New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS): Oil marketing companies continued to hold back any change in retail prices of petrol and diesel continuing with their wait and watch stance that has kept the prices of the two auto fuels static for past nine days.

Accordingly, there was no change in retail price of auto fuels on Wednesday with price of petrol remaining at Rs Rs 83.71 a litre and diesel Rs 73.87 a litre in Delhi.

Across the country as well the price of the two petroleum products remained unchanged.

OMCs have gone on a pause mode at a time when news of successful coronavirus vaccine and expectations of big pick up in demand has kept crude on the boil with prices breaching $50 a barrel mark. Crude, however, has remained static for late few days reducing any pressure on upward revision in fuel prices.

Petrol prices was very close to breaching the all time high level of Rs 84 a litre (reached on October 4, 2018) when it touched Rs 83.71 a litre on Monday last week. But the march has been halted ever since.

Global crude prices have risen almost $10 a barrel in last one month reaching over $50 a barrel. But even at this level, it is far less than average crude price of $80.08 a barrel that was in October 2018, when petrol prices reached highs of Rs84 a litre in the capital.

With Wednesday's pause, fuel prices have now increased on 15 of the past 27 days with petrol prices rising by Rs 2.65 per litre and diesel by 3.41 a litre.

Petrol prices had been static since September 22, and diesel rates hadn't changed since October 2.

Though retail pricing of petrol and diesel has been deregulated and oil marketing companies were following a daily price revision formula, the same was suspendended for almost two months to prevent volatility in international oil markets from impacting fuel prices regularly during the pandemic.