four key cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai.

Domestic household LPG prices were left unchanged in this round of revisions.

Source: AFP

--Agencies